Waukee ended the first quarter with a 27-6 lead and the score only got more lopsided from there, as the Bobcats fell to the Warriors 81-13, their worst margin of defeat of the year.

Part of the problem for MHS was turning the ball over 34 times, with 20 coming in the second half, and Bobcat head coach Stacy O’Hare said a team the quality of Waukee is going to make you pay for every mistake.

“Obviously every single time we turned it over it turned into a layup for them at the other end of the floor,” she said. “Out of all the teams we’ve played they are probably one of the best fundament teams. They are very disciplined, before they were even shooting the ball their teammates were already in position to get a rebound, they were just that good. I hate to say it but I even told our bench kids that they should watch Waukee, take a look at what they are doing and look how they play defense.”

The Warriors (9-3, 4-2) scored early and often, and they spread the scoring out. Anna Brown had a game-high 16 points to lead Waukee, and three other Warriors joined her in double figures with Lindsey Kelderman going for 15, Jori Nieman putting up 12 and Paityn Rau finishing with 11.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - Marshalltown senior Alyvia Chadderdon, left, rises for a shot while Waukee defender Lindsey Kelderman, right, defends during the Bobcats’ 81-13 loss to the Warriors on Friday in the Roundhouse.

The only Waukee starter to not reach double figures was Katie Dinnebier, who had nine points all in the first half.

On the other side of the coin, Erica Johnson led Marshalltown with eight points and Gabby Himes followed with three.

Though the scoreboard doesn’t show it, O’Hare said her girls did make some improvements on Friday and have shown steady growth throughout the season.

“If you’re not here every night and you only look at the score sheets or come once, you’re not going to see the improvement that we’ve had. You don’t always see it on the score sheets or stat sheets but the kids do do good things,” O’Hare said. “We put in a couple of set plays this week and we tried them out there in the fourth quarter and we were able to run them, so that was good. It didn’t really get us looks at the basket but against Waukee it’s going to be tough to get any looks at the basket.”

The Bobcats have arguably the toughest conference in all of Class 5A to handle as well, with three of their five CIML Iowa opponents ranked in the top five, not to mention Mason City ranked No. 3 in 4A.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

O’Hare said facing that kind of competition is good for her girls though, and it does make them better when not being put through the ringer.

“I can just look at even Erica, she has done a great job bringing the ball up the court. As a freshman a lot of her turnovers were bringing the ball down the court one-on-one against somebody,” O’Hare said. “Last year she cut that in half and this year until this game she didn’t really have many turnovers in the back court. She’s done a good job of attacking people one-on-one, it’s just getting across the halfline and making sure we can get into our offense.”

MHS gets a bit of a break in its arduous schedule next week with two teams that are more its speed, starting with Des Moines Lincoln on Tuesday and ending with a road meeting against Fort Dodge on Friday, who the Bobcats beat for their second win of the season.

“Those are two teams that if we play well we can compete against, and if you can bring the ball down against Waukee you can bring it down against anybody,” O’Hare said. “Sometimes it’s a pain playing these teams, but it does get us ready for playing teams like Lincoln and Fort Dodge.”

Waukee 81, Marshalltown 13

At Marshalltown

WAUKEE (9-3, 4-2) — Lindsey Kelderman 6 0-0 15, Katie Dinnebier 4 0-0 9, Anna Brown 6 2-2 16, Jori Nieman 3 6-7 12, Paityn Rau 5 1-4 11, Peyton Kelderman 3 0-0 7, Abigail Jones 0 0-0 0, Reagan Bartholomew 1 0-0 2, Megan Earney 3 0-0 8, Taryn Reitsma 0 1-2 1. TOTALS 31 10-15 81.

MARSHALLTOWN (2-11, 1-5) — Alyvia Chadderdon 0 0-2 0, Erica Johnson 2 3-4 8, Kyra Feldman 1 0-0 2, Madi Finch 0 0-1 0, Gabby Himes 1 1-2 3, Lily Roberts 0 0-0 0, Emma Younkin 0 0-0 0, Priscila Vergara 0 0-0 0, Paige Wertzberger 0 0-0 0, Sophie Younkin 0 0-0 0, Rachel Smith 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 4 4-9 13.

WAUKEE 27 23 15 16 — 81

MHS 6 3 3 1 — 13

3-Point Goals–Waukee 9 (L. Kelderman 3, Brown 2, Earney 2, Dinnebier, P. Kelderman), MHS 1 (Johnson). Total Fouls–Waukee 13, MHS 12. Fouled Out–none.