Rachel Smith

WEST DES MOINES — Injuries both old and new knocked the Marshalltown girls’ basketball team for a loop in Tuesday’s CIML road game at Class 5A No. 13 Dowling Catholic.

As if facing the Maroons wasn’t too much already, the Bobcats withheld Lily Roberts from the lineup due to last Thursday’s knee injury and leading scorer Paige Wertzberger suffered a knee injury of her own as Marshalltown got dunked by Dowling 85-11.

The Maroons (3-0) led 22-2 after the first quarter, 53-5 at the half and 73-7 through three quarters in the cross-divisional contest. Junior post Emma Gipple scored a game-high 15 points to pace Dowling, which got scoring from all 11 players to took the court.

Ella McVey and Margaret Tobias added 10 points apiece from the Maroons.

Rachel Smith finished with team-highs of five points and five rebounds for the Bobcat girls. Zaielah Newman got another three points, Kaylin Smith scored a bucket and Sara Huffman pitched in a free throw for the final tally.

“We came into the game shorthanded with Lily sitting out to wait on results on her hyperextended knee,” MHS head coach Brian Murphy said. “We then lost Paige in warmups to a knee injury, which really caused a lot of issues on both ends. [Dowling’s] transition ran us ragged and affected our patience on offense.

“We’re a work-in-progress right now, and we have a number of girls who are being thrust into tough spots faster than we would have hoped. Every game is an opportunity for us to keep building a foundation and we’re going to have a lot of learning to do in the next week.”

The Bobcats close out their three-game road swing to start the season with Thursday’s contest at No. 11 Ames, and Marshalltown’s home opener is Friday against No. 7 Ankeny Centennial.

Dowling Catholic 85, Marshalltown 11

At West Des Moines

MARSHALLTOWN (0-2) — Rachel Smith 2 1-2 5, Zaielah Newman 1 1-2 3, Sara Huffman 0 1-4 1, Malena Kammerer 0 0-0 0, Kaylin Smith 1 0-0 2, Mya Gallegos 0 0-0 0, Carlye Castillo 0 0-0 0, Amaya Moore 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 4 3-8 11.

DOWLING (3-0) — Ella McVey 4 1-2 10, Margaret Tobias 3 4-4 10, Maddie Wishman 4 0-0 8, Julia Moore 3 2-5 8, Emma Gipple 6 3-6 15, Sarah Moore 2 0-2 5, Julia Friedrich 2 2-2 8, Ally Anderson 2 0-2 4, Olivia Bailey 4 0-0 9, Olivia Spracklin 1 0-0 2, Paige Hobbs 2 2-5 6. TOTALS 33 14-28 85.

MHS 2 3 2 4 — 11

DOWLING 22 31 20 12 — 85

3-Point Goals–Dowling 5 (Friedrich 2, McVey, S. Moore, Bailey). Team Fouls–MHS 18, Dowling 9. Fouled Out–none.