Fort Dodge sophomore LJ Maehl led the Dodgers with 19 points, dropping the Bobcats to 3-5 overall. Frankie Long and Ellie Hughes had eight points each to lead MHS.

“We felt like we could force a lot of poor decisions if we had enough ball pressure and keep the ball out of Maehl’s hands,” Marshalltown head coach Brian Murphy said. “We did a pretty good job of that, especially in the first quarter, but as the game wore on and subs came in, we just didn’t do a good job of sticking with that gameplan throughout the game.”

The Dodgers led 18-8 after the first quarter and were up 27-14 at halftime. Fort Dodge dominated the second half, outscoring MHS 21-5 in the third quarter alone. Meah McCaleb added 17 points for Fort Dodge.

“The other thing we knew would be a challenge for us was how they spread it out,” Murphy said. “That puts someone like Frankie in a tough spot where she’s most effective underneath the rim, trying to prevent. We did a good job of getting her help in the first half but in that third quarter especially, we were too slow rotating and they got way too many easy attempts at the rim.’

Long added eight rebounds and four blocked shots for the Bobcats. Sydney Kapayou and Kinsley Bowie had three assists each.

But 37 turnovers added up in a hurry for the Bobcats against Fort Dodge’s pressure defense.

“It took us too many repetitions to learn from our previous mistakes,” Murphy said. “We showed our age tonight. Our decision making started to fade after that first quarter as the fatigue set in. We’ve got to work on that from a maturity standpoint and make good decisions consistently, regardless of the situation.”

Shuffling the lineup, too, to accommodate for missing players is nothing new during the height of cold and flu season, but it hits a younger, less experienced team harder, Murphy said.

“We’re gonna have to keep working through it,” Murphy said. “I do think as the group keeps gelling, we’re already seeing progress. The next step is showing that progress against a team like Fort Dodge that just has a little bit more experience than we do.”

Marshalltown heads to Des Moines East on Tuesday.

Fort Dodge 59, Marshalltown 34

FORT DODGE (4-3, 1-2) — Mackenzie McIlrath 1 3-3 5, Meah McCaleb 7 3-7 17, Ashlyn Wills 2 1-2 5, Brooklyn Pommer 0 0-0 0, LJ Maehl 4 10-12 19, Destinee Phillips 0 0-0 0, Dakota Pommer 4 0-0 10, Addison Lentsch 1 0-2 3, Maddisen Hoshaw 0 0-0 0, Janelle Derrig0 0-0 0, Bella Lee 0 0-0 0, Ellie Doster 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 19 17-26 59.

MARSHALLTOWN (3-5, 1-2) — Amairra Johnson 2 0-0 4, Kinsley Bowie 1 0-0 2, Sydney Kapayou 2 1-3 6, Ellie Hughes 4 0-1 8, Frankie Long 3 2-4 8, Aubrie Tejada 0 0-0 0, Tania Mora 1 0-0 2, Millie Heitmann 0 0-2 0, Thalia Gallegos 0 0-0 0, Esmeralda Gutierrez Cantu 0 0-0 0, Jorja Janssen 1 0-3 2, Harper Wilson 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 15 3-13 34.

FORT DODGE 18 9 19 11 — 59

MHS 8 6 5 15 — 34

3-Point Goals–FD 4 (D. Pommer 2, Lentsch, Maehl), MHS 1 (Kapayou). Team Fouls–FD 15, MHS 17. Fouled Out–none.