DES MOINES — The fluctuating roster hasn’t helped the Marshalltown girls’ basketball team find its flow.

Even Friday’s drubbing of Des Moines East wasn’t as helpful as it should have been.

The Bobcats saw one roster regular return to action while a starter sat out, yet none of that impacted the final outcome as Marshalltown mauled the host Scarlets 49-11 on Sam L. Powell Court.

Senior starter Millie Heitmann sat out after an injury scare in Tuesday’s home win over Des Moines Lincoln, but sophomore guard Morgan Hilderbrand got back to action after a lengthy absence due to a concussion.

By the time Friday’s Iowa Alliance Conference game ended, however, it didn’t matter who was in the lineup.

The Bobcats (12-9) scored the game’s first 15 points, led 28-5 by halftime and coasted to the win in their final road game of the regular season. MHS entertains Des Moines North in Monday’s regular-season finale, whether or not Friday’s trip to Des Moines East (1-19) did it any favors.

“We were looking for offensive flow, offensive rhythym,” said Marshalltown head coach Brian Murphy. “That was our focus in practice this week and tonight, and I think we highlighted a lot of things we’ve still got to work on.

“It feels like we’ve fallen out of rhythym the last couple weeks … so that was our goal tonight.”

Even off-schedule or a step too late, the Bobcats had little trouble converting against Des Moines East. The Scarlets didn’t score until there were 41 seconds left in the first quarter and eventually suffered their 10th loss in a row.

MHS junior guard Amairra Johnson had a game-high 15 points to go with three steals, Kendall Brummel added 11 points and five steals, and the Bobcats breezed to the road win. Kinsley Bowie contributed five points, four assists and three steals, while Frankie Long finished with four points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots.

The biggest boost for the Bobcats came for the additional playing time for its freshmen. Melanie Fernandez Tadeo got her first three varsity points and Avery Buschbom added her first points with a bucket to give MHS a 4-0 advantage in fourth-quarter scoring.

“I thought all of them did a really good job coming in,” Murphy said of his four freshmen. “The thing that we preached with all of them is assertiveness and aggressiveness. We don’t care if you make a mistake, as long as you make a mistake going hard.

“I was really pleased with Melanie’s defense tonight, her off-ball defense especially. She’s really developing some good anticipation.

Fernandez Tadeo tallied four steals as Marshalltown scored its eighth-straight win in the series by more than the average (35.3) over that span. The Bobcats won the first meeting 45-13 on Dec. 5, 2025, in the Roundhouse.

Marshalltown 49, Des Moines East 11

MARSHALLTOWN (12-9) — Amairra Johnson 6 2-2 15, Kendall Brummel 4 1-2 11, Kinsley Bowie 2 0-0 5, Jorja Janssen 1 1-2 3, Frankie Long 2 0-0 4, Sophie Boone 0 0-0 0, Mallory Meyeraan 0 0-0 0, Keira Halsted 1 0-0 3, Morgan Hilderbrand 1 0-0 3, Savea Goshon 0 0-0 0, Melanie Fernandez Tadeo 1 1-2 3, Avery Buschbom 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 19 5-8 49.

DM EAST (1-19) — Da’Myra Lewis 0 1-2 1, Brooklyn Smith 3 0-0 6, Lauren Ziaty 0 0-0 0, Nyabuk Tuoch 1 0-0 2, Serenity Thompson 0 0-0 0, Trenity Brown 0 0-0 0, Jaleeyah Hardy 0 0-0 0, Ma’lyah Rankin 0 2-3 2, Araceli Aguilar 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 4 3-5 11.

MHS 18 10 17 4 — 49

DM EAST 2 3 6 0 — 11

3-Point Goals–MHS 6 (Brummel 2, Johnson, Bowie, Halsted, Hilderbrand). Team Fouls–MHS 5, DM East 7. Fouled Out–none.