Knights close regular-season with 20th win

TABOR - The Fremont-Mills starters played just a quarter before giving way to the reserves as the Knights earned their 20th win of the season in a 59-21 victory over Clarinda Academy last Tuesday.

The Knights (20-1 overall, 16-0 in the Corner Conference) opened the game on a 26-2 run and lead 42-8 at halftime. Fremont-Mills coach Rod Williams pulled his starters midway through the second quarter, allowing his reserves extended minutes.

“Everybody on the team got a lot of playing time,” said Fremont-Mills coach Rod Williams. “It was actually a fun game to end on.  The stress was not at an extreme level and everybody was having a good time on both teams.”

The Knights’ 20 wins this season makes it their second straight after finishing 20-5 a year ago.
Fremont-Mills was to open Class 1A, Region 8 play last night hosting Sidney in Tabor. The post-season continues on Friday with the semifinals set for 7 p.m. in Tabor.

Shenandoah 43,
Fremont-Mills 38

A pair of three throws by Jamie Ruynon in the final seconds sealed a 43-38 Shenandoah victory while handing the Fremont-Mills girls their first loss of the season last Monday.

“I think the first one and a half quarters we were still trying to adjust to the height and length of Shenandoah,” said Fremont-Mills coach Rod Williams.  “As the game went on,  I felt we adjusted pretty well.  Our defense over all was what kept us in the game. We struggled on offense.”

“Struggle” might not cover it. The Knights shot a season-low 23 percent from the field (12-of-52) to go with their season-low 38 points. Shenandoah (16-4 overall, 7-3 in the Hawkeye 10 Conference) also held a 40 to 24 rebounding edge.

Yet, the Knights, who found themselves down 40-27 entering the final quarter, never seemed out of it.  
Fremont-Mills rattled off 10 straight points over the first five minutes of the fourth to cut the lead 40-37. Thanks to a rough free throw shooting night by the Fillies (16-of-32 for the game) the Knights found themselves down three with the ball with less than a minute to go. But Macy Williams’ three pointer rimmed out. On the other end, Ruynon was fouled and hit both free throws to ice the win.

Coach Williams said Shenandoah, who entered ranked in the top 10 in Class 3A, did a good job slowing the Knights in transition and making them work in the half court game.   

“That was something that we needed to work on,” Coach Williams said. “Over all the girls never stopped battling and did a wonderful job putting themselves in a position to win at the end.  It just didn’t work out.  I think this game was very good for us and will help on our post-season trail.”

Andrea McClary keyed a strong defensive effort on Serena Parker, holding the Fillies’ leading scorer to 10 total points after the senior scored eight in the first quarter.  

“That showed the adjustment by Andrea,” Coach Williams said. “Serena’s average is 18 points a game.   Andrea was left on an island a lot due to us having to cover so many other threats on the floor,  which shows you how well she did defending one of the best posts around.  On the other hand,  I think the physical part on defense,  wore on her offensive game.”  McClary finished with six points. Macy Williams his four second-half three-pointers and led the Knights with 19 points.

“Macy started feeling we needed more offense in the second half and started lighting it up, “ Coach Williams said.

Kelsey Hurley pulled down 12 rebounds and grabbed two steals for the Knights.

Logan Ehlers led Shenandoah with 12 points.