Glenwood survives in OT


Kate Hughes looks for a passing angle in Glenwood’s overtime loss to Harlan last Tuesday.

For the second time in its last three game, the Glenwood girls basketball team saw their fate decided in overtime.

But three days after falling to Harlan 54-52 in the first of their overtime games, the Rams (8-4 overall, 6-2 in the conference) never trailed in the extra-frame Saturday, outscoring Maryville, Mo. 9-4 in a 53-48 victory.

“Close games are what we’re going to see a lot of this year and we know that,” said Glenwood coach Bryan Rasmussen, whose team improved to 3-2 in games decided by five or fewer points this season.

The Rams trailed early, came back to take the lead and then had to battle in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Rasmussen thought his team played well against a team that played them differently than the conference teams they had been seeing.

“We saw some man-to-man defense, which we hadn’t seen all year,” Rasmussen said. “They still had a no-help defender on Jenna (Hopp) but we still had a chance to run some different things and I think the girls did a nice job with that. We changed a few things on our transition and our defense a little bit and I think those small tweaks helped with the girls confidence.”

Hopp finished with 23 points. Kate Hughes chipped in 11, including a key three pointer and a pair of free throws in overtime for the Rams.

Rylee Vierthaler scored 19 points to lead Maryville.

Kuemper Catholic 53,
Glenwood 50

Cate Mayhall scored 24 points to help Kuemper Catholic pull away from Glenwood 53-50 in Hawkeye 10 Conference girls basketball Friday.

“They had a nice crowd and the longer we got into the game the more they (the crowd) got into it and it was a tight game in a pretty intense atmosphere,” said Glenwood coach Bryan Rasmussen. “We just had too many turnovers throughout the game, but especially down the stretch. They did a nice job not letting Jenna (Hopp) take over and we couldn’t get shots to fall.”

The Rams finished with 17 turnovers.

Hopp finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Kate Hughes added 13 and Lauren Hughes added 12.

Lauren Boell added 13 points to lead Kuemper.

Harlan 54,
Glenwood 52 OT

Harlan’s defense had two goals: make Glenwood beat them from the perimeter and slow down Jenna Hopp.

The Cyclones had more success with the former than the latter. But the plan worked.

Hopp, the Hawkeye 10 Conference leading scorer, scored a quiet 29 points but the Rams were ice cold from behind the arc – 5-of-35 – and played catch up all night against the Cyclones in a 54-52 overtime loss at home last Tuesday.

Using a “box-and-1” keyed on Hopp, the Cyclones dared the Rams (7-3 overall, 6-1 in the conference) to beat them from the outside and they never quite found their touch.

“They did a good job container her but we didn’t hit shots,” said Glenwood coach Brad Rasmussen. “We make shots and it’s a different ballgame. I don’t think there’s a team in the state that shoots more than us. I don’t know why they weren’t falling.

“We knock a few of those down, I think our offense against that defense, we would have had a hay day. But they didn’t have to guard us on the perimeter because we couldn’t knock one down.”

The Rams shot 31 percent for the game and trailed by as many as 10 in the second half. But their offensive struggles didn’t slow their fight. They battled back in the fourth quarter to take their first lead since the first quarter on a Hopp three-pointer with just over three minutes to go.

In all, Glenwood outscored the Cyclones 17-11 in the fourth to force the overtime.

The two teams would trade buckets in the extra-frame with the Cyclones going up for good at 54-52 on Erica Rust’s layup with a minute to go.

The Rams had the ball and chance to tie twice in the final minute but turned it over both times.

“You’re going to have turnovers, I understand that but man our turnovers were timely,” Rasmussen said. “That was from the start to the finish. We started the game with a turnover and we started over time with a turnover. That’s not a good way to get momentum sliding in your favor. That tells the story of the game. We had to keep fighting back and even after that turnover, I still felt like our kids didn’t give up.”

Harlan Coach Zach Klaassen credited his team’s defense, and in particular, its ability to contain Hopp. The senior South Dakota State exceeded her 23.7 points per game average but she 9 of her points game at the free throw line.

“I think we definitely frustrated her and that made the flow of the offense kind of not work for them,” Klaassen said. “We wanted to make them beat us from three and they made five. We didn’t panic and stayed in and focused on taking her away and the penetration. She didn’t get a ton of buckets. I think she got a lot of her points at the free throw line.”

Kate Hughes added 10 points for the Rams.

Eric Rust paced three Cyclones in double figures with 18 points. Hannah Sonderman added 16 and Aubrey Schwieso 11.

 

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