GHV girls roll over competition

The Garner-Hayfield/Ventura girls moved their record to 6-1, 8-3 with two big wins over Newman Catholic and Forest City.

GHV 63-Newman 29

The Garner-Hayfield/Ventura girls basketball team came out on fire and scorched the Newman Catholic girls (0-7, 0-11) in a 63-29 romp on Friday, Jan. 17, at home.

The Cardinals may have come out a bit slow in the first quarter, taking a 13-7 lead, but they rolled in the second quarter, collecting 25 points, while holding the Knights to only four.  GHV had a commanding 38-11 lead by halftime.  The large lead allowed the coach to play a variety of girls, with 11 girls seeing 10 or more minutes of play and contributing to the 63-29 

victory.

“They had no answer for our size, as we scored 34 points in the paint and did an outstanding job on the boards,” said Coach Matt Erpelding.  “I was very happy with our offensive execution as we played a lot of different combinations of players, but our offense didn’t miss a beat.”

The Cards allowed Newman only four offensive rebounds and two second chance points.  The Cards, on the other hand, collected 23 offensive boards which led to 16 second chance points.  The efficiency of GHV’s offense was also evident by 23 of their field goals coming from an assist.

Coach Erpelding was also pleased with his teams’ efforts on the free throw line, led by Sydney Younge who was 7/9 from the line.

“It was good to see us maintain our intensity on both ends of the floor,” said Erpelding.

Both Maddie Tusha and Younge hit double figures, with Tusha collecting 14 and Younge 11.  The duo also led the team under the boards, with Tusha collecting six rebounds and Younge five.  

Rounding out the scoring was Mackenzie Haag with nine points, Emily Spilman added seven and Mackenzie Van Gerpen had six.  Shelby Rayhons, Tiara Van Gerpen and Grace Tusha had four points apiece and Bri Bier and Kim Dornbier had two points each.

Spilman led the team in steals and assists, with four and three respectively.  Mackenzie Van Gerpen had three steals and two assists.  Collecting two steals apiece were Rayhons, Bier and Hannah Lau.

GHV 63, Forest City 34

GHV hosted Forest City on Monday night, Jan. 20, for a makeup game.  Despite a strong first quarter, Forest City was no match for the Cardinals, 64-34.

Forest City (5-2, 6-8) came out strong in the first quarter and outscored the Cardinals 12-11.  GHV made some defensive adjustments and outscored the Indians in the second quarter, 12-3, for a 23-15 half time lead.

The Cards went on a 13 point run in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 47-22 by the end of the third quarter.  GHV played a variety of girls in the fourth quarter, so everyone had a hand in the 64-34 victory.

“We got outstanding minutes from everyone that stepped on the floor and with the number of girls we play, that makes us very difficult to contend with, especially when we play at the level we did in this game,” said Coach Matt Erpelding.

As a team, the Cardinals shot 68 percent in the second half and limited turnovers to a season low of 13.

Shelby Rayhons had her best game of the season, leading the team with 15 points.  Also scoring for the Cardinals was Bri Bier with nine, Maddie Tusha and Hannah Lau had eight points each, Emily Spilman chipped in seven, while Grace Tusha had five and Mackenzie Haag, Mackenzie Van Gerpen and Courtney Younge had four points apiece.

Mackenzie Van Gerpen led the team under the boards with five rebounds, followed by Lau and Sydney Younge with four rebounds apiece.

Maddie Tusha and Spilman led the team in steals with five and three respectively.  Tiara Van Gerpen was the assist leader with four.  Rayhons also had one block.

The Cardinals (5-1, 7-3) host Belmond-Klemme on Friday, Jan. 24.  Game time is 6:15 p.m.