The Trojans’ girls cut a 21-point deficit down to five with a minute to go, but they couldn’t get over the hump as they dropped their second consecutive game. The Trojans outscored No. 3 in Class 3A Des Moines Christian in the fourth quarter 18-7. Malorie McKinney led Pleasantville in scoring with 12 points, followed by Brianna Benge with nine–all coming on three-pointers. Coach Jeff Cook tells KNIA Sports that even though the fourth quarter was impressive, the third left much to be desired.
“The third quarter really got away from us, we were down eight at the half and we were down 21 after 3. We got outscored 17-4 in the third quarter. Then we came back and we outscored them and got it to five. It ended up nine, but I say this every time, our kids have no quit.”
The girls will be looking to get their first winning streak of the season after knocking off Woodward-Granger Tuesday night. Junior Malorie McKinney has stepped up over the last four games, putting up at least 13 points in her last four games. Coach Jeff Cook tells KNIA Sports that he has been impressed with Mckinney’s performance in recent games.
“That’s gotta be her job. She has to lead us most nights. There will be nights where somebody else will lead us once in a while. But she is going to have to grab the rebounds and if we are going to be effective and she has to be up there in double digits most nights. For her and Faith (Vanderhart) to both have a good night is really promising because there are a lot of times where we have both of them on the floor side by side. If people can’t just guard one of them, that makes a big difference.”
The Pleasantville Trojans returned to action Tuesday night for a double header with West Central Conference foe Woodward-Granger, as heard on the KRLS3 stream at kniakrls.com. The result was a split as the Trojans girls came out on top 40-31, while the boys came up just short 56-51.
The Trojan girls were led by Malorie McKinney’s 16 points, ten of which were in the fourth quarter. Adi Adreon scored six points, all of which happened in a 30 second span to close out the first half and open the second. That helped the Trojans build a 23-18 halftime lead, even though the Hawks’ Darby Nixon hit a buzzer beating jumper as they headed into the locker room.
Pleasantville got swept in their doubleheader at Des Moines Christian, both teams ranked top 3 in the state Friday. The girls dropped to the Lions 51-33, while the boys nearly got doubled up 66-34.
The girls lost their fifth game of the season. Malorie McKinney led the team in scoring, as she scored more than half of the Trojans’ points with 17. Adi Adreon was second on the team with six. Coach Jeff Cook tells KNIA Sports that they did turn the ball over too much, but did a good job defending the Lions’ top scorer, Moriah Prewitt. Prewitt scored just ten points, six below her season average.