The Trojans fought hard throughout the game, and were tied at 19 halfway through the third quarter. After tying the game, Earlham’s Cora Boyle knocked down three consecutive three-pointers and the Trojans never were able to make up ground in the fourth quarter. Rachel Harvey and Malorie McKinney tied for the team lead in scoring with nine points, and Harvey had two of Pleasantville’s three three-pointers. Coach Jeff Cook tells KNIA Sports that Earlham’s defense was the biggest difference in the loss.
“We know that (Kara) Hohertz is going to block a lot of shots and put a lot of hands on shots, so they alter how they are going to shoot it. All of a sudden, you become tentative, ‘do I turn and do this or that?’ It showed by the number of shots we missed because we couldn’t shoot it the right way.”
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 Trojans girls put forth one of their best performances of the season, allowing just 14 total points to Albia. Pleasantville put up a season-high 23 1st-quarter points and allowed just five total points through the first three quarters. Adi Adreon had a season-high 19 points, including four three-pointers. Coach Jeff Cook tells KNIA Sports that his team put forth their best offensive showing of the season.
“We played really solid defense. We kept a good basketball team to five points until there were six minutes left in the game. I went with my JV kids and they left their varsity in for a bit and they got nine more. It was a real solid performance by everybody. We started off with three girls hitting five threes in the first half.”
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.