New London sweeps Van Buren at home

BY ANDY KRUTSINGER

Mt. Pleasant News

NEW LONDON ? Things are starting to heat up in the SEISC South. On Friday night two South Division teams matched up for a conference doubleheader as Van Buren headed to New London to take on the Tigers.

In the first game, the New London girls evened up the season series against the Warriors with a 55-43 win. The Tiger boys, who were ranked No. 4 at the time, completed the sweep with a 75-35 win over a young Warrior boys? team.

The girls? game was a rematch of a tight game earlier this year that saw Van Buren score a seven-point win over New London in Keosauqua. The opening minutes showed it was going to be another good one between the two squads.

New London pulled out to an early lead thanks to an aggressive defense that forced turnovers and got easy baskets inside. The Tigers took a 14-9 lead after the first quarter and led 27-21 at halftime.

Alisha Boles scored 10 first half point to pace the Panthers and helped hold Warrior leading scorer Taryn Scheuermann to three points in the first two quarters, something the Tigers aimed to do coming into the game.

?That was the plan, was to shut her down,? said New London coach Duane Blint. ?Ashley (Birdsell) is out for the rest of the season. We were going to tackle them with two bigs and we didn?t have that (but) Alexa Wenger did a great job at the high-post area.?

Hannah Hudson, however, was able to score seven points inside for Van Buren in the first half, and she wasn?t done. The junior post was able to lead the Warriors throughout the game, scoring nine more points in the second half.

Hannah Heiserman also came alive for the Warriors in the second half, hitting a number of three-pointers early to keep Van Buren in the ballgame.

New London, however, had their answer with 10 second-half points from Madysen Wahls, who helped the Tigers stretch their lead to 39-31 after three periods. The Tigers won the final quarter as well and pulled out the 12-point victory.

After the win, Coach Blint credited the defensive intensity, saying it had picked up from the previous meeting between the two teams.

?Camryn (Blint) got a couple of easy steals and Mady (Wahls) got some steals, and that was the difference in the ballgame,? he said. ?Boy, did the intensity pick up tonight.?

Wahls finished with 18 points to lead the Tigers. Blint had 12. Breanna Mettler scored 11. Boles finished with 10 and Wenger added four.

The Warriors were led by Hudson who finished the game with 16 points. Heiserman had 10 on the night. Scheuermann scored five points. Kylee Bass had four. Grace Thomas finished with three. Madison Bartholomew and Riley Warner scored two apiece and Grace Davidson rounded out the scoring effort with one.

The Van Buren boys were able to stick with New London early in the game, thanks in part to the efforts of leading scorer Jaeden Gerig, who scored six points in the first half.

New London eventually found their groove, however, as the Tiger press started to force turnovers and get fast break layups.

New London junior Alex Dentlinger was scorching hot in the first half. He was lethal from outside, scoring 21 points in the first two periods to lead the Tigers to an 18-9 lead after one period and a 40-17 advantage of halftime.

?I know there probably are people that are surprised, but we?re not,? Tiger head coach Bryant Porter said about Dentlinger?s performance. ?The kid can flat out shoot.?

The Tiger boys were able to outscore the Warriors 21-7 in the third quarter and 14-11 in the fourth to run away with the 40-point win.

After the game, Van Buren coach Fred Parsons talked about the challenges with keeping up with a speedy Tiger team.

?What makes them really tough is they are quick,? Parsons said. ?One step and they are full speed going down the court. They run their break really well.?

Parsons also spoke about his team, which has just one senior and is made up of a majority of under classmen.

?We lost seven seniors last year and they played most of the time,? Parsons said. ?These kids, with varsity competition, are very new to it. We?re inexperienced. We?ve improved, but we have a long way to go.?

Dentlinger finished with 24 points to lead New London. Mason Porter scored 13. Isaac McSorley had nine. Koby McBeth and Grant Swanson scored six apiece. Grant Loundsbury, Keontae Luckett and Justin Henecke had four apiece. Blake Nehring finished with three and Tyler Henecke had two.

The Tigers boys are currently without Ben Dentlinger (12.4 PPG), who is battling a foot injury, but is expected to be back before the end of the regular season.

Van Buren was led by Gerig, who finished the game with eight points. Mason McDonough had six. J.T. Metcalf had five points. Tony Davidson scored four. Jacob Plecker, Caleb Johnson and Jonah Heckenberg had three points apiece. Bryce Starnes scored two and Clay Neely had one.

Van Buren currently sits at 10-4 in girls? basketball and 4-8 in boys? basketball. They?ll host Burlington Notre Dame tonight (Tues.) for a doubleheader starting at 6 p.m.

The New London girls moved to 6-6 and boys went to 11-0 with the wins. They?ll travel to WACO for a doubleheader tonight (Tues.), also starting at 6 p.m.