Cardinal girls take down New London

NEW LONDON — The Cardinal girls basketball team defeated New London Tuesday night in a Southeast Iowa Super Conference South matchup, 48-39.

The divisional matchup was a game of lead changes for the majority of its duration. Both teams exchanged leads back and forth up until the fourth quarter.

In the first period, in was New London who jumped out to a lead first, 8-5. The Tigers began to struggle midway through the first, in which Cardinal went on a 7-0 run taking a 12-8 lead with just over a minute to go in the first.

New London fought back with just under 50 seconds to go to tie the game at 12.

The lead change narrative continued into the second. There were six lead changes throughout the course of the second quarter. The largest lead was four, held by the Tigers at 19-15.

By the end of the first half, New London clung onto a one-point lead, 26-25. The Tigers outscored the Comets 14-13 in the quarter, it would be the only time New London won a quarter.

“Our girls came out really sluggish today,” Cardinal head coach Chris Becker said. “We challenged them at halftime to step up their effort level. We were not getting stops and too many easy buckets down low. We talked about defending the post better. We just challenged them and they rose up to the challenge.”

In the third, both teams had their worst scoring quarter. New London struggled even more so, only scoring six points to the Comets 10. Going into the fourth quarter, Cardinal held a 35-32 lead.

To begin the fourth quarter, the Tigers once again brought the game to a tie, 35-35, but an 8-0 run by the Comets halfway through the quarter would prove to be enough to ensure a Cardinal victory.

“Our girls were excited, they were motivated,” New London head coach Terri Hester-Mathews said. “Then we got into foul trouble. Some of our bigger girls go into foul trouble. Foul trouble brought us down, and we had to bring in some freshmen. Some of our freshmen are not used to that level yet, but we got to work them in. In the second half, we couldn’t get shots to fall and we missed free throws that we needed, but we’re gonna keep grinding. We’re gonna keep building and working hard.”

The Tigers would go on to score just four points after tying the game within the first two minutes.

Cardinal outscored New London 13-7 in the fourth.

Emma Becker’s 16 points led the way for Cardinal. Cynthia Albert finished with a double-double, with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Ava Ferrell chipped in eight points, six rebounds, and five assists. Kinsey Hissem had seven points and 10 rebounds. Allie Cloke ended with four points. and Brenna Guiter two.

For New London, Mylee Miller scored 11. Natalie Burden scored eight. Camryn Lair and Emma Nye both added five. Jazzimen Pacheco finished with four. Sophie Malott and Morgan Jones both had three.

Comments: hunter.moeller@southeastiowaunion.com