Yoder pours in career high in victory

KALONA - It is often said that it is better to be lucky than good. Of course it helps to be both.

Iowa Mennonite School's Suzanna Yoder averaged 22.2 points a game last season.

So far this season she put up 24 points in the season-opener, 24 again when she made three free throws with no time on the clock in a win against Keota, then went for a career-high 35 Tuesday at Hillcrest Union in a 58-55 Southeast Iowa Super Conference North Division win over Lone Tree.

'I feel like I made some shots that I don't usually make,” Yoder said. 'I feel like some of those shots were kind of lucky.”

Yoder also had six assists, six steals and eight rebounds.

'What a blessing to have a kid like that,” IMS coach Kari Heusinkveld said.

Some of those assists helped Mia Graber set her own career high with 13 points. She also had four rebounds.

'Suzanna, obviously, was dynamic tonight,” Heusinkveld said. 'She got rolling early.”

Yoder had two 3-pointers and two free throws in the first quarter for an 14-10 IMS lead. She hit two more threes, a two and all five of her free throws in the second quarter, but IMS trailed 29-28 at halftime.

To start the second half, Mia Graber, Yani Gutierrez and Sara Miller each scored for IMS, then Yoder made 1 of 2 free throws to tie the game at 35. She scored the next nine points while the Lady Lions managed just two.

'The points came more naturally for me than in the Keota game,” Yoder said. 'Mia and Yani set such good screens. Those are little things that don't show up in the stats and are just as important as shooting.”

IMS had the lead at 46-37 after Leah Bontrager made a field goal. Graber scored five of the first IMS points in the fourth quarter for the biggest advantage of the night at 52-43.

'We had control of the game, but that is where I see our youth a little bit,” Heusinkveld said. 'We get the lead and we get complacent. Learning to close out games is something that we are going to have to work on, but it's still early in the year. I thought the story of the game was offensive rebounds. We gave them 26 offensive rebounds. We were lucky they only scored 13 points off of those.”

The Lions closed to within 52-49, sparking a timeout from Heusinkveld.

'We just didn't put a body on somebody,” Heusinkveld said. 'We were in decent position to rebound, but just jumping up without hitting anybody is not going to get the job done.”

Yoder scored after the timeout , then sank a pair of foul shots. Graber also added a pair of foul shots. Lone Tree made a three at the buzzer.

'I feel like we are still learning how to play well off of (Yoder). Yani didn't make many shots, but she got the looks we wanted her to get. Mia stepped up. She was big-time. She did a nice job on some of our set pieces. Her screen-and-roll action with Suzanna was textbook.”

'Mia was rolling to the perfect spot and she did such a good job of finishing,” Yoder said. 'We wanted to get it in the post more and it was paying off.”

Gutierrez added six points and pulled down nine boards.