It was a Southeast Iowa Superconference basketball split in Lone Tree Tuesday between the Lions and the visiting Hillcrest Academy Ravens. Lone Tree opened the night with a 71-29 girls win. The Lions exploded in the first quarter for 27 points, hitting 12 total field goals from six different players. They followed that up with 18 more in the second, 13 alone from Finley Jacque to lead 45-17 at the half. Out of the break, 23 more went on the board for the Lady Lions in the third, this time with Vivian Zaruba putting together a 14 point frame to lead 68-26 going to the fourth. Lone Tree head coach Ryan Shelman joined the KCII Postgame Show to talk about his team’s red hot scoring night and individual standouts. “I thought we did a good job with our defense and our pressure. We knew we needed to have a fast start against Hillcrest. We had a quote today that said ‘good teams let their defense lead into their offense’. That’s exactly what we talked about. I think from start to finish our girls did an outstanding job playing defense that led to our transition offense. What I like about this team is that we are balanced. We can score. Any girl on any given night can have the hot hand and we did a good job of finding those hot hands today. Finley (Jacque) and Vivian (Zaruba) really got hot in the third quarter. It seemed almost like back-to-back-to-back for us. Getting them open, finding opportunities for everybody. Our girls do a good job of sharing the ball. That’s something that makes me proud as a coach.
Lone Tree had 25 made field goals on the night, 12 of them three pointers. They turned Hillcrest over 27 times. Finley Jacque had a game high 25 points, including five threes. Zaruba added 20 and Rylee Shield had 13. Malia Yoder led Hillcrest, who was without leading rebounder Delaney Shaw, with 11 points. The Lone Tree girls improve to 10-6, the Ravens fall to 0-15.
The boys game was typically tight between these two rivals, with the Ravens prevailing 61-50. Hillcrest, without leading scorer and rebounder Grant Bender, led 15-14 after the first and 28-25 at the half. The Lions took a brief third quarter lead for the Ravens closed on a run to take a 48-38 lead into the fourth where they closed the game at the line. After the contest, Raven head coach Dwight Gingerich talked about his players stepping up with a short rotation and how they closed the win. “Grant Bender got hurt early, and I’m really just proud of the effort with our younger guys stepping up and giving us a ton of good minutes. Some of our guys really grew up tonight. Rowan Miller, who has shown flashes, hit big shots at key times. Senior Luke Schrock really delivered. Scored in a lot of different ways, hit a big three at a key time. Seth Ours made some really good plays and did a good job of running things, hitting some big shots as well. Mason Bender and Bryce Bailey came in and gave us huge minutes, played well.”
Hillcrest forced 22 turnovers in the win and outrebounded the Lions by three. Luke Schrock had a game high 21 points. Rowan Miller got to double figures with 10. Lone Tree was led by Drew Gauley’s 11 points. Hillcrest is 8-6 after the win and hosts Louisa-Muscatine for Senior Night Friday. Lone Tree falls to 6-10 and is off until a game with L-M Tuesday.