Central women’s basketball offense sputters against Coe
Central Dutch Athletics
PELLA—Coe College put the clamps on the Central College women’s basketball team as the Dutch offense sputtered to a 59-47 defeat.
Entering the game, Central (8-4 overall, 0-3 American Rivers) was averaging 74.5 points a game with four double-figures scorers. But the Dutch shot any icy 35.4% from the floor and committed 23 turnovers. Guard Maci Gambell’s (sophomore, Hedrick, Pekin HS) 10 points topped the Central scoring line.
“They did a really good job of switching out on us and taking away some of the (3-pointers) that we’ve been getting,” coach Joe Steinkamp said. “They also did a good job of pressuring the ball and made it difficult to get it inside to Kendall (Brown). She only had one shot in the first half. Finally in the second half we got it in to her a couple times but it came at the expense of a lot of turnovers. It was really an offensive struggle.”
Guard Carson Fisk (freshman, Searsboro, Lynnville-Sully HS) had six assists, forward Payton Rogers (junior, Moravia) came off the bench to grab eight rebounds and post Kendall Brown (senior, Moravia) blocked six shots to go with nine points and five boards.
“Kendall did a great job of controlling the paint,” Steinkamp said. “She continues to do that. I thought Payton Rogers gave us some toughness off the bench. She sparked our second-half run.”
Adding to the challenge was a 44-33 disadvantage on the boards, as Central surrendered 19 Coe offensive rebounds.
“Our first-shot defense was really good,” Steinkamp said. “They took a lot of the shots we wanted them to shoot. But unfortunately, they got to the offensive glass too many times. They had way too many offensive chances. Those are big momentum plays because we like to play in transition and when you give up so many offensive rebounds, it really limits your transition opportunities.”
Coe outscored Central on fast breaks, 18-2.
Nonetheless, the Dutch missed a big chance to steal a league win. A buzzer-beating runner by guard Kelsea Hurley (freshman, Scottsdale, Ariz., Desert Mountain HS) brought Central within 27-24 at halftime and a Brown layup cut Coe’s lead to 46-45 with 6:39 remaining. But the Dutch had seven straight empty possessions and mustered just two points the rest of the way.
Central travels to Decorah to meet Luther College in a league women’s-men’s twinbill Wednesday starting at 5:30 p.m. Luther subdued Buena Vista University Saturday, 91-75 and is 5-5 overall, but 3-0 in league play.
“Luther’s really good,” Steinkamp said. “They’re a talented, aggressive team. They’re going to come at us with a full-court press. We’re going to have a completely different week of practice. We play Simpson and Luther this week, probably two of the biggest pressing teams in the league. But more than anything we just want to show more toughness. We pride ourselves on being a good rebounding team and we want to get back to the basics there.”
