Nokomis makes free throws, tops Hampden

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NEWPORT – The Nokomis High girls basketball team didn’t exactly have anything to prove in Wednesday night’s matchup against Hampden Academy – the Warriors are the defending Class A state champions, after all – but that’s not to say the game wasn’t highly anticipated for the two undefeated Big East squads.

Nokomis’ ever-steady free-throw shooting and patient offense proved too much for Hampden, as the Warriors topped the Broncos 58-49 in front of about 1,200 fans at the high school gym.

Coach Earl Anderson’s Warriors go to 5-0, while the Broncos fall to 7-1.

Junior forward Danielle Clark again led Nokomis with 16 points and 12 rebounds despite leaving the game late in the first quarter with a knee injury and struggling through foul trouble when she returned.

“That was not good,” Clark said of her foul trouble. “But I was so glad that [Nokomis] was still extending the lead while I was on the bench. They really stepped it up. It was awesome.”

The Broncos will certainly look at their free-throw shooting in seeking reasons for the loss. Hampden made only six of its 13 attempts in the fourth quarter and had a chance down the stretch to cut the Nokomis lead to two points, but came up empty at the line.

“I guess I know what we’re doing in practice tomorrow,” Hampden coach Mike Webb said. “Free throws were the difference in the game, really. If we had made our free throws I think we could have won the ballgame. … And we’re a better team defensively than we showed tonight.”

Nokomis, meanwhile, put in 15 of their 19 fourth-quarter free-throw attempts (Clark and Welch were a combined 12-for-14).

The Warriors and Broncos went back and forth in the first quarter and part of the second and Megan Magoon (17 points) completed a conventional 3-point play (Clark was called for her third foul on Magoon’s basket) to give Hampden a 14-12 lead with 4:40 to go in the first half.

The Warriors answered with a Gillian Snow 3-pointer to go up by one point and regain the lead for good. After a Hampden foul, Nokomis started to run its spread offense, working more than three minutes off the clock with patient passes until point guard Michelle Murray (10 rebounds) cut to the basket, took a pass from Snow, hit a layup, drew a foul and made the ensuing free throw for an 18-14 lead with 1:45 left.

Hampden got the ball back but Nokomis forward Jessica Merrow blocked a shot, then the Warriors got the ball back and held possession until Lowe put back a rebound with 25 seconds to go in the half.

“We were just trying to run time off the clock because we had a couple of players who were in foul trouble,” said Lowe, who had seven rebounds and was one of three Nokomis players with seven points. “We had Michelle on the floor but we didn’t have our other primary ball-handler [Lindsey Welch] on the floor so it was a little bit harder. But I think we did well for who we had on the floor.”

The Broncos worked the ball inside to forward Emmy Russell (12 points, 13 rebounds) in the third quarter and she responded with a basket that made it a three-point game with 3:06 remaining in the period. But the Warriors got field goals from Welch, Ashley Mackenzie and Snow and two Clark free throws to take a 36-27 lead at the end of the third.

After the game Clark said she may have hyperextended her left knee, but that it felt “fine.”

WARRIORS 58, BRONCOS 49

Hampden (7-1) Nokomis (5-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Caron 1 4 0 0 3 Welch 3 12 13

Magoon 5 20 7 8 17 Murray 2 6 7

Campbell 3 3 0 1 6 Snow 2 6 6

Bragg 0 0 0 0 0 Mackenzie 3 7

Russell 4 9 4 10 12 Paradis 1 2 2

Robinson 2 3 4 6 8 Merrow 0 1 0

Spaulding 0 3 0 0 0 Lowe 3 4 7

Ireland 0 0 0 0 0 Clark 3 12 10 12 16

Hessert 1 3 1 4 3

Totals 16 45 16 29 49 Totals 17 49 22 28 58

Hampden 11 16 27 49

Nokomis 10 20 36 58

3-pt. goals ? Hampden (1-4): Caron 1-2, Magoon 0-2; Nokomis (2-10): Snow 1-2, Welch 1-6, Murray 0-1, Mackenzie 0-1

Attendance: 1,200 (est.)

Preliminary: Hampden JVs 71-27