March 19, 2024

CD pulls away from Roadrunners

LEON — A close game between two teams expected to battle for a Pride of Iowa Conference championship turned into a runaway victory for Central Decatur here on Dec. 9.

The Cardinals led Interstate 35 at halftime 28-26, but held the Roadrunners without a field goal in a 13-2 third quarter, as they pulled away for a 61-49 win.

“You can’t do that against teams like this,” Interstate 35 head coach Jamie Smith said. “They’re too good to get that far behind and fight back. I thought we had good shots. I had an idea of what they were going to do. We just didn’t hit shots, bottom line. We didn’t hit a field goal in the third quarter. You can’t win on the road against a top team in the conference that way.”

Both teams battled through early foul trouble, and kept each other’s top scorers in check for most of the game.

Riley Morris sank a pair of free throws to start the third quarter, tying the score at 28-28.

Central Decatur scored the next 13 points of the quarter and went on a 15-0 run in total to build a 43-28 lead.

Lily Simon knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and had a steal and layup during the run.

“I was happy that Lily stepped forward and hit some shots,” Central Decatur head coach Curtis Boothe said. “Raegan (Boothe) hit her free throws and Jentri (Hullinger) hit a couple of big shots. That’s what I told them after the game. It’s a team game, but we need to make sure we keep making those plays as a team.”

Interstate 35 held Central Decatur leading scorer Hallie Linhart to just four points in the loss, but Simon, Boothe and Hullinger stepped up to all score in double figures.

Simon led the way with 15 points, as Hullinger scored 14 and Boothe finished with 13.

Another key was that Central Decatur outrebounded Interstate 35 by a 55-35 margin, including 21 offensive rebounds.

Hullinger finished with 14 rebounds, with Boothe and Linhart each grabbing 13 boards. Linhart dished out nine assists. Lydia Martin scored nine points for the Cardinals and Elena Rodriguez scored six.

For Interstate 35, Gracey Griglione scored 19 points and had 13 rebounds. She scored 13 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter after the game had already been decided. Morris also finished with a double-double, scoring 11 points with 12 rebounds.

Slye Richardson scored eight points and Cheyenne Hiatt finished with six points. Haley Schaffer recorded three points and Caylin Brommel added two points.

“Two good teams going at each other and both very athletic,” Boothe said. “We knew it was going to be very competitive and they’re a good team, so we knew we were going to struggle at times. We just hoped we could make more plays than they did.”

The win gives Central Decatur an early leg up in the POI Conference race.

“There are four or five other teams in the conference that are just as good as us, so we have to make sure we play very well,” Boothe said. “They just have to be ready to play at any time.”

In Interstate 35’s 55-31 win over Wayne on Friday, Griglione broke the school record for rebounds in a game with 18. That surpassed the previous record shared by Olivia Sulentic and Morris.

Griglione finished two blocked shots short of a triple-double, scoring 19 points in the win.