March 28, 2024

Drought sinks Cardinals in regional final

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STUART — It looked to be an even matchup here Monday in the Class 2A Region 8 final between Central Decatur and fourth-ranked IKM-Manning.

Central Decatur sported Class 2A’s third-best offense coming in, averaging 66.79 points per game, while IKM-Manning ranked fourth at 66.00 points per game. IKM-Manning gave up an average of 39.83 points per game and Central Decatur gave up an average of 39.92 points per game

Both teams featured five solid scoring threats, and both averaged nearly seven made 3-pointers per game.

Even through the first quarter, the game looked like it was going to turn into a barnburner, as the two teams traded shots, before IKM-Manning took a 17-14 lead after one quarter of play.

But a scoring drought of five-plus minutes deflated Central Decatur in a 74-51 loss.

“It felt like after that little bit of a run to tie it at 12-12, I don’t think we played very good the rest of the first half,” Central Decatur head coach Curtis Boothe said. “To their credit, they played pretty good defense and we weren’t getting very good shots and having too many turnovers.”

Over the final minute-plus of the first quarter until the 4:23-mark of the second quarter, IKM-Manning went on a 20-0 run, building a 32-14 lead before Raegan Boothe finally stopped the bleeding with a basket.

The Cardinals had a string of turnovers during that stretch that proved to be costly, as IKM-Manning converted nearly each one of those turnovers into points at the other end.

“They were probably more aggressive on defense than what we’ve seen,” Boothe said. “Putting a lot of bodies and hands on Hallie (Linhart), which makes a difference. Even in the lane, we were getting shots and weren’t hitting them. Some of them we thought we were getting fouled and other times we were just missing layups.”

Central Decatur trailed 40-22 at halftime, as Linhart scored eight of her team-high 15 points in the first half. Lily Simon hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter to ignite the Central Decatur offense, but was held scoreless in the second quarter.

The Wolves outscored Central Decatur 23-8 in the second quarter.

Boothe said his team talked during the halftime break about cutting the lead to 10 by the end of the third quarter.

“We were down by 18, and we thought if we started playing and got the ball moving a little bit, we could get it down to 10 to start the fourth quarter and then have a chance in the fourth,” he said. “But that never happened for us.”

IKM-Manning started the third quarter on a 9-2 run, taking a 25-point lead on the Cardinals. The lead grew to as much as 30 points at 72-42.

Senior Morgan Muhlbauer scored 28 points to lead the Wolves, creating a matchup problem for the Cardinals with her physicality.

“It was just a matchup problem for us, because she’s so physical,” Boothe said. “We just let her get by with some easy ones and some offensive boards. I thought she was the difference tonight.”

Katelyn Schechinger scored 14 points off the bench for IKM-Manning, taking advantage of her height to grab several offensive rebounds for putbacks.

Raegan Boothe finished with 13 points for Central Decatur and Simon added 12. Senior Lydia Martin was limited to just five points before fouling out of the game. Jentri Hullinger and Elena Rodriguez each scored three points.

Linhart, Martin, Hanna Mendenhall and Annalise Minnick all played their final game as Cardinals.

“Four years ago, what I told them in the locker room was we were 9-13, our only losing season,” Boothe said. “When they became freshmen, that was a different story. A lot of that goes to Hallie, because she payed as a freshman. Just the overall athleticism she gave our program was amazing for four years.

“Lydia Martin really came on her sophomore year and after Christmas started playing in the rotation and has been a solid contributor ever since. Hanna Mendenhall has played a lot this year and worked her way to where she’s at defensively for us. Hanna is kind of the soul behind our team. Annalise has been a great senior, just because she’s come to work every day. She’s a great kid, very talented in all areas.”

Central Decatur finishes the season with a mark of 23-2, with the senior class reaching its first regional final game. The Cardinals went 15-1 in Pride of Iowa Conference play, repeating as conference champions.

“I told the team afterward, they can’t hold their heads down and not be happy with what we accomplished,” Boothe said. “We would have liked to have won one more game to see what would have happened, but still a great season. We’re led by great seniors. The 12 girls we had would be the 12 girls I’d pick out that I’d want to be a part of our basketball team.”