Streak snapped in Leon

LEON – The Central Decatur girls suffered a rare conference home loss to Mount Ayr Thursday night, falling 53-29.

The loss for the Cardinals is its first against a Pride of Iowa Conference opponent in 64 games, with the last loss dating back to 2015. It’s also the first home conference loss since the 2013-14 season.

Mount Ayr head coach Thad Streit was quick to give credit to the Cards, citing their great success over the last few seasons as keys to what makes the win, and snapping their streak, all the more special.

“They’ve had a great run, some great players,” said Streit. “Their two last year (Emma Atwood and Alli Masters) could have played for anybody in the state. They took a big hit with graduation, ... it is a heck of an achievement to beat Central Decatur.

“They’re a dynasty and to break that streak, that’s a heck of an accomplishment and it’s awesome,” said Streit.

A defensive battle was the story early in the game, with neither side willing to budge on defense in the first quarter. At the end of one, it was 10-5 with Central Decatur trailing.

Scoring picked up through the second quarter, with Mount Ayr building off its five point lead and making it a 10-plus point lead.

A football-style pass from Jaycee Knight caught Sam Stewart in stride for a layup score to make it 16-6 near the midway point of the second quarter. From there, the Raiderettes kept it around 10 points off Sam Stewart’s scoring touch, holding a lead at 25-14 entering intermission.

Coming out of the break, the Raiderettes continued to keep Central Decatur in a comfortable position, going back-and-forth from down 10 points until closing the third quarter at 36-25.

The lead was more than enough for the Raiderettes as they pulled away in garbage time for the 14-point win.

“I think both teams had plenty of motivation for what the game meant. To their (Mount Ayr’s) credit, I think they played better in stretches than we did,” said Boothe. “I think we understood the situation, but it just wasn’t there for us tonight.”

With Stewart hitting foul trouble early in the second half, Boothe tried to take advantage of Mount Ayr not having one of the premier players on the floor for an extended period of time.

“If Sam’s not on the floor, they’re definitely not as good of a team as with her [on the floor],” said Boothe. “I don’t think it was anything special as far as what we were trying to do. We knew she plays the passing lanes well and drives the ball hard to the basket, so with that off the floor we were hoping to execute a little better. ... We had stretches of it, but we just didn’t do it the whole time.”

Lindsey out

After suffering a knee injury earlier in the season, CD’s Maizee Lindsey is back in the regular rotation for the Cardinals, but not without her limitations.

Lindsey, who is averaging 9.4 points per game with 29 assists and 33 steals (stats through Tuesday morning), will push through what has revealed to be a torn ACL in her left knee, citing it as “completely torn,” according to Boothe.

While feeling Lindsey is at 20% of what her ceiling is capable of (when healthy), he still feels Lindsey’s leadership presence is important for the team.

“Maizee’s character is unbelievable,” said Boothe. “You have a torn ACL and you’re still playing basketball and want to finish out the season. She always says she’s fine, but we know at times with certain movements it hurts her and she’s limited with her side-to-side movements. It’s a negative for us, ... but she’s going to do what she can for the rest of the season.”

Boothe added he believes she will get surgery after the season finishes and is asking several players to platoon for Lindsey in instances where she is not on the floor.

UP NEXT – The Cardinals play on the road Tuesday night (Jan. 21) against Bedford at 6 p.m.