TV boys beat Starmont, Kee; girls down Stars, lose to Kee Hawks

JACKSON JUNCTION - The Turkey Valley boys’ basketball team lost a defensive battle to New Hampton on Dec. 11 at home as the Chickasaws edged the Trojans, 36-31.

Facing Lansing Kee on Dec. 12, the Trojan boys’ team notched a 71-54 win, and  the Turkey Valley girls’ team lost to Kee, 38-40.

Both TV teams notched wins over Starmont on Friday as the girls won, 49-33; and the boys tallied an 84-45 win. On Saturday, the TV girls lost to Schaeffer Academy, 52-57; and the TV boys lost to Mabel-Canton, 39-58.

 

Boys: NH 36, TV 31

New Hampton held off a late charge by Turkey Valley to earn a 36-31 win over the Trojan boys on Dec. 11.

“Both teams struggled to put the ball in the hoop for a majority of the game,” TV Coach Chris Sullivan said. “In the second half the offensive struggles continued, but we leaned on our defense once again to keep us in the game. With just over a minute to go in the game, we had a clean look at a three to tie the game up, but we failed to convert. We ended up having to foul.

“It was a very frustrating night on the offensive end, but a lot of credit has to go to New Hampton and their athleticism and physicality, which caused us fits. They were very handsy and brought a lot of full court pressure, and we didn’t handle that like we needed to. Our offense was getting set up too far from the basket and we weren’t strong with the ball when they came and trapped us. It led to a lot of turnovers into easy baskets on the other end for them. 

“We were proud of the effort of the kids all night but it was the mental mistakes that killed us. When you play good teams you need to execute the small things, and we didn't do that tonight. It was the difference in the game. We will need to correct our offense woes. Everybody in our locker room was positive after the game and we talked about thinking about what each one of us could have done better,” Sullivan said.

Ethan Leibold scored nine points, including one three-pointer, and had 10 rebounds. Keegan Balk had eight points, one rebound and one assist. Jordon Snyder had eight points, including two threes, and four rebounds.

Eli Nymeyer had two points, one rebound and one assist. Kyle Langreck had two points, six rebounds and one block. Evan Drilling had two points, three rebounds and three assists. Jason Herold had one rebound.

Score by quarters

TV   9   4   5  13 - 31

NH  6  14  8   8  - 36

 

Girls: Kee 40, TV 38

Playing on the road against No. 10 Lansing Kee, the Trojan girls’ team came up a few points short as the Hawks won, 40-38.

“It was a great effort,” Co-Coach Dan Stepan said. “We just came up a little short. We are on the verge of being a good basketball team.”

Turkey Valley led 18-7 after one period and held a 31-24 lead at halftime. Kee went on a 10-2 run in the third to take a 34-33 lead going into the fourth.

Emily Busta led the Trojans with 14 points, including two three-pointers, had six rebounds, two steals, one block and one assist. Katlyn Baumler had nine points, four rebounds, five steals and four blocks. Breanna Busta had six points on two three-pointers, had three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Lydia Schuchhardt tallied four points, two steals and two rebounds. Jaycie Bryne had three points on one three-pointer, had one block and one steal. Kassidy Reicks had two points, four rebounds, two steals and one assist. Lindsay Jackson had one assist.

The Trojans made 14 of 40 field goal attempts, including five of 11 three-point tries, made five of 10 free throws, had 19 rebounds, six assists, 14 steals and six blocks.

Score by quarters

TV   18   13   2   5  - 38

Kee   7   17  10  6  - 40

 

Boys: TV 71, Kee 54

The Turkey Valley boys’ team nabbed a 41-27 halftime lead and held off the Kee Hawks to earn a 71-54 win on Dec. 12.

“Kee High got off to a hot start, made their first five shots and we were down early,” Sullivan said. “The kids did a nice job of responding and they did this by playing good team basketball and making the extra pass. We got good looks from getting the ball into the middle of the zone and to the short corner. 

“About four minutes into the game our defense started creating turnovers which led to easy baskets for us. We thought the kids were active and were anticipating things better after the first four minutes of the game.

“In the third and fourth quarter we held on to our lead and extended it. Coming off a hard-fought game against New Hampton the night before, the kids did a nice job of responding and we used more depth tonight then we have in the previous five games to keep kids fresh. Ethan Leibold did a great job of working the baseline all night and he got a lot of good looks right around the basket. Jordan Snyder had his best game of the young season. Levi Izer returned to the lineup and gave us a nice spark off the bench,” Sullivan said.

Ethan Leibold tallied 19 points, had seven rebounds and four assists. Jordon Snyder had 19 points, including two three-pointers, three rebounds and six steals. Keegan Balk had 11 points, including one three-pointer, three steals, two assists and two rebounds. 

Evan Drilling tallied 10 points, including one three-pointer, had six rebounds and two steals. Levi Izer had nine points, including one three-pointer, four assists and three rebounds. Jason Herold had two points. Eli Nymeyer had one point and five rebounds. Kyle Langreck had four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Score by quarters

TV   21   20   17   13 - 71

Kee 18    9     17   10 - 54

 

Girls: TV 49, Starmont 33

Playing at Starmont Friday, the TV girls’ team bounced back from a first quarter deficit to beat Starmont, 49-33.

Starmont led 13-8 after one period before the Trojans went on a 17-5 run in the second period to take a 25-18 halftime lead en route to the victory.

“It is always hard to win games on the road,” TV Co-Coach Dan Stepan said.

Emily Busta led the Trojans with 15 points, including three three-pointers. Katlyn Baumler had 10 points, and Kassidy Reicks had nine points.

Kelsey Kurtenbach had six points. Breanna Busta had four points. Jaycie Bryne had three points. Lydia Schuchhardt had two points.

Score by quarters

TV     8  17  9  15 - 49

Star 13   5  10  5  - 33

 

Girls: Schaeffer 57, TV 52

Facing Schaeffer Academy on Saturday at Luther College in Decorah, the Trojans fell behind in the second half and were unable to rally as Schaeffer Academy beat Turkey Valley, 57-52.

“It’s always enjoyable to play against teams you don’t normally get to,” Stepan said. “We struggled boxing out and our defense was suspect.”

Emily Busta led the Trojans with 22 points. Jordan Lukes had eight points, including two three-pointers. Ellie Winter scored six points

Katlyn Baumler and Jaycie Bryne each had five points. Breanna Busta scored four points. Kassidy Reicks had two points.

Score by quarters

TV    14   11   16   11 - 52

SA    11   14   18   14  - 57

 

Boys: TV 84, Starmont 45

Taking on Starmont Friday, the TV boys’ team led 32-27 at halftime before going on a 27-6 run in the third en route to an 84-45 victory.

“Against Starmont in the first half when we got the ball inside, good things happened,” Sullivan said. “The problem was we didn't get it in there enough. Ethan Leibold and Kyle Langreck both had great first halfs, but we left a lot of points out there because we were settling for jump shots instead of getting the ball inside and attacking the rim. 

“At halftime we talked about those two things and also about picking up our defensive intensity and the kids answered the call. In the second half, we played great on both ends of the floor.

“We were very happy with the energy the kids played with tonight in the second half and their attention to detail,” Sullivan said.

Ethan Leibold had a huge game with 33 points and nine rebounds. Kyle Langreck had his best game with 12 points and four rebounds. Jordon Snyder tallied 12 points and eight assists 

Keegan Balk had 10 points, four assists and three rebounds. Eli Nymeyer had four points and two rebounds. Jason Herold tallied four points. Kannan Leuenberger had three points and three rebounds. Mason Goerend, Eli Reicks and Evan Drilling each scored two points. Levi Izer had two rebounds.

Score by quarters

TV   16   16   27   25 - 84

Star 12   15    6    12 - 45

 

Boys: M-C 58, TV 39

Playing Mabel-Canton in Decorah on Saturday, the Trojans fell behind 21-32 at halftime and were unable to rally as M-C earned the 58-39 win.

“Against Mabel-Canton the game was back and forth,” Sullivan said. “At the end of the first quarter we talked to the kids about playing harder and sprinting from one spot to the next, communicating and boxing out and being more physical with them. 

“We didn’t do this after the first quarter and the final three quarters were a constant struggle for us to do any of the things that we talked about. Their physicality was the difference in the game and they got a ton of easy baskets and second chance points because of this. 

Keegan Balk led TV with 16 points, including two threes, and had three rebounds. Evan Drilling had eight points and three rebounds. Ethan Leibold tallied seven points, including one three-pointer, had five rebounds and four assists.

Levi Izer had five points, including one three-pointer. Eli Reicks had three points and two rebounds.