December 5, 2023
The Cardinals swept Pleasantville at home on November 30, winning the girls’ game, 52-44, and the boys’ game, 63-54.
Girls
Five Cardinals scored 8 or more points and their swarming team defense forced 24 turnovers in the win. Like in their opening game earlier in the week, the Cards’ wide range of skills on both ends of the floor—individually and as a team—were on display.
“They can all do a little bit of everything and that’s what we ask them to do,” said Coach Braet. “We have some lineups in there and we’re pretty short and sometimes we’re taller. It’s kind of position-less basketball, but we still label people to go to certain spots if we’re running a specific play.”
For the first three quarters, the Earlham offense was sharp, with crisp ball movement and quick execution, making it difficult for the Trojan defense to keep up.
“Yeah, the offense was better,” said Coach Braet. “We hope it gets better every game—the more they practice it, the more they play together and figure out the flow.”
The Cardinals led, 43-23, with just over a minute to go in the 3rd quarter. The Trojans kept battling, though, and outscored the Cards the rest of the way, 21-9. Full credit goes to Pleasantville for their fine effort, but the Cardinals also got away from what was working so well for them for the first 23 minutes of the game.
“We got a little overly aggressive on defense,” said Coach Braet. “We got a little too greedy, I would say. We’re going to be a streaky shooting team. We were doing great when we made shots and could set up the defense. But then we started missing and tried to trap 80 feet from the basket, which is not the game plan. And we gave them too many easy shots to get back in it. We just need to learn how to play with the lead better. Hopefully that’s something we get to do a lot.”
Five Cardinals scored in a fast-paced 1st quarter. Rowen Fisk opened the scoring with a putback, Lily Conry stole the ball in the front court and went coast-to-coast for a layup-and-one, Kenna Harskamp made a 3-pointer, and the Cards led 8-3. Conry scored two more times in the lane, Avrie Fagan hit 2 3-pointers, and Darby Moore made a layup after a steal. The Trojans’ one scoring option, junior Joelle Johnson, kept them in the game, though, with 3 3-pointers and a deuce. The Cards led after 1, 20-14.
The Cardinals opened the 2nd quarter with a beautiful bucket in transition. After a Cardinal rebound of a Trojan miss, Harskamp threw a long pass to Avrie Fagan in the lane. Fagan made a fine kickout pass to Moore, who drained the 3. That was the last Earlham basket for a while, though, but their defense was tough—keeping Johnson off the board completely and allowing just 4 points in the quarter. In the final 3 minutes of the half, Harskamp made a floater in the lane and then a 3-pointer, and then Fagan sank a 3 just before the buzzer. The Cards led at the half, 31-18.
The Cards opened the 2nd half on an 8-2 run, getting 3 layups by Fisk and 2 buckets by Conry. After Moore fed Fagan for a layup on a fast break, the Cards led, 43-23, with 1:10 to go in the 3rd.
Johnson is currently second in the state in scoring —and she displayed her skills over the final 9 minutes of the game, making athletic baskets from all over the floor. She finished with 29 points. The Cardinals did enough, though, to hang on for the win.
Conry led the Cards with 13 points. Harskamp, Fisk, and Fagan had 9 apiece, and Moore had 8.
A matchup with #3 (Class 2A) Panorama on the road Tuesday highlights this week’s schedule. The Cardinals also play at home, against Central Decatur, on Thursday.
Boys
In a game filled with ebbs and flows, a team wants to ‘flow’ at just the right time. That’s what the Cardinals did last in their conference win over Pleasantville. After an exciting, tight, well-played 28 minutes of basketball, the Cards led by just 3 points. Over the final 4 minutes, they closed out the game with a 9-3 run. That’s the kind of thing that veteran teams do—and this year’s Cardinal roster is filled with experienced players.
“It’s just the will to win that we have,” said Blake Reynolds. “We played as a team the whole game. And played with a lot of intensity, especially at the end to close it out. We knew we wanted that first win, so we played really hard.”
Pleasantville jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead, but the Cards did not panic. Reynolds got the Cardinals going with a 3-pointer and a jumper in the lane. Walker Hale came off the bench and provided a good boost for the Cards, starting with a driving layup and-one. Reynolds hit another 3, Ty Forcht made a driving layup, Blaine Tiedemann made a free throw, Hale buried a 3, and the Cards led, 17-10. Reynolds scored again from the paint, then made 2 free throws, and had 12 points after the 1st quarter.
“I started making shots, so I just wanted to keep shooting,” said Reynolds. “If felt good. I was playing with a lot of passion and intensity. I wanted to keep shooting because I knew I was hot.”
The Cards led after 1, 21-14.
Earlham cooled off in the 2nd, making just 4 of 13 shots. The Trojans made 3 3s in the period, and the score was tied at 32 at halftime.
Jeret Petersen opened the 2nd-half scoring with a layup off a nice feed from Forcht. Pleasantville answered, then got a breakaway dunk to give them their first lead, 36-34, since early in the 1st quarter. The teams exchanged buckets again, with Petersen and Nicholson scoring from the paint, and the game was tied at 38. The Cards would never trail again, scoring 11 of the next 14 points. Petersen sank two free throws, made a short fadeaway jumper after grabbing an offensive rebound, Tanner Morrison and Forcht both made 2 free throws, Reynolds dropped a 3-point bomb at the buzzer, and the Cards led, 49-41, after 3.
In the 4th, Tiedemann made a 3 at 6:49. A minute later, Nicholson was on the scoring end of a beautiful alley-oop play with Reynolds. The Trojans got the next two buckets and trailed, 54-51, with 4:05 left in the game. After that, the Cards dug in and ensured the victory with rugged defense and confident shooting. After 1 free throw by Forcht, Nicholson swished a 3-pointer at 3:28. After a defensive stop, Morrison made an athletic, spinning layup at 2:55. After 2 more stops, Nicholson made a sweet baseline hook shot from just outside the lane and the Cards led, 62-51, at 1:51.
After going scoreless for the two-and-a-half quarters, Nicholson scored 9 points in the last 12 minutes.
“We just changed our mindset at half, doing what we do—playing good defense and scoring,” said Nicholson. “It was the first game. But I definitely woke up. I made a couple layups to get going then extended out to the 3-point line.”
The Trojans made 1 3-pointer in the last couple minutes of the game, but it was too little, too late.
Reynolds paced the Cards with 18 points. Petersen had 10 and Nicholson had 8. Hale grabbed 9 rebounds.
Earlham Echo 
Leave a comment