Warhawks surge to win over Bulldogs

HAMPTON — Two teams that have been going in different directions met in a clash of Franklin County teams on Saturday, Jan. 23.

West Fork, winners of four out of their last five, and the Bulldogs, which had just snapped an eight-game losing streak against a struggling Fort Dodge St. Edmond squad met for the 12th time ever for Coaches vs. Cancer.

The culmination was the biggest win for the Warhawks in this series, a 58-40 triumph for coach Rodney Huber’s team in which the Bulldogs were never truly in it.

“A couple games ago against Northwood was our most complete game,” Huber said. “And last night against Newman, we struggled in the first half, missed a lot of shots, but our defense carried and I thought maybe did some really nice things down the stretch in that game.

“Tonight, we shot the ball really well, we defended as a team, especially on their two good players and then I think we are peaking at the right time, which is fun to see.”

Whereas West Fork has shot just 33 percent from the field all season long, against the Bulldogs, the Warhawks shot 42.5 percent and was less than 50 percent at the free throw line season-long, was 67.9 on Saturday.

“Absolutely,” Valley said of West Fork’s shot percentage. “Whatever motivation, they had it and they shot well. I was hoping maybe their legs would be tired. I know they had a tough game last night, but that was not the case.”

Valley was referring to West Fork’s 54-48 win against Mason City Newman, something Huber had referred to, as well.

Huber wholeheartedly agreed with the assessment his team shot better than all season.

“Especially from the free throw line,” he said. “That’s been an emphasis of ours, we haven’t shot 50 percent all year long and the last few games have started to turn those things around a little bit. Maybe a little bit more concentration and confidence. That’s a huge part of the game, especially since we got to the free throw line 28 times, that’s a big deal.”

While the Bulldogs got 31 of their 40 points from their top two players, Avery Hanson and Lauren Meader, they lost the latter of the two with five and a half minutes left.

At that point, the Bulldogs had just cut the deficit to single digits. She didn’t want to venture to guess the status of Meader.

“We’d just gotten it to nine,” Valley said. “I mean, we didn’t play hard enough that game to win. They outplayed us, so we could have made a run when we cut it to nine but they’d hit a shot.

“I don’t know, we’ll talk to trainers. I’m not going to make that call, it’s not up to me.”

West Fork also used its depth to its advantage with seven of their 10 players scoring.

“They took Rylie (Akins) away pretty good, but Emma (Martinek) had a good game and Ellie (Weaver) stepped up and had a good game. We have faith in all of our players to take shots and make shots. On any given night, it could be somebody different. That’s a big part of it.”

Martinek led all scorers with 24 points. Ellie Weaver added 11.

“Really fun group and they’re learning how to play together, which is really awesome,” Huber said. “We’re still young, which is the exciting part about it. We can get even better.”

Valley is focusing on trying to get her team off their slide.

“We’ve got a couple of games coming up this week that are winnable,” Valley said. “We’re going to let this one hurt for a little bit, go back to the drawing board and get ready for Webster City.”

West Fork 58

Bulldogs 40

W. Fork      21   15   14   14      -   58

Bulldogs    10     6   15     9      -   40

West Fork (10-5)— Makenzie Fessler 0-5 1-2 1, Maddie Huber 2-3 2-2 6, Ellie Weaver 5-9 1-5 11, Madisyn Bonner 1-4 4-6 6, Emma Martinek 5-10 11-12 24, Mycah Weaver 0-0 0-0 0, Rylie Akins 3-7 0-1 8, Keelee Sheriff 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 17-40 19-28 58.

Bulldogs (5-10)— Teaghan Bird 0 0-0 0, Alana Johnson 0 0-0 0, Lauren Meader 5 1-2 13, Zoe Erdman 0 0-0 0, Avery Hanson 6 6-10 18, Gina Schmit 3 0-0 7, Faith Grover 0 0-0 0, Kasey Springer 1 0-0 2, Skylar Valley 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 7-12 40.

Three-point goals— WF 5-14 (Martinek 3-5, Akins 2-5, Hubka 0-1, E. Weaver 0-1, Fessler 0-2); H-D 3 (Meader 2, Schmit). Rebounds— WF 25 (Bonner 6, Martinek 5, E. Weaver 4, Hubka 3, Akins 3, Sheriff 3, Fester); H-D, NA. Assists— WF 12 (Hubka 4, Bonner 2, Fessler, E. Weaver, Martinek, M. Weaver, Akins, Sheriff); H-D, NA. Steals— WF 6 (Fessler 3, E. Weaver, Martinek); H-D, NA. Blocks— WF, None; H-D, NA. Fouls— WF 11, H-D, NA. Fouled out— None.