Raiderettes snap losing streak with two wins

By Editor | January 24, 2024 |

Looking at a three-game week, the Mount Ayr girl’s basketball team came into last week’s games limping off of a pair of losses to state-ranked Martensdale-St. Mary’s and Nodaway Valley and a 6-4 overall record.
The losses to their POI foes were the first POI losses for the Raiderettes.
Like much of the state, weather has played a role in the second half of the season and last week was no exception.
Last Monday’s game (January 15) with Murray was postponed due to weather.
The Raiderettes would play a pair of home games against POI foes Bedford and Lenox. Mount Ayr would defeat both, improving to 8-4 overall and 5-2 in the POI.
The Raiderettes sit a one-game back of second place Nodaway Valley and Central Decatur who are both 6-1 in the POI.
Mount Ayr has another three-game week this week. Mount Ayr played at Centerville Monday night and will travel to Corning Thursday to play SW Valley, and travel to Corydon Friday to play at Wayne.
Mount Ayr plays four games the following week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, starting with a road game at Stanton on January 29, before hosting Nodaway Valley on January 30.
The Raiderettes picked up a big 56-40 home win over Bedford last Tuesday to sweep the season series between the schools.
Mount Ayr won at Bedford, 54-44 on December 8. The win snapped a two-game losing streak.
Mount Ayr shot 38-percent from the floor and had three players reach double figures.
Izzy Gilbertson led with 18 points and 8 rebounds and Jaxy Knight scored 15 points and added 6 steals, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. Knight and Gilbertson each had 13 points in the Raiderettes win at Bedford the first time the teams met this season. Dannie Stewart chipped in 12 points, 6 assists, 6 steals, and 5 rebounds.
Alexis Perkins led Bedford in scoring with eight points and 15 rebounds.
Head coach Thad Streit said he was pleased with his team’s win.
“I was super pleased with our effort tonight, we played hard and established ourselves early,” he said.
Later in the week, Mount Ayr played at Lenox. There, the Raiderettes also swept the season series between the schools.
Mount Ayr beat Lenox at home back on December 5, 78-59. The first match-up saw a pair of 30-point scorers, one for each team that night. Lenox junior Sadie Cox scored 30 points and grabbed 20 rebounds. Mount Ayr got 30 points from junior Jaxy Knight to go with seven assists.
Last week, Lenox bottled up Knight, who scored three points, but Mount Ayr got the last laugh as they left town with a 56-47 POI win, their second in a row.
Three Raiderettes scored in double figures. Breya Nickle led with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Dannie Stewart scored 16 points, her second game in a row with double figures, and Izzy Gilbertson added 13 points and 8 rebounds. Stewart had 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals. Jaylee Shaffer chipped in 4 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Mount Ayr shot 45 percent from the floor and made six three-pointers. Saide Cox was held to 16 points and 17 rebounds by the Raiderette defense. No other Tiger reached double figures.
“Once we settled down and figured things out, we were great. But we gave up too many easy buckets to begin with. I am proud of this effort tonight, Lenox is a tough place to play and this was a big win,” said Mount Ayr coach Thad Streit.
Each team scored 15 points in the opening quarter as the game was tied going to the second. Mount Ayr was three points better than Lenox in the second quarter, out-scoring the Tigers 12-9 before taking a 27-24 halftime lead. Mount Ayr would out-score Lenox 20-14 in the third quarter to extend their lead to 47-38 after three quarters. Each team scored nine points in the final quarter.
The win by Mount Ayr snapped a season-best four-game win streak by Lenox. The Tigers had beaten Diagonal, SW Valley, Griswold, and SE Warren in four straight games before playing the Raiderettes. The win by Mount Ayr was their fourth straight over Lenox. In the last 31 meetings, Mount Ayr is 27-4 against Lenox.
Mount Ayr 56, Bedford 40
1 2 3 4 Final
Bedford 8 12 8 12 40
MA 19 16 9 12 56
BEDFORD (40): Cadence Perkins 2-8 1-2 6, Bridgett Murphy 1-10 1-2 3, Kendra Sleep 1-5 0-0 2, Alexis Perkins 4-8 0-0 8, Vanessa Hill 2-9 1-1 6, Caroline Simmons 2-6 0-0 4, MaKayla Nicholas 1-1 0-0 2, Aniya Hardee 4-7 1-2 9, Jaynee Snethen 0-1 0-2 0. Totals: 17-55 4-9 40.
MOUNT AYR (56): Jaylee Shaffer 1-4 0-0 3, Dannie Stewart 5-10 1-2 12, Breya Nickle 2-15 1-3 6, Jaxy Knight 5-9 4-7 15, Izzy Gilbertson 7-11 4-4 18, Abby Larson 1-3 0-0 2, MaKel Jones 0-2 0-0 0, Adalynn Dredge 0-0 0-0 0, Karly Elwood 0-0 0-0 0, Kensie Barnes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-54 10-16 56.
3-Pt. FG: MA 4-18 (Nickle 1-6, Shaffer 1-4, Knight 1-3, Stewart 1-2, Jones 0-2, Larson 0-1). Rebounds: 33 (Nickle 9, Gilbertson 8, Stewart 5, Knight 4, Shaffer 3, Elwood 2, Barnes 1, Larson 1). Assists: 18 (Stewart 6, Knight 3, Gilbertson 3, Shaffer 2, Barnes 2, Nickle 1, Larson 1). Steals: 18 (Stewart 6, Knight 6, Nickle 2, Gilbertson 2, Shaffer 1, Elwood 1). Blocked Shots: 3 (Gilbertson 2, Knight 1). Total Fouls: 10. Fouled Out: none.
Mount Ayr 56, Lenox 47
1 2 3 4 Final
MA 15 12 20 9 56
L 15 9 14 9 47
MOUNT AYR (56): Jaylee Shaffer 2-9 0-0 4, Dannie Stewart 6-10 2-2 16, Breya Nickle 6-13 3-3 18, Jaxy Knight 1-5 0-0 3, Izzy Gilbertson 6-8 1-2 13, MaKel Jones 0-0 2-2 2, Karly Elwood 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 21-46 8-9 56.
LENOX (47): Zoey Reed 4-17 0-0 9, Delandy Funk 0-5 0-0 0, Izzy Curtis 4-11 0-0 9, Sadie Cox 6-13 4-7 16, Kaitlyn VanGelder 2-5 1-2 5, Piper Brokaw 3-10 0-0 8. Totals: 19-61 5-9 47.
3-Pt. FG: MA 6-18 (Nickle 3-6, Stewart 2-6, Knight 1-3, Shaffer 0-3). Rebounds: 36 (Nickle 8, Gilbertson 8, Stewart 6, Shaffer 5, Knight 4, Jones 4, Elwood 1). Assists: 19 (Stewart 6, Knight 4, Shaffer 3, Nickle 3, Gilbertson 3). Steals: 9 (Stewart 4, Nickle 2, Shaffer 1, Knight 1, Jones 1). Blocked Shots: 3 (Gilbertson 2, Nickle 1). Total Fouls: 9. Fouled Out: none.