Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – Liberty High coach Jamie Brandt called the first half of Tuesday’s season opener ‘a struggle’.

Junior forward Isabel Smith described the opening two quarters as ‘a little rough’ while sophomore guard Jenna Saunders labeled the 13-point first half for the Lightning ‘a slow start’.

They were all right.

The Lightning made sure the first half struggles didn’t last for long.

Liberty High overcame a two-point first quarter, rallying from a six-point halftime deficit for a 40-31 win over Fort Madison (0-3) in North Liberty.

“We’ve taken huge strides, last year that probably would have been a loss,” Brandt said. “Just the fact that we came out and we played that hard in the second half and executed was a good sign.”

Saunders scored 12 of her game-high 15 points in the second half and Smith had seven of her 11 after halftime as Liberty High erased a 19-13 Fort Madison halftime lead.

Liberty High shot just 30 percent from the field in the opening half and missed both of its free throw attempts in the opening 16 minutes.

“The first half we were a little rough,” Smith said. “We weren’t in panic mode it was just a little bit of first game jitters. We just weren’t very patient on offense and in the second half we got calmed down and just kind of played basketball.”

Liberty High led 2-0 when Sam McPherson hit a short jumper with 4:58 left in the opening quarter.

That would prove to be all the offensive production for Liberty High in the opening quarter as the Lightning missed their final seven field goal attempts.

A Smith bucket 19 seconds into the second quarter stopped a more than five-minute Liberty High scoring drought but Fort Madison rattled off seven consecutive points to take its biggest lead at 13-4.

“It was a couple of things, first game jitters, trying to do something really good instead of just letting the game come to us but hopefully we learned from that,” Brandt said. “I’m proud of the way they came out the second half and played a lot better.”

Liberty High trailed 19-13 at the half but wasted no time cutting into that lead.

The Lighting outscored Fort Madison 11-3 in the third quarter, holding the Bloodhounds scoreless for six minutes to star the half.

“I think we were all nervous in the first half and we just played our game in the second half and did what we do best,” Saunders said. “We got some good ball movement and we shared the ball well.”

Smith and Saunders combined for 19 of the 27 second-half points for Liberty High including all 11 in the third quarter.

“We talked at halftime about moving the ball on offense, being patient and taking care of the ball,” Smith said. “We just talked about settling in on defense and getting some really good stops.”

After what Brandt characterized as a poor defensive first half the Lightning put the clams on Fort Madison after halftime.

Using pressure defense the Lightning forced 17 second-half turnovers and limited the Bloodhounds to 4-of-15 field goal shooting and 12 points.

“We aren’t really known as a pressure team,” Brandt said. “Last year we kind of sat in a zone because we couldn’t guard anyone and we worked on that a lot in the offseason and these first couple of weeks so I’m definitely proud of how they came out and played defensively.”

Saunders took care of the offense.

After scoring three points on 1-of-4 shooting in the first half Saunders scored eight of the Lightning’s 11 third-quarter points and gave Liberty High its first lead since 2-0 with a conventional 3-point play with 2:48 left.

Fort Madison regained the lead at 22-21 on a Braxtyn McGhaghy 3-pointer but Saunders responded with a triple of her own to put Liberty High up 24-22 after three quarters.

“It’s a big confidence booster to get a couple of shots down,” Saunders said. “After I hit a few my teammates did a good job of getting me open.”
Fort Madison pulled even at 25-all with 6:05 left but Liberty High scored the next eight points, with Saunders and Smith combining for six.

“Isabel has that height advantage but she can also shoot the ball and Jenna is a great shooter,” Brandt said. “I think everyone on our team can score but it helps when they get a couple so then other people get open looks as well.”

Liberty High              2  11  11  16 –  40

Fort Madison            6  13   3    9  –  31

Liberty High (40) – Isabel Smith 5-11 0-0 11, Cecily Johnston 1-2 1-2 3, Megan Davis 1-3 3-6 6, Emily Larsen 0-1 0-0 0, Samantha McPherson 1-7 1-4 3, Jenna Saunders 5-13 3-7 15, Brylee Klosterman 1-2 0-0 2, Haley Napoli 0-3 0-0 0, Kayli Baldwin 0-2 0-0 0, Team 14-44 8-19 40.

Fort Madison (31) – Anna Kester 2-11 0-0 5, Nadia Boeding 1-3 2-2 4, Maddie Rashid 1-7 1-2 4, Eleesha Estrada 0-1 0-0 0, Sarah Bernhardt 0-1 0-4 0, Braxtyn McGhghy 2-5 0-3 5, Dalyn Wondra 0-1 0-0 0, Jassmine Bass 5-12 1-4 11, Anna Lynk 1-4 0-0 2, Team 12-45 4-15 31.

3-point field goals – FM 3-15 (Kester 1-6, Boeding 0-1, Rashid 1-2, McGhghy 1-4, Jassmine Bass 0-1, Lynk 0-1), ICL 4-19 (Smith 1-2, Johnston 0-1, Davis 1-2, Larsen 0-1, McPherson 0-1, Saunders 2-10, Napoli 0-1, Baldwin 0-1). Rebounds – FM 27 (McGhghy 7), ICL (Smith 9). Turnovers – FM 23, ICL 25. Total fouls – FM 16, ICL 17. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.