Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – Liberty High coach Jamie Brandt could sense what was missing from her team during the first half of its home opener against Keokuk on Tuesday.

“We were lacking a little bit of energy and effort in the first half,” Brandt explained.

The Lightning head coach also knew precisely how to manufacture that missing early energy at halftime.

Brandt made a defensive switch and freshman Madeline Casey made a near half-court shot as Liberty High (2-1) rallied from a nine-point second half hole to down Keokuk 61-50 in a non-conference contest in North Liberty.

Trailing 37-28 with under three minutes to play in the third quarter Brandt took a timeout and put on some full court pressure.

Liberty High responded with a 16-3 run to end the quarter that was capped by a 50-foot 3-pointer by Casey that barely beat the buzzer.

“I think when we get up and pressure people we just naturally play harder and get some of those 50-50 balls,” Brandt said. “I challenged them at halftime to come out with a different mentality and focus on defense and rebounding and that’s kind of what we did in the second half.”

Liberty High scored the first four points of the game and didn’t lead again until Casey scored on a transition layup off a steal with 31 seconds left in the third quarter.

Casey had all eight of her points during the 16-3 third-quarter run by Liberty High as the freshman guard scored the final eight points of the quarter for Liberty High in span of 49 seconds.

“I was really off in the first half and got kind of down on myself but once I made a shot it got things going and the bench really helped with that, their energy carried us,” Casey said. “Once one person starts knocking downs shots everyone started knocking down shots and that really changed the game around.

Keokuk took a 37-28 lead on a layup by Kayde Martin with 3:36 left in the third quarter.

A Mischa Reiners put back started a 6-0 run for Liberty High and the Lightning closed to 39-36 on a pair of Brynlee Slockett free throws with 1:03 left in the quarter.

Liberty High used its full-court pressure defense to force seven Keokuk turnovers in the third quarter, turning several into easy baskets.

“The energy from our press really picked up,” junior Jasmine Barney said. “We came out with all those steals and I just think got us going.”

It was the freshman Casey that got Liberty High over the hump in the final minute of the third quarter.

Casey hit her first 3-pointer of the game from the left wing with 49 seconds left in the quarter to tie the game at 39.

Liberty High got a steal on the ensuing Keokuk possession and Casey converted a transition layup to give the Lightning a 41-39 lead.

“She is a freshman but she doesn’t play like it, she doesn’t make mistakes and our team has kind of rallied around her being our shooter so anytime it goes up everyone on the bench believes it is going in,” Brandt said. “Anytime she hits a three it gets us going.”

Abby Wolter hit a free throw with 2.6 seconds left to cut the lead to 41-40 but Casey gave the momentum right back to Liberty High.

She took a few dribbles passing half court and sank a running 3-pointer to give the Lightning a 44-40 lead.

“I have never made a half-court shot in a game before and I didn’t know it was going in,” Rogers said. “I was really shocked.”

Brandt was less surprised.

“We play a game in practice where we work on half court shots a lot so it didn’t surprise me that she made it,” Brandt said. “It surprised her but it didn’t surprise me.”

Barney hit a 3-pointer just eight seconds into the fourth quarter to put Liberty High up by seven and the Chiefs never got closer than six the rest of the way.

After missing all five 3-point attempts while going 2-of-14 from the field in the opening quarter Liberty High was 9-of-14 from 3-point range over the final 24 minutes.

Coach just told us to keep shooting and look for the open shot,” Barney said. “We knew shots would go in.”

Barney had a team-high 15 points as six players finished with at least seven points for the Lightning.

Ava Meyer and Slockett each had nine while Casey had eight and Avery Gaudet seven but it was a defense that forced 16 Keokuk turnovers and held the Chiefs to 34 percent shooting over the final three quarters that was the difference.

“Coach really emphasized defense and not letting them get in the paint,” Rogers said. “We fired up on offense but defense was the main thing that got us going.”

Liberty High               9  14  21  17  –  61  

Keokuk                      18  9   13  10  –  50

Liberty High (61) – Avery Gaudet 1-6 4-4 7, Kinsley Robertson 0-1 0-0 0, Libby Allen 0-0 0-3 0, Jasmine Barney 5-10 3-4 15, Bella Tafolla 1-2 0-0 3, Kennedy Daugherty 0-3 0-0 0, Brynlee Slockett 3-7 2-2 10, Ava Meyer 2-6 4-4 9, Mischa Reiners 4-5 1-2 9, Madeline Casey 3-7 0-1 8, Totals 19-47 14-20 61.

Keokuk (50) – Natalie Ames 1-4 0-0 3, Makenna Altgilbers 1-2 0-0 3, Makayla Altgilbers 4-6 0-0 8, Abby Wolter 6-15 6-18 18, Irelynn Seay 0-1 0-0 0, Kayde Martin 4-9 4-6 12, Abby Belba 2-4 0-0 4, Camryn Atterberg 0-0 2-2 2, Totals 18-41 12-26 50.

3-point field goals – ICL 9-19 (Gaudet 1-2, Barney 2-3, Tafolla 1-2, Daugherty 0-1, Slockett 2-3, Meyer 1-3, Casey 2-5), KEO 2-10 (N. Ames 1-3, M. Altgilbers 1-2, Wolter 0-2, Seay 0-1, Martin 0-2). Rebounds – ICL 27 (Meyer, Barney, Casey 5), KEO 36 (Maka. Altgilbers 9). Turnovers – ICL 9, KEO 16. Total fouls – ICL 18, KEO 18. Fouled out – ICL (Reiners). Technical fouls – None.

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