The Newton High School girls’ basketball team put together a strong first quarter for the second straight game, beating Salina South 58-30 Friday night at Ravenscroft Gym in AV-CTL I play.
Newton improves to 7-1, 3-1 in league play. South drops to 1-6, 0-5 in league play.
Newton finished the game 23 of 38 shooting, mostly layups.
“I thought up until the six-minute mark of the second quarter, we played very solid basketball,” Newton coach Randy Jordan said. “From that point, until halftime, we did some things I was hoping we were past. We stopped playing together as a team. In the second half, we got our focus back. We guarded more together. We ran our offense together. There were a lot of good things tonight and some things I haven’t seen in a game or two.”
Newton was led by Jada Berry with 15 points, DesiRay Kernal with 13, Savannah Simmons with 12 and Kyndal Bacon with 12.
“Desi was really aggressive going to the offensive glass tonight,” Jordan said. “With them playing zone, she was going to have some chances at offensive rebounds. I was glad to see that. We needed that. She also did a good job of finding the rim against the zone. I’m glad she’s getting the confidence to do that.”
Camdyn Schrieber led South with eight points.
Newton jumped out 11-2 in the first five minutes of play, scoring several layups off turnovers or rebounded missed shots by South. After a time out, Taylor Antonowich scored a layup off a steal. Megan Bartel followed with a short jumper off a steal. Savannah Simmons added one more layup off a steal before South scored again. The Cougars added another basket before the end of the period to get within 11, 17-6.
Turnovers were 7-2 against South in the first quarter.
Newton opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run. Fouls and turnovers allowed South to get back in the game late in the quarter, trailing 29-15 at the half.
South was held to one field goal in the second quarter, but hit seven of 12 free throws. Newton finished the half 12 of 20 from the field.
Newton opened the third quarter with a 12-1 run. South got back within 22. Newton led by 23 at the end of the period, 47-24.
Newton opened the fourth quarter with a 9-2 run to start the running clock. The Newton reserves finished the game.
Newton plays Derby at 6 p.m. Tuesday on the road. Derby downed Hutchinson 47-39 Friday to improve to 5-1, 5-0 in league play. The Derby game opens a stretch against high-ranked teams, including McPherson, the Newton Invitational field and Salina Central.
“It’s going to come down to who values the ball the most,” Jordan said. “It’s going to be a game on runs. The team that doesn’t let the other team go on long runs will be successful. We have to put a lot of ball pressure on the perimeter so they can’t get the ball to (6-4 Kennedy Brown). If we give them time to stand and wait for her, they will create a lot of problems. We also have to know where their perimeter shooters are. We can’t just let them sit back and take a lot of threes. They are really good shooters at their place.”
SALINA SOUTH (1-5, 0-5 AV-CTL) — Zamecik 1 1-2 2, 3; Hall 2 1-2 4, 5; Raubenstine 0 0-0 2, 0; Schrieber 4 0-0 1, 8; Connell 0 2-2 0, 2; Weatherd 1 0-0 0, 2; Valdez 1 0-0 4, 2; Maxton 1 0-2 3, 2; Cox 1 4-6 2, 6; Simon 0 0-0 0, 0; Copes 0 0-0 0, 0; Schuman 0 0-0 0, 0; TOTALS 11 8-14 18, 30.
NEWTON (7-1, 3-1 AV-CTL I) — T.Antonowich 1 0-0 0, 2; Simmoms 6 0-1 0 12; Anderson 1 0-0 1, 2; Bartel 1 0-0 1, 2; Nichols 0 0-0 2m 0; Bacon 2 (2) 2-3 3, 12; Kernal 4 5-8 3, 13; Berry 6 3-5 3, 15; Brewer 0 0-0 2, 0; L.Antonowich 0 0-0 0, 0; Dorrell 0 0-0 0, 0; TOTALS 21 (2) 10-17 14, 58.
S.South;6;9;9;6;—30
Newton;17;12;18;11;—58