What we learned in West Burlington's victory over Central Lee in girls basketball
With four starters graduated from last year's state tournament team, the West Burlington girls basketball team has some big shoes to fill this season.
The young Falcons are starting to find their groove just two games in.
Led by juniors Kenna Marlow and Abbey Bence, two players who saw significant playing time a year ago, West Burlington is off to a 2-0 start.
The Falcons are back to their old ways of pressure defense leading to easy breakout baskets on the offensive end, as witnessed in Friday's 52-33 victory over Central Lee in an SEI Superconference South Division game at West Burlington High School.
It was just the kind of performance West Burlington head coach John Vandenberg was looking for from his team early in the season.
“I learned that we are obviously a fast-paced team," said Marlow, who tossed in a game-high 21 points to lead three Falcons in double figures. "We like to have fast breaks. We are a very young team. We only have two seniors — Riley (Richards) and Stacey (Dzawo). Amazing posts. I think as a young team it’s easy to learn more about each other and use our speed and strengths to get to where we need to be.”
“I learned we can’t hold onto the ball if we have to," Vandenberg said. "Our first game we tried to go too fast. Today we tried to slow it down a little bit more and look before we took off. They’re learning. It’s going to be a little bit of a learning kid with losing so many kids. I think we have the horses to do it. They do learn as we go. That’s even more impressive that we can learn from the first quarter to the second quarter. But we’ve got some things to overcome.”
More helter skelter
Sydney Marlow and Annaka Harris wreaked havoc at the top of the West Burlington press the last four seasons, setting numerous records in the process.
Kenna Marlow and Logan Kelley already have shown they can create plenty of chaos of their own.
And they have developed chemistry together, finding one another on fastbreaks for easy baskets.
“Logan is an amazing, outstanding player," Marlow said. "She is very fast. She’s a quick girl. She knows where the ball needs to be and where she needs to be in her spots. She can finish. She can put the ball in the hoo and that’s what we need.”
“She’s very quick. She just has to learn this isn’t softball. It’s basketball. It has to go in the hole. She’s going to be a real, real good player for us," Vandenberg said of Kelley. “(Marlow) does a great job for us. She really made them throw the ball a long ways, farther than they wanted to. When they arc that pass, we have better chances to steal. Because of that she is getting rewarded in the points because she is up top. But she does a great job. We can put Bella up there to give her a break and move her around a little bit. We have some mobility with our players, too.”
Defense, defense, defense
Vandenberg's teams have been known for playing stingy defense through the years. This year's group is no different.
West Burlington limited the Lady Hawks to just 23.4 percent (11-of-47) shooting from the field, including 10.7 percent (3-of-28) from 3-point range.
West Burlington was able to turn many of those missed shots into transition baskets.
“We’ve got some kids who can shoot and score," Vanenberg said. "I’m still worried about our defense. Of course, I’m a defensive guy, so I want that to be perfect. We have some loose ends to tie up there.”
“The missed shots allowed them to get run outs," Central Lee head coach Jay Baldwin said. "We lost a little confidence and they missed a few shots. It’s the first time for four of them. I think if we had hit some shots something may have been a little bit different. We never got into a rhythm.”
Shots will fall for Central Lee
The Lady Hawks have plenty of good athletes. When their shots start falling, the Lady Hawks are going to be trouble for many teams.
Trailing 24-13 at halftime, Central Lee got two baskets from Macy Watkins and one each from Alivia Myhre and Mya Lampe to cut the Falcons' lead to 26-21.
Unfortunately for the Lady Hawks, those shots stopped falling and West Burlington built its lead back to double-digits.
“We made some adjustments at halftime. Macy got into foul trouble and the referee let the ball inbounds before we could sub for her. That really hurt us bad," Baldwin said. "We’re learning. We’re not winning. We’re learning. We’ll get better. I thought we played pretty good defense toward the end for the most part. There were just a lot of little mental breakdowns.”
On the horizon
West Burlington travels to play Class 1A's seventh-ranked Notre Dame on Tuesday at Father Minett Gymnasium after visiting Mount Pleasant on Saturday afternoon.
Central Lee (2-1, 1-1) hosts Danville on Tuesday at Donnellson.
By the numbers
CENTRAL LEE (33)
Makayla Morrison 3-13 1-4 9, Alivia Myhre 2-15 4-6 8, Maura Watkins 0-3 1-2 1, Macy Watkins 3-4 2-4 8, Mya Lampe 3-12 0-0 7, Karlie Pohren 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 11-47 8-16 33.
WEST BURLINGTON (52)
Kenna Marlow 9-14 2-4 21, Rylee Richards 2-5 0-0 4, Logan Kelley 5-10 3-4 13, Abbey Bence 5-13 1-3 11, Stacey Dzawo 0-3 2-2 2, Isabella Blaufuss 0-0 0-0 0, Taryn Havener 0-1 0-0 0, Lauren Summers 0-2 0-0 0, Kyra Garr 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 21-48 9-15 52.
Score by quarters
Central Lee. 6. 7. 9 11. — 33
West Burlington. 14. 10. 12. 16. — 52
Fouls: Central Lee 15, West Burlington 15. Fouled out: Macy Watkins. Technicals: None. 3-point goals: Central Lee 3-28 (Morrison 2-9, Lampe 1-9, Maura Watkins 0-2, Myhre 0-8), West Burlington 1-9 (Marlow 1-3, Kelley 0-1, Havener 0-1, Bence 0-2, Summers 0-2).
Records: Central Lee 2-1 overall (1-1 SEI Superconference South Division), West Burlington 2-0 (2-0).
This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: West Burlington limits Central Lee to 23.4 percent shooting from field
