Richard Daugherty
Greene County’s girls and boys’ basketball teams both scored 59 points on Friday night in Jefferson inside the new gymnasium. That number was a season high for both and resulted in Heart of Iowa Activities Conference victories for the Rams vs. Saydel (Des Moines). Coach Todd Gordon’s girls’ team won 59-42 and Coach Chris Nelson”s boys’ team won 59-45 on Senior Night.
The girls improved to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in conference play with the victory, which broke a three-game losing streak. The Rams more than doubled the 26 points per game they had been averaging. After trailing 29-28 at the half, the Rams scored seven unanswered in the first minute of the third quarter and never tailed again. The 44% shooting from the floor was also a season best, as was five players scoring seven or more points. Junior Brianna Habben had 15 points with a career best 14 from senior Makala Kafer, eight each by senior Sadie Wilson and sophomore Natalie Heupel, and seven from senior Eliza Carlson. Saydel fell to 1-2 and 0-2.
In the boys’ game, a 13-12 Greene County lead at the end of the first quarter grew to 27-21 at halftime, and 46-35 after three quarters of play. Richard Daugherty picked a great time to find his long range shooting touch. The sophomore entered the game averaging 7.5 points and all he did was drill nine three-pointers and finish with a career high 31 points. Junior Bryce Stalder added a pair of three’s and he finished with 12 points. The Rams were 11 of 21 on three-point shots and made 45% of their shots overall. Sophomore Jesse Miller went high off the glass to block a second quarter shot, then came down hard and injured a wrist. He briefly returned to the court, but was taken for x-rays and did not play in the second half. Greene County won for the first time in seven games and is 1-3 in the league while the Eagles played for just the second time and are 0-2 overall and in the HOIAC.
The games were heard on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.
The Greene County girls and boys have three twin bills on the road scheduled next week, all on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoovalleyradio.com starting on Monday at 6 p.m. vs. Panorama in Panora. The girls play first, followed by the boys.