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The
Official Newspaper of Anamosa, located in Jones County, Iowa
Anamosa News
Since 1855
 Thursday,
January 26, 2006 |
Blue pride reigns in Monticello
By
Daryl Schepanski - Sports Editor |
MONTICELLO — You didn’t have to take a look at the final scoreboard to be a proud Raider boys basketball fan Tuesday, January 17, in Monticello.
Yes, the final score showed a resounding 57-39 Panther triumph, but beyond that, this young and inexperienced Anamosa club showed a mettle and a resolve that any grizzled veteran club would yearn for in the face of a packed house in Monticello.
The Raiders pushed the Panthers to the limit before succumbing to the 18-point defeat.
“I am pleased with our effort tonight,” said Anamosa boys basketball coach Kevin Barnes. “I am also pleased with the way we handled their pressure, especially in the first half.”
Anamosa (3-7, 3-5) had their fewest turnovers of the season against one of the top pressure defensive teams in the Tri-Rivers Conference in Monticello as point guard Tony Lueken as well as guards Colten Kelly and Andrew Peters helped against the pursuing Panthers all game long. |
Court awareness
Anamosa senior Miles Weber wraps a pass around Monticello’s Matt Wennekamp during first half action from the Raiders’ 57-39 setback Tuesday, January 17. (Journal-Eureka photo by Daryl Schepanski)
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It seemed Monticello was going to run away and hide early on as a veteran squad that saw three seniors and two juniors take to the floor at the start raced to a n 11-4 lead but the Raider boys settled down and cut into the Panther lead at the first quarter horn trailing just 16-12.
“Defensively we had problems with them getting the ball deep on the baseline all night long,” said Barnes. “It didn’t lead to a lot of baskets, but it did lead to a lot of points because they got the ball that deep and then we fouled them.”
The Panthers shot 16 free throws in the contest with 13 of them coming in the second half.
Anamosa kept close early on thanks to the play of Colten Kelly, Lueken, Derek Hart and Andrew Peters on the offensive end.
Kelly came off the Raider bench and scored six quick points in the first half and ignited the Anamosa offense with his high energy and athletic play on the perimeter and around the basket.
Kelly settled down the offense while Lueken ran the point to perfection scoring five points in the game’s first 16 minutes while also getting his teammates involved.
The Raiders played just about point-for-point with the talented Panthers in the second quarter and trailed by just five points, 26-21.
Anamosa continued with the solid play in the third quarter as well hustling all over the floor and throwing themselves after loose balls and pressure the Monticello ball handlers and shooters at every opportunity.
The hosts held a 39-30 advantage after three quarters of play and things began to gradually slip away on the Raiders in the final frame where Monticello used a huge 18-9 spurt to seal Anamosa’s fate in the 18-point defeat.
“Since the Christmas break, we have set a goal for ourselves to improve every time we take the floor and I think you are starting to see that,” said Barnes. “I continue to like the way we work to get better in practice and I think you are starting to see that improvement come out on the court.”
Kelly led the Anamosa team with 12 points while Lueken added seven more dishing out three assists and swiping a pair of steals. Peters and Hart added six points to the effort. |
 Fight to the finish
By
Daryl Schepanski - Sports Editor |
Eyes on the prize
Anamosa senior Sara Schultejans keeps her eyes on Monticello’s Emily Zumbach during the Raiders’ 49-33 loss on the road Friday, January 17. Schultejans and the Raiders gave a talented Panther team all they could handle before succumbing to the 16-point loss. (Journal-Eureka photo by Daryl Schepanski) |
MONTICELLO — If effort, drive, desire and passion counted as points in a girls basketball contest, Anamosa would be ranked tops in class 3A and be sporting an undefeated 2005-2006 regular season to this point.
The Raider girls gave their fans all of that and more Tuesday, January 17, fighting to the finish and hustling up and down the floor playing pressure defense all while attacking offensively with a fierce determination even in a 49-33 loss in Monticello.
“Our effort was there all night long just like it has been all season long,” said Raider girls basketball coach Jack Leighty after his team dug themselves an early hole against the Panthers but never quit battling for 32 minutes non-stop before succumbing to the 16-point setback.
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“When we’re very aggressive on defense, we become a much better team. It seems to effect our offense too and everything just seems to flow much more smoothly. In this game we just dug ourselves too big a hole early on and against a very good team like Monticello, that’s a lot to ask to dig out from.”
Monticello exploded early on scoring 18 first quarter points, but the Raiders hung close adding an impressive 11 of their own to trail by seven points at the first horn.
“We never allowed Monticello to run away and hide in this one but we could never make a big run ourselves and get this one within range to win,” said Leighty. “We’re just not to Monticello’s level of play yet, but we’re getting there. There’s no doubt about that. We have improved so much since the first time we played them and we’re just going to keep getting better and better.”
The Panthers took a 28-17 halftime advantage after outscoring the Raiders 10-6 in the second stanza. After holding the hosts to just five points in the third quarter, the Anamosa (3-11, 3-7) girls closed to within eight points of the hosts trailing 33-25 entering the final frame.
“We cut their lead to six points in the fourth quarter but just couldn’t get any closer than that,” said Leighty. “We did a very nice job covering Monticello’s 3-point shooters and we didn’t do too bad of a job guarding their post players too. They just got more looks at the basket than we did.”
That, as well as a huge 21-of-31 shooting night at the free throw line spelled defeat for the Raiders. Anamosa connected on 9-of-17 from the charity stripe in the contest.
“I was happy with the way the girls responded early on when things weren’t going our way,” said Leighty. “They could have folded the tents but they didn’t. They kept battling and showed everyone what they’re made of.”
Paige Goetz led the Anamosa offensive assault with nine points while Bryn Gerber chipped in with a solid eight-point contest. Traci Dirks and Sara Schultejans each added seven points. |
Anamosa hosts dual tourney
By
Daryl Schepanski - Sports Editor |
Perfect day
Raider junior Robert Young pins Mid-Prairie’s Brandon Cobb in a mere 1:54 on his way to a perfect 5-0 day as Anamosa hosted their annual Raider Dual tournament Saturday, January 21. (Journal-Eureka photo by Daryl Schepanski) |
ANAMOSA — One team stood front and center at the annual Raider Dual tournament hosted by the Anamosa wrestling team Saturday, January 21.
But even against that dominant team from Independence, who posted a perfect 5-0 dual record on the day, the Raiders still managed to hold their own.
“All-in-all, I was happy with the way we wrestled,” said Anamosa wrestling coach Ron Timp. “Our main four guys went out and performed very, very well. We were a little shorthanded having to give up a couple more forfeits than we normally have to, but we don’t worry about team scores here right now, we just work on building a solid foundation of wrestling and work on the game on an individual by individual basis.”
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The Raiders tallied a 2-3 record on the day topping Cascade (40-36) and edging past Mid-Prairie on criteria after the two teams ended the match in a 33-33 tie.
“Wrestling matches don’t usually end in ties,” said Timp. “Basketball has overtime and wrestling has a criteria formula we follow and I guess this one had to go quite a ways down to finally determine we won the match.”
Anamosa opened the tournament with a 53-30 setback against Vinton-Shellsburg.
The Raiders trailed 35-0 in the match before Robert Young, who posted a perfect 5-0 record on the day, tallied a 2:25 pin triumph over Brandon Womach then Lee Hardersen added a 1:11 pin victory over Tyler Helms.
“We finished that match very strong,” said Timp as his team handed the Vikings six forfeit wins totalling 36 free points for the visitors. “ “We won two of the five matches on the mat.”
Mike Levasseur, Jordan Alderdyce and Cole Payton all received forfeit wins.
Against Cascade, a 40-36 win for the hosts, Travis Keltner broke a 36-36 tie at 215 pounds posting a big 12-0 decision over Eric Even to put the Raiders on top.
Hardersen also posted a quick 18-second pin win over Bryce Althoff at 152 pounds as only four matches were actually played out.
The match saw a whopping 10 forfeits between the two teams.
The Raiders battled a tough Independence team next and were handed a 69-9 defeat.
Derek Young got Anamosa on the board posting a 7-4 decision over Andrew Kiler at 135 pounds and Robert Young followed with a 3:29 pin rout of Tim Bagley to complete the Raider scoring.
“Against such a good team, I thought we wrestled well,” said Timp. “We won two of five matches but out of our top four wrestlers, we competed well.”
Anamosa rallied from a 21-0 deficit against Mid-Prairie to catch the Golden Hawks at 33-33 with the Raiders winning on criteria.
Robert Young got the winning started with a 1:54 pin triumph and Jared Husmann followed with a 3:39 pin win over J.J. Vesk at 145 pounds.
Hardersen edged Alex Zimmerman 7-3 and Levasseur pinned Zach Murphy at 160 pounds as the Raiders knotted the score at 21-21.
After a Raider loss at 171 pounds, Alderdyce posted a big 52-second pin win over Justin Widmer at 189 pounds and Keltner tallied a 5:49 pin win at 215 pounds to put the Raiders ahead 33-27. The Golden Hawks posted a pin win at heavyweight to knot the score sending both coaches to the scorer’s table to see the criteria process play out.
The final match of the day saw a 69-9 setback for the hosts against a powerful Columbus Junction club.
Robert Young scored a 3:35 pin win putting the first Raider points on the board after Anamosa trailed 24-0 and Hardersen added a 9-4 decision over Bryant Milder to finish the scoring.
The Raiders finished fourth overall at the six-team dual tournament while Independence was 5-0 followed by Columbus Junction (4-1), Vinton-Shellsburg (3-2), Mid-Prairie (1-4) and Cascade (0-5).
Anamosa hosted North Cedar Tuesday, January 17, and were edged in a 52-30 final against the Knights.
“We won as many matches than we lost,” said Timp as the Raiders went 4-4 in the nine matches against a good Knight club. “Our guys keep working hard and are doing good things.”
Anamosa led 18-10 after Robert Young, Levasseur and James Kryger all won but the Knights won the next seven matches to take control. |
Midland sweeps season series from Lions |
Grasp of the game
Eagle Cassi Baker had a big game scoring 13 points during a 49-33 triumph in Olin Friday, January 20. (Journal-Eureka photo by Daryl Schepanski) |
OLIN — Fans braved treacherous weather conditions and packed into the Olin High School gym Friday, January 20, to watch two of Jones County’s bitter rivals square off as Midland made their annual trip south for a Big East Conference contest.
“This being a rival game, you throw out the records,” said Eagle girls basketball coach Josh Bentley who guided his club to a 53-46 non-conference triumph earlier in December over the Lions completing the season sweep of their Jones County rivals. “To win a game like this you have to scrap and fight for the win and we did that tonight.”
Midland (7-7, 2-4) controlled the game from the outset and withstood several Lion spurts to secure the 16-point victory.
“We did what we needed to do to win tonight,” said Bentley after his club outscored the hosts by a whopping 19-8 score in the final eight minutes of play to pull away and quiet a packed house in Olin.
“Melissa Paulsen hit some key shots for us tonight. Mary Burmeister had a big game on the boards and Cassi baker stepped up scoring inside for us.”
The Eagles took a narrow 8-5 lead after one quarter of play lead after one quarter of play and after adding 19 second quarter points, led 27-20 at the half. |
The third quarter saw both offenses grind to a halt as a total of eight points was scored with the Eagles tallying just three, but still held a 30-25 edge heading into the fourth quarter.
The Lions closed to within 30-26 on a Christina Greene free throw, but the Eagles went on a 7-0 spurt when Baker and Paulsen drilled field goals while Sammy Reid added another as well as a field goal.
Paulsen put the game away for good swishing home a long 3-pointer with 2:25 remaining to give the visitors a 40-28 advantage.
Olin tried one last rally cutting the Eagle lead to seven points, but baskets by Baker and Burmeister as well as two Reid free throws put the finishing touches on the big road triumph.
Paulsen drilled three treys in the win and led Midland with 15 points. Baker added another 13 while Burmeister ripped away an impressive 14 rebounds.
The Eagle girls traveled to Preston Tuesday, January 17, and in another tough road test, Midland played well in a narrow 45-40 setback.
“I am very proud of our girls’ effort,” said Bentley. “They have nothing to hang their heads about.
This is a loss that I hope we can look at and just move on. We need to learn and overcome some things and we will continue to improve.”
The game started out slowly on the offensive end as the Trojans held a 9-4 advantage after one quarter of play, but the Eagles rallied to outscore the hosts 14-10 in the second stanza and trailed by just a point at the half, 19-18.
The Eagles continued their surge in the third quarter as well taking a 26-25 lead into the final frame, but Preston answered at the end and outscored Midland 20-14 over the game’s final eight minutes to pull away for the five-point victory.
Paulsen connected twice from beyond the 3-point arc and led the Eagles with 12 points. Reid and Katie Leonard added seven points each for the visitors while Reid also added four assists, six steals, one block and seven rebounds in a sensational all-around effort.
Amanda Hansen added four assists, five steals and seven rebounds as well for the visitors who shot 31-percent from the field overall. |
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Anamosa Journal-Eureka / Town Crier 2005
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