DES MOINES — Class 1A No. 8 Grandview Christian used a pressing defense — made even more effective by the regulation-sized floor at Wells Fargo Arena — to force 34 turnovers en route to a 63-25 win over the Woodward-Granger girls Monday.
“This was a simple case of us not showing up,” W-G head coach Gary Dresback said. “They are a good team, but not as good as we made them look. We could not do much right in this one — taking care of the ball and getting shots was the biggest issue.”
Dresback said the poor play of his team helped to generate much of the margin on the scoreboard.
“We made them out to be better than DMC, who we played last Friday,” he said. “We did not turn the ball over anywhere near that many times last Friday against a bigger, better team. Everything was a struggle … back to the drawing board.”
The Hawks trailed only 12-8 after one frame, but found themselves facing a 28-15 deficit at the half. The gap grew to 46-24 after three quarters, with the Thunder using a 17-1 spurt in the final eight minutes to generate the 38-point margin of victory.
Mary Hansen led W-G with 13 points, with Maggi Mallon scoring four points, Riley Jamison and Alyssa Bice three points apiece and Emily Kuehl two points. Hansen had eight rebounds, Jamison five, Kuehl four and Mallon three.
W-G returns to action Friday with a trip to Van Meter for a WCC contest.
