Marshalltown Bobcats

The Bobcats battled back from a 7-0 opening deficit to take the lead at several moments in the second half, but the Tigers’ pressure defense wore away at the Bobcats, forcing turnovers when, combined with Grinnell offensive rebounds, provided an escape plan for the visitors.

“We spotted them seven points to start, and it took us too long to wake up where when we finally made our run we’re chipping away at a lead instead of taking a lead,” MHS head coach Brian Murphy said. “We came out strong in that third quarter and we’re still barely inching forward. “The consistency part is the next step, not allowing things to fluctuate so wildly.”

Jorja Janssen had the hot hand for a stretch in the middle of the game, making three 3-pointers followed by a triple for Kinsley Bowie that gave Marshalltown its first lead of the night at 29-27 with six minutes left in the third quarter.

Morgan Hilderbrand added two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to keep the Bobcats on pace with Grinnell.

“The shots falling boosts confidence for the girls on the floor, but it gets our bench going, gets our defense going, and it’s such a spark plug,” Murphy said. “These girls really want to see each other succeed, and that enthusiasm is just really contagious.”

Frankie Long hit the back end of a pair of free throws for Marshalltown’s final lead of the game at 37-36 with 4:30 left in the game. The Bobcats got a couple defensive stops to follow, but a costly backcourt turnover resulted in a Ella Seney bucket for Grinnell with under 3 1/2 minutes to play and MHS never led again.

After almost two scoreless minutes, Grinnell used multiple offensive rebounds leading to a Dana Hope bucket, with officials also whistling Frankie Long for her fifth foul in the process. An untimely Bobcats turnover — MHS unofficially committed 30 total in the game — led to another Tiger possession extended by offensive rebounds and a 3-pointer from Aiden Gosselink to make it 43-37 with 50 seconds left. Gosselink finished with 22 points to lead all scorers.

“I absolutely thought we were worn down,” Murphy said. “The challenge as an athlete is when you’re absolutely exhausted and fatigued, to slow your mind down in order to make good decisions. … It’s tough as a coach to ask the kids playing heavy minutes to keep digging deep, keep coming back to it. … We’re leading by one and in a 90-second stretch we barely got the ball across halfcourt for three possessions.”

Janssen and Long finished with nine points each; Long added 11 rebounds and four blocked shots. Millie Heitmann scored five points with eight assists and six rebounds; Ellie Hughes chipped in nine rebounds.

After almost a week off between last Tuesday’s loss to Mason City and Monday, the Bobcats (5-10) are back at it Tuesday at Fort Dodge — the Dodgers beat MHS in the Roundhouse, 40-21, on Dec. 20.

“A lot of small things are adding up to big things,” Murphy said. “I don’t want players to dwell on their mistakes but we need them to learn, and especially in that fourth quarter we reverted back to what we were ding early in the game, and not recognizing that it didn’t work then, either. … We have a really successful play and then follow it up with one that deflates us. We’ve got to keep building momentum, as opposed to letting that energy fluctuate so wildly.”

Grinnell 44, Marshalltown 39

GRINNELL (6-10) — Hope Dana 6 2-8 15, Ella Seney 2 3-4 7, Isabel Kenkel 0 0-4 0, Aiden Gosselink 7 7-12 22, Mayci Andrews 0 0-0 0, Terriyah Carter 0 0-0 0, Ava Seney 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 15 12-28 44.

MARSHALLTOWN (5-10) — Kinsley Bowie 2 1-2 7, Millie Heitmann 2 1-2 5, Jorja Janssen 3 0-2 9, Ellie Hughes 0 0-0 0, Frankie Long 3 3-7 9, Niah Lott 0 3-4 3, Morgan Hilderbrand 2 0-0 6. TOTALS 12 8-17 39.

GRINNELL 15 12 4 13 — 44

MHS 9 14 7 9 — 39

3-Point Goals–Grinnell 2 (Dana, Gosselink), MHS 7 (Janssen 3, Bowie 2, Hilderbrand 2). Team Fouls–Grinnell 12, MHS 19. Fouled Out–Long.