Rams take unbeaten Kuemper down to wire

Kelsey Eischeid hit 9-of-10 free throws in the final five minutes to help Kuemper Catholic withstand a near Glenwood girls basketball upset bid in a 63-55 Hawkeye 10 Conference victory for the Knights on Friday.

The way Glenwood started, it didn’t look like Kuemper (12-0) was the undefeated team and the Rams’ the 8-5 upstart. Glenwood opened the game by scoring the first seven points and led 13-4 before Kuemper hit a pair of three pointers to close out the first frame.

The Knights opened the second quarter the way they ended the first: shooting the ball. Kuemper wheeled off 12 straight points, thanks to three Ram turnovers to open the quarter. The Knights closed out the half on a 15-5 run to lead 25-15 at the break.

“We came out like we wanted to and the first quarter was good,” said Glenwood coach Barry Loeffelbein. “But we stopped getting the ball inside when they went to the zone. Still, just a few ball handling things there and we’re right there at half.”

Glenwood struggled to solve the Knights’ 1-2-2 zone all night. With the Rams’ post-game bottled up, their outside shooting fared little better, connecting on just 2-of-8 three pointers.

“That hurt us,” said Loeffelbein. “We’re not a great outside shooting team and that hurt us (against the zone). But we hit some shots to keep us in it. It just seemed like we’d hit a shot to cut it to four (points) and then get it back up to 10. I was proud of them. They battled to the end.”

Kuemper extended its lead to as many as 14 points in the second half. Glenwood managed to chip away at the lead, cutting it to three with just over two minutes remaining on a three-pointer and a steal and layup by VanScoy. But the Rams would get no closer than that as Kuemper, and Eischeid’s clutch free throw shooting, sealed the win in the final minutes.

Eischeid, an all-Hawkeye 10 point guard, and her teammates hit 19-of-22 at the line to the Rams’ respectable 11-of-15. But all those free points caught up with Glenwood.

“That’s a lot of free throws. And they made a lot. They shoot them well. (Kelsey) Eischeid is tough. We didn’t want to foul her but she always has the ball,” Loeffelbein said. “It seemed like she was there (on the line) all night.”

Loeffelbein admitted the result may have been the same Friday, but this was not the same Glenwood girls basketball team that lost 68-33 to Kuemper in December.

“They’re pretty tough,” said Loeffelbein when asked if the Knights are the best his team has faced this season. “They kicked us by 30 something the first time so we’re pleased we chopped that down, but I thought we had a chance to win it the way we started. The first game we gave them a lot of easy ones (baskets). We didn’t do that tonight.”

Eischeid led all scorers with 23 points.

Morgan Lucy led Glenwood with 17 and Lexi Fisher added 16.

Glenwood 52,

Atlantic 28

Glenwood outscored Atlantic 29-15 in the second half of a 52-28 Hawkeye 10 Conference victory last Tuesday.

Ana VanScoy, Lexi Fisher and Morgan Lucy all had 14 points to lead the Rams

Taylor Young led Atlantic with five points.