Game Report: Ottumwa At Fort Madison

Fort Madison hosted Ottumwa for their first regular season contest of the year. To start the game it was a back and forth contest, being only a one point difference going into the second quarter, 12-11. In the second, that's when Fort Madison made their mark on the game. The Bloodhounds won the second 16-9, taking a 28-20 lead into the half and they never looked back. From there the third and fourth quarters were basically dead even between both teams, leading to a Bloodhounds victory in the very end, 58-45.   In this article we highlight five prospects that did their thing and showed out in this battle to start the season.   Thanks for tuning in and enjoy!    [player_tooltip player_id='1445509' first='Hadley' last='Wolfe'] started off this game out on fire offensively, making several jump shots from the midrange and behind the three point line in the first quarter. From there, she kept up the pace and continued to play a solid overall contest for the rest of the game. A contest in which Fort Madison came out victorious, 58-45. Wolfe is a lefty who likes to pull up for jump shots whenever she has space on the attack. She understands how to get into open space for attempts either off the dribble or off the catch and she knows how to work off of ball screens. Wolfe also plays solid defense at her position. She doesn't have an incredibly fast pace but she moves effortlessly and she has a lot go energy to go around, which helps her stack up against the guards. This was a good first showing for the Bloodhounds. Now they just need to build on it.     [player_tooltip player_id='1169794' first='Emma' last='Ryder'] was as good as advertised in her first Varsity contest in this ball game. Ryder, a 6'1 PF/C, has that mixture of size, speed, talent, and coordination that all coaches love to work with. In this one Ryder did her work in the middle. She started early on by running the floor and getting some buckets in transition. She moves from there to working out of the post with her back to the basket and handling smaller matchups over the top that tried to stop her. There were even times that Fort Madison was trying to front and back Ryder on the block but that didn't work as Ottumwa still managed to get her the ball in favorable positions for easy looks next to the bucket. This is a top prospect out of the 2029 Class coming into the high school ranks so I'm happy that she showed out in her first opportunity.     The advisory to Ryder in this contest for Fort Madison was [player_tooltip player_id='1445508' first='Halle' last='Menke']. Menke is a 6'0 C/PF with some ample ability overall. She can handle the rock off the dribble at a better than average rate, she can pass with either hand out of the post or out of the perimeter, and she can handle her individual matchups when she has time + space on blocks. Menke was a real leader throughout this one. She showed a little bit of everything while demonstrating her patented turn-around step-back out of the post with her left hand. This happens to be a team with not a lot of size so I'm sure that Menke will play most of the minutes this season on the inside. If that is the case, I'm sure she will average some noteworthy numbers by the end of the year.     [player_tooltip player_id='1090884' first='Hayden' last='Keith'] was the best overall guard for Ottumwa in this first game of their year because of her natural instinct to jump to the ball defensively while being a consistent threat on all levels offensively. Keith started off the game with an assist for a layup off the tipoff. She followed that with hitting some three pointers off the catch from the corner and wing in the first half. Defensively, she was getting tips/deflections at a consistent rate with her team's press in the full and half courts while staying engaged in the help-side when the ball was opposite of her. Ottumwa may have fallen short in the end in this one but this is a young team with seven freshman on roster. As soon as they get some experience under their belts, they will be just fine. They just need to keep working at the task at hand.     [player_tooltip player_id='1445549' first='Charley' last='Huebner'] got to her spots at a thorough rate off the dribble as she navigated her team's system. I wouldn't say that Huebner is a natural PG but she gets the job done. She is the type that can attack off the wing as a SG to score for herself at the rim or she can find others than might become open. In this specific contest we saw Huebner get past her initial defender off the bounce with ease on multiple occasions. After that she usually made a crafty move in the lane to get an open look at the basket while going downhill. Fort Madison has some sneaky guards that can produce and Huebner is in that conversation.

Fort Madison hosted Ottumwa for their first regular season contest of the year. To start the game it was a back and forth contest, being only a one point difference going into the second quarter, 12-11. In the second, that's when Fort Madison made their mark on the game. The Bloodhounds won the second 16-9, taking a 28-20 lead into the half and they never looked back. From there the third and fourth quarters were basically dead even between both teams, leading to a Bloodhounds victory in the very end, 58-45.