Indians make quick work of Durant in sweep

By Ryan Stonebraker
Sports Editor, Tipton Conservative

  CAMANCHE — It was a tough road trip for Durant last Friday as the Wildcats made the trip to Camanche. Both Indian programs are near the top of the River Valley Conference standings, and each has a distinct style of play. The girl’s team is a physical team while the boy’s team likes to make basketball games into a track meet.
  In the girl’s game, Camanche’s perimeter game was firing on all cylinders.
  The Indians made 11 three pointers in the game from four different players. The Indians led 17-9 after the first quarter and 34-23 at halftime. The Indians took control of the basketball game in the third quarter, scoring a season high 30 points in the quarter to extend their lead to 64-30 after three quarters. The win was the fourth straight for Camanche after suffering a loss at West Branch on December 19.
  Marly Bussa and Courtney Schnoor are a devastating 1-2 punch that the Indians throw at teams and they did a lot of damage in the game. Bussa led Camanche in scoring with 22 points including a 5-for-7 night from the three-point line. Schnoor, an Upper Iowa recruit and leading scorer in the RVC North, scored 15 points and had 9 rebounds. The Wildcats held down Lea Lefebure from her scoring average of 7.7 points, but Lefebure made up for it with 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
Aubrey Werthmann scored 14 and Autumn Wolf 12 for the Wildcats. The 1-2 punch for the Wildcats combined to both score in double figures in the same game for the ninth time this season.
Camanche improved to 10-4 while Durant fell to 2-10.
  In the boy’s game, the Wildcats had to battle the leading scoring team in the River Valley North. The Indians average 77.7 points a game, 13 more than the second team in the division,
NE Goose Lake. The Indians average is also the highest in class 2A, ahead of AHSTW, Avoca. Statewide, the Indians are third in scoring in all classes behind Grand View Christian (89.2 ppg) and North Linn (81.3 ppg).
  To their credit, Durant held their own in the first quarter, trailing only two points, 17 to 15 after the first quarter. It was the second quarter that got away from the Wildcats and allowed the Indians to get enough distance to maintain a big lead the rest of the way. Camanche outscored Durant 25-13 in the second quarter to break a close game and take a 42-
28 halftime lead.
  Camanche could not contain senior Luke Whitlock. Whitlock scored 23 points, his first point total over 20 points since scoring a season high 32 against West Liberty. Whitlock has been on a roll, scoring in double digits in the last eight Wildcat games. He is the fifth leading scorer to date in the RVC South with a 15.8-point scoring average. Bryce Lafrenz scored 9 and Leo Callison 7. Dev Patel
scored 26 and Dakota Soenksen 23 to lead Camanche in scoring.
  Durant fell to 4-5 while Camanche improved to 10-1.