Top of Iowa Conference play opened Monday night as the Belmond-Klemme Broncos hosted the North Butler Bearcats in girls’ basketball, with the Bearcats winning 54-34.
North Butler set the tone early from long range, hitting multiple 3-pointers to take a 16-6 lead after the first quarter. Belmond-Klemme answered with a strong second period, outscoring the Bearcats 13-10 to pull within seven at halftime.
The Bearcats regained control after the break behind the perimeter shooting of Jady Thorne and steady scoring from Zoey Thompson. North Butler outscored the Broncos 28-15 in the second half and secured the win.
Thompson finished with 16 points, while Thorne set a school record with seven 3-pointers. Thorne says the record was made possible by her teammates.
“I gotta thank my teammates,” says Thorne. “They definitely made it happen for me. I mean, them getting me open, getting me the open shot, setting those extra screens and making the extra passes is what made that happen.”
North Butler Head Coach Jordan Nolz says the game plan centered on controlling the controllables.
“We emphasized two things tonight, attitude and effort,” says Nolz. “And those two things showed tonight. We focused on our team, our roles, and what we can do as a team, not individual achievements. And I think it paid off tonight.”
Belmond-Klemme was led by Nevi McMurray, who scored 13 points. She says the team’s ball movement helped create scoring opportunities.
“I think just moving the ball a lot and we set a lot of screens and we wanted to initially go from A to open,” says McMurray. “I think we did a really good job of that and not only one person just scoring but multiple people scoring helped us a lot.”
Both teams will break for Thanksgiving before returning to conference play the first week of December.
