The Hampton-Dumont-CAL basketball teams will host Humboldt for a North Central Conference doubleheader Tuesday.
The girls (2-3) will go for consecutive wins for the first time this season, having defeated Webster City 36-32 Friday. That night, the Bulldogs erased a three-point deficit entering the fourth quarter for their first conference win of the season. Head Coach Miranda Stafford says in-game adjustments have been crucial.
“We were switching back and forth within possessions from two different zone defenses, and to ask a team who’s very, very inexperienced to do that within a possession and just trust us and learn and listen, that’s very positive,” Stafford says. “And there were some frustrating moments and they looked at us and were kind of confused, but they just continue to trust us and listen, and just huge growth in that moment. And just some different things in last moment situations that most of them have never been in. So a lot of questions answered at the end and in the locker room and things we discussed even with the win of things we can do different in last second situations. So it was a lot of fun just to see them kind of grow through those moments.”
Humboldt (2-2) fell to Webster City in their conference opener, but bounced back with a 69-7 win over Clarion-Goldfield-Dows last week. Ava Fischer’s 19.5 points per game is the second-best in the league.
The Bulldog boys (2-1) will go for a third straight win after resilient performances against Webster City and Dike-New Hartford. Head Coach Matt Lokenvitz says center Brady Harr has established himself not only as an inside scoring threat, but also a facilitator of the entire offense.
“He’s our center and he’s our focal point of everything that we do,” Lokenvitz says. “But him being able to find that vision to find his teammates just opens up the whole floor. It opens up lane for Trey and Hunter to be able to penetrate. And Caden Woods slashed to the bucket and did a really nice job doing that. Keehn’s been great rebounding and scoring a few points when he needs to. It’s been a great team effort this week. We battled hard and we’re going to fix some things and we’re going to correct a few things. Our shootings are going to start coming around from the three as that opens up. And we’re going to be, I think, a tough out here in this league.”
Humboldt (2-1) was defeated by Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Friday for their first loss. They swept last season. The doubleheader will start at 6:00 p.m.
The girls wrestling team will travel to Humboldt for the Michelle Jensen Invitational. They’ll face teams from a variety of conferences, including conference schools Iowa Falls-Alden, Humboldt and Webster City. It’ll start at 5:00 p.m.
