Cyclones host Warriors in scrimmage
Friday night at home, the HCHS girls basketball team played a scrimmage against the Sergeant Bluff-Luton Warriors opening the game with a 22-5 run, ultimately cruising to a 79-36 victory.
"It's always good to get back out there," said Cyclone Head Coach Zach Klaassen. "It's good to see the kids play. You've got the veterans that have had enough practice. They were ready to play a game. They were eager right away, the ball was moving, the pace was pretty solid. We want to play that fast all the time."
During the 22-5 run the Cyclones had to open the game, multiple players got involved in the action with some buckets from Senior Aubrey Schwieso and 3-pointers from Senior Molly Swensen.
"I like to play fast-paced, so whenever we're going fast-paced I enjoy it," Schwieso said. "I think our transition is pretty dang good. The first half I don't remember calling a set play. Not that it was bad, but I really enjoyed getting up and down, and it worked pretty well for us.
The Cyclones cruised to a 47-20 lead halftime. Despite such a large lead, Klaassen's message to the girls was strong in the locker room.
"The turnovers and fouling was a big part of the halftime talk," he said. "Guards were not relying on Kenzley [Bruck] and Grace [Albertsen] to get every rebound. We've got to be better at boxing out, especially with us seeing a lot of teams that shoot 3's and 3's lead to long rebounds, so it really doesn't matter how tall you are. If you're a guard and you're not boxing out, you're probably going to be the problem."
The Cyclones continued to dominate on the offensive end of the floor outscoring the Warriors 32-16. The regular season for the Cyclones begins Tuesday on the road at 7:30 p.m. against the Treynor Cardinals. The Cardinals finished last season 16-6 losing 43-37 to the Exira-EHK Spartans in the Class 2A - Region 3 Second Round Tournament Game.
The Cardinals were led by Nora Konz with 286 points, averaging 13 points per game, and Alexa Schwartz with 136 rebounds, averaging 6.2 per game, and 74 assists, averaging 3.4 per game. Last season, the Cyclones opened their season against the Cardinals dominating them in a 58-40 win led by Schwieso with 27 points.
"We play a really tough Treynor team on Tuesday," Schwieso said. "I think we're all pretty excited. It's good to get this one under our belts to shake the nerves off a little bit. I'm really excited. It's always good and fun to get the season because once we get it going, it's a grind."