One-sided Cat Fight

Bearcat boys blowout Panthers, 65-18; Central Springs beats North Butler girls, 54-36

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

MANLY — When Sam Dolan stole a Central Springs’ inbound at halfcourt and raced in for a layup and the “and-one” bonus, it gave the North Butler Bearcats a 21-2 lead late in the first quarter.

For the hosting Panthers, things didn’t get much better from that point on as the Bearcats throttled them in a 65-18 final in the latter game of a Top of Iowa-East varsity doubleheader, Thursday night.

Dylan Clipperton and Rhett Lammers each scored 17 points in little more than 20 minutes on the floor with a second-half running clock for North Butler, which improved to 6-10 overall and 6-8 in TOIE play.

Central Springs (1-17, 1-13) didn’t reach double figures until two minutes left in the third quarter on Mitch Figalsen’s body-twisting layup.

With a pair of fourth-quarter 3-pointers, Austin Dillavou managed to reach double-figures himself to lead the Panthers with 10 points — a mean feat when North Butler limited Central Springs to just 2 points in both the first and third quarters.

In the previous girls game, North Butler got off to a good start as Darby Christensen’s 3-pointer gave the Bearcats an 11-8 lead in the first quarter.

The advantage was extended to 18-12 when Nicole Heeren assisted a lane-cutting and finishing Hallie Testroet.

But the Panthers — who last Friday defeated the TOIE-leading Rockford on the road which subsequently knocked the Lady Warriors out of the latest Class 2A Top 15 ranking list — soon took control of the game while being propelled by star junior guard Kaylee Parks.

By way of scoring in the open-court often from her own steals, crashing the offensive glass among taller opponents for put-back buckets, and aggressively driving to the hole to get to the line resulting in 16 made free throws, Parks led all scorers with 32 points.

North Butler only scored four more while losing 54-36.

Testroet had 13 to lead North Butler (7-7, 6-8).

The Panthers improved to 11-7 and 9-5.

Boys Basketball

NORTH BUTLER 65, CENTRAL SPRINGS 18

Scoring By Quarters

North Butler 21 21 15 8 — 65

Central Springs 2 6 2 8 — 18

NORTH BUTLER — Sam Dolan 9, Dylan Clipperton 17, Clay Shultz 7, Kendrick Miller 2, Rhett Lammers 17, Austin Leohr 4, Chase Eiklenborg 4, Jared Feldman 4.

CENTRAL SPRINGS — Mitch Fingalsen 4, Ausin Dillavou 10, Kalen Eastman 1, Treyjen Wilson 2, Justin Florea 1.

Girls Basketball

CENTRAL SPRINGS 54, NORTH BUTLER 36

Scoring By Quarters

North Butler 11 12 2  11 — 36

Central Springs 10 18 10 16 — 54

NORTH BUTLER — Madison Pleas 5, Darby Christensen 4, Morgan Arjes 2, Marcy Jacobs 6, Hallie Testroet 13, Nicole Heeren 6.

CENTRAL SPRINGS — Kaylee Parks 32, Michaela Marino 8, Kara Asdahl 5, Morgan Kelley 7, Anna Dietrich 2.