If her last two Game Time performances are any indication, sophomore Shante Jones will not only earn some serious playing time in the upcoming season, she will be a key component for the 2009-10 Iowa Hawkeyes.
After scoring 30 points on June 25, the Dayton, Ohio, native tallied 20 points to lead Goodfellow/Imprinted to a 76-65 victory over L.L. Pelling/Cullen Painting on Tuesday night in North Liberty.
Jones, who shot 10-for-13 from the field and pulled down four rebounds, seemed to be able to score at will — pulling up for 15-foot jumpers or slashing into the lane for lay-ups while being fouled.
Even after a solid individual game, Jones would only comment on her team’s play.
“We distributed the ball, scored evenly, and played smart,” she said.
Goodfellow/Imprinted exploded in the second half after closing a back and forth first half ahead 39-37. Jones and company were able to jump to an eight-point lead at 52-44 with 12:30 remaining in regulation — the team’s largest to that point.
But Pelling/Cullen wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Trailing 58-50, Iowa sophomore Kelly Krei slipped into the lane for an easy lay-up before hitting a 3-pointer on Pelling/ Cullen’s following possession.
And the Iowa City native was not done. Pelling/Cullen forced a turnover during Goodfellow/Imprinted’s ensuing possession and was able to feed Krei the ball. She nailed a nifty, spin-move lay-up to pull her team within 58-57 with 7:38 remaining.
“I was thinking don’t get tired at that point,” said Krei, who finished the game with 15 points. “My teammates do a nice job of getting me the ball, but it was just a little streak that happened, so it was nice.”
Despite Krei’s 7-0 run, Pelling/Cullen’s hopes were doused by former Hawkeye Kristi Smith.
The Thornton, Colo., native, who filled a spot vacated by sophomore Kamille Wahlin, finished the game with 13 points.
“I thought we did a pretty good job on Smith for a while; she was just letting the game come to her,” Larson said. “But she hurt us eventually when she started being a little more aggressive when the game came down to the wire.”
Larson thought the youth of his team may have also contributed to the loss.
“We’re so young. I don’t think we have a player that has ever started a Divison-I game, we are just learning as we go,” he said. “But the effort is always there, the teamwork is always there, and they are very unselfish.”
Other Hawkeyes playing for Pelling/Cullen were sophomore-to-be Hannah Draxten, who finished with 10 points and three rebounds, and incoming freshman Trisha Nesbitt, who tallied two points and four assists in the defeat.