LONE TREE

Vivian Zaruba, a junior guard for Lone Tree’s girls basketball team, ran over to one side of the court and called for the ball.

It soon arrived.

And the ball was in the hoop.

At Lone Tree, the ball almost always ends up in the hands of sophomore guard Finley Jacque or Zaruba. It has been that way all season.

The Lions’ opponents know that.

And they still can’t stop it.

In the very early moments of last Saturday’s girls basketball showdown between Lone Tree and Highland, the Huskies had grabbed a 2-0 lead. No worries. Jacque put up a 3-pointer to give the Lions the lead.

And then it was off to the races. The Lions won by 15 points, defeating a league rival that had lost only four times this season. Jacque scored a game-high 16 points, Zaruba had a game-high 5 assists.

The night ended the same way 17 others have ended this season: The Lions assembled across the court in front of their fans, singing the school song.

Lone Tree, which has lost just two games all season and clinched a share of its first conference championship in 20 years Monday night with a 15^th straight win, is putting together the type of season that will likely end with some kind of a championship banner being placed on the gym wall.

Jacque is the leading scorer in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North. She is number two in assists and second in 3-point baskets. Zaruba is the league leader in steals and third in assists. Alyson Ford, a sophomore, is second in blocked shots.

“We go in with the mentality, we’re gonna win,” Jacque said.

“It’s been super exciting and honestly, with the momentum we’ve got, I’m not surprised that we keep winning,” Zaruba said. “We all work really well together as a team. I’m just so proud of all of us. I think we’re doing amazing.”

The Lions are the conference leaders in both offense and defense, winning games by more than 24 points each time out.

And they have just one senior in the starting lineup, Avery Lisk, who was honored along with teammate Bailey McGrew at Senior Night on Monday. So you’d better get used to this.

“I think I knew that we were capable of this,” Lions head coach Ryan Shelman said. “I didn’t know if it would quite happen this year or not. Our girls have really responded well. It starts with our girls just really being committed to playing and listening and being coachable. They listen. I really enjoy coaching our girls.”

Actually, it began last summer when this team from a small 1A school in rural southeast Johnson County went up to Tiffin, where Clear Creek Amana, the top-ranked team in Iowa 4A, hosted a camp featuring teams from larger schools.

“We played all kinds of bigger schools,” Shelman said. “We were, by far, the smallest school there. It was all in preparation for us to hopefully play this type of season. I think it’s going to help us down the stretch.”

And when the holiday week rose up in late December, a time usually devoid of games, Shelman came up with his own money to pay for referees for a day of scrimmages.

Against Highland and senior forward Sarah Burton, a four-year starter who is one of the top scorers and rebounders in the state, that extra work showed. Burton scored 14 points, but Lone Tree’s fast-paced game forced 27 Highland turnovers and established a 22-point lead before it was over.

“It wasn’t an easy task tonight,” Shelman said after Saturday’s game. “They have one of the premier girls in not only southeast Iowa, but the state. Heck of an athlete. We think the world of her. We respect her and that entire Highland team.”

The Lions ran against the Huskies. And ran some more. Three of the runners on last year’s school-record sprint relay teams are on the basketball team: Zaruba, Rylee Shield and Ava Christofferson. They know only one speed: fast.

Shelman calls it “controlled chaos.”

“You have to handle the pressure and you have to handle the length and the speed that we have,” Shelman said. “We try to turn things into a track meet as much as we can.”

The track success, led by head coach Chad Shield, helped lead the Lions to this spot.

“I think so,” Zaruba said. “I think it gave us a lot of motivation going into the next season’s sports, but the winning we did during track, it transferred over to here.”

Lone Tree won 13 games last year, equaling its highest win total in four seasons. It set the stage for this season and beyond.

“Last season we knew we had the talent, we knew we had the skill,” Jacque said, “I think this season, we’re just really putting everything together and getting all the pieces to work. It’s really fun to play with these girls.”

What now?

The Lions play Holy Trinity Catholic in the SEISC Shootout on Saturday. Next Thursday, the Lions host Winfield-Mt. Union in the first round of the 1A tournament. Last year, Lone Tree lost its opening-round game.

This year’s tournament could be so different.

“I do feel we’re a tough out for anybody,” Shelman said.

News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul