Lone Tree edges Keota for first victory

Zaruba's free throws provide winning margin

Posted 11/20/22

The Lone Tree girls basketball team picked up its first win of the season with a fourth-quarter comeback in the Four Corners Classic on Saturday. 

Lady Lion sophomore Vivan Zaruba was 4-for-4 …

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Lone Tree edges Keota for first victory

Zaruba's free throws provide winning margin

Posted

The Lone Tree girls basketball team picked up its first win of the season with a fourth-quarter comeback in the Four Corners Classic on Saturday. 

Lady Lion sophomore Vivan Zaruba was 4-for-4 from the free throw line over the final two minutes as Lone Tree scored the last six points of the 28-26 win over Keota. 

“It's very nerve racking, but I do like having the chance to score,” Zaruba said about stepping to the line under pressure. 

Lone Tree trailed just once through the first three quarters, but a 9-2 run would put the Eagles up 22-17 in the fourth. 

Senior Riley Krueger made her second 3-pointer of the game to cut the lead to two points with 4:36 left in the game. Krueger and Zaruba led Lone Tree in scoring with six points apiece. 

Eight players combined for 11 field goals for Lone Tree in the low-scoring contest, and none finished with more than two. 

While Lone Tree coach Ryan Shelman hopes to see the Lone Tree offense improve with experience, he expects to see more balance in the team’s offensive distribution this year. 

Last year, over one third of the Lady Lion field goals were scored by Kasey Chown, who graduated in the summer. 

“I think we're going to have some girls that could go out and get us some numbers on any given night,” Shelman said. “But I do think that we're going to have more of a balanced attack, which is going to make us a tougher team to defend moving forward.”

Bailey McGrew got behind the Keota defense and caught a perfectly placed lob from freshman Finley Jacque to tie the game at 22-22 in the fourth quarter. McGrew, who finished with four points, also drew a charge that kept the Eagles from adding to a two-point lead in the final three minutes. Jacque had a critical steal and score to tie the game at 26-26 with 1:38 left. 

“Finley made a huge play,” Shelman said. “On a night when we missed a lot of layups as a team, to continue to attack the basket and go in that situation — I thought she really stepped up.”

Rylee Shield gave Lone Tree a 7-2 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Lady Lions would not score again until just 35 seconds remained in the half. When Zaruba’s putback ended the long drought, it put Lone Tree back on top 9-8 heading into the locker room. 

“We had looks, we just weren't finishing,” Shelman said about the second quarter. “We're a young team and so there's going to be a learning curve. 

“We had to make some adjustments, especially defensively. We had plenty of open looks, we had to be more aggressive offensively in the second half.”

Avery Lisk beat the shot clock to score Lone Tree’s first basket of the game and added a third-quarter bucket to finish with four. She had 11 points in a 53-31 loss to Iowa Valley on the first day of the Four Corners Classic. 

Krueger, who led the Lady Lions with 13 points in the season opener, is the only senior on the team. 

“We're really young and I think we have a lot of learning to do, but we're getting there really fast,” Krueger said. “We're learning something new every single practice. So, I think by the end of the season, we'll be up there.”

Krueger’s scoring average of 5.8 points per game from a season ago is the best among the Lady Lion returners. 

Shelman has seen good effort and energy from his team defensively through practices and the first two games. 

“I think we have the potential to be a really good defensive team,” he said. “We have some things that we have to tighten up and we have some some learning to do both offensively and defensively, but I would say our scrappiness and our willingness to learn are exciting.

“I like our team chemistry. The girls all get along, they enjoy being with each other. I enjoy coaching them. So I really think that the unity that we have, the balanced scoring, and our potential to be a really good defensive team — those are the things that really get me excited for the season.”