Rolling over the competition this past week, the West Delaware boys basketball team improved to 9-5 overall and 7-3 in the WaMaC conference. Following victories over Western Dubuque on Tuesday and Independence on Friday, the Hawks sit in third in the conference, trailing Marion and DeWitt Central.

Tuesday’s game was an ugly one if you were a Bobcat fan. The Hawks traveled to Epworth and mowed over the Bobcats 68-32. The Western Dubuque offense didn’t prove to be much of a threat, with the Bobcats hitting only 25 percent of their attempted field goals.

The Hawks jumped on the competition early and took a seven point lead in the first quarter, 18-11.

Slightly increasing their lead in the second quarter, the Hawks went to the half with a comfortable 31-20 lead over the Bobcats.

The Hawks’ defense wasn’t going to allow the Bobcats to come anywhere near their lead, and held them to a mere four points in the third quarter and just eight in the fourth. After the third, the Hawks were up 45-24.

The fourth quarter was another dominated by the Hawks, as they put up 24 points, only putting a little salt in the wound for the Bobcats.

Three Hawks scored double digits on Tuesday. Senior BJ Hermsen tallied 18 points, while Ben Lechtenberg recorded 13 and Seth Engelken added 10. Lechtenberg also grabbed a team high nine rebounds for the Hawks.

Following a successful game on Tuesday, Lechtenberg lit things up for the Hawks in a packed gymnasium on Friday.

The Mustangs of Independence traveled to town, and it seemed that the whole school came along to cheer them on. An exciting first half kept the Hawk and Mustang fans on the edge of their seats.

The first quarter wasn’t pretty for the Hawks. The Mustangs jumped out in front early and left the Hawks trailing 0-8 after the first two minutes. The Hawks started chipping away and sat with a 11-16 deficit to deal with in the second quarter.

The second quarter gave the Hawk fans a little room to taunt the Mustang fans, who gave more than their share of grief for the black and orange fans in the first half. The Hawks found themselves down 13-22 two and a half minutes into the second quarter, but decided that was enough.
Lechtenberg and Hermsen were too much for the Mustang defense, and led the Hawks in a second quarter that left them with a 27-25 lead at the half.

The second quarter proved to be just a preview for fans of what was yet to come from Lechtenberg. The Hawk junior posted 14 points in the third quarter. The Mustangs saw nothing but the long arms of Lechtenberg tossing in shots in the third. A near flawless Hawk team in the third found themselves with a cozy 52-37 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Fifteen points were racked up by each team in the fourth, but the Hawks had already set themselves far enough ahead to seal the victory, 67-52. The Mustang entourage that was so giddy at the beginning of the game left the gym slightly quieter at the end of the night.

Chris Crawford added 13 assists on the night, setting things up perfectly for Lechtenberg to rack up 31 points, and Hermsen to add 20. Crawford also scored 10 points himself.

The Hawks shot an impressive 89 percent of their free throws, adding 16 points from the line.
The boys will travel to Maquoketa on Tuesday and Center Point on Friday.

WD vs. W. Dub.
FG: WD 27-48 56%; W. Dub. 13-52 25%
FT: WD 11-19 58%; W. Dub. 5-5 100%
Assists: WD 22 (Crawford 8, Kafer 4, Hermsen 3, Mensen 2, Mangold 2, Engelken 1, Heinrichs 1, Lechtenberg 1)
Rebounds: WD 36 (Lechtenberg 9, Walters 6, Crawfor 4, Hermsen 4, Kafer 3, Mangold 3, Engelken 3, Gaffney 2, Heinrichs 1, Klein 1)
Individual scoring: Hermsen 18, Lechtenberg 13, Engelken 10, Kafer 7, Crawford 5, Gaffney 4, Klein 4, Walters 3, Mensen 2, Wulfekuhle 2)

WD vs. Independence
FG: WD 25-46 54%; Indee 19-56 34%
FT: WD 16-18 89%; Indee 10-11 91%
Assists: WD 24 (Crawford 13, Engelken 5, Kafer 2, Mangold 1, Hermsen 1, Klein 1, Walters 1)
Rebounds: WD 27 (Lechtenberg 9, Hermsen 7, Crawford 5, Klein 2, Kafer 1, Mangold 1, Engelken 1, Walters 1)
Individual scoring: Lechtenberg 31, Hermsen 20, Crawford 9, Walters 5, Engelken 2

The road seems to be getting rougher and rougher as the West Delaware girls continue their 2007-08 season. Losses to Western Dubuque and Independence this past week put their record at 6-9.

The Hawks will have to finish the season without senior Emily Heffernen, who has been high scorer and rebounder for the Hawks in nearly every game this season.
Heffernen suffered an ACL tear on Friday, Jan. 11 and will be out for the remainder of the season.

The first quarter started out tough for the Hawks on Tuesday night at home.
Western Dubuque jumped out to an early 10-17 lead in the first eight minutes of the game. With one second left in the first quarter, Western Dubuque was making an inbound pass, but Kayla Bries stepped in and stole the ball.

While attempting a shot, Bries was fouled, which gave her the opportunity to sink a free throw and give the Hawks a much needed last second point.

It was a whole different ball game in the second quarter. The Hawks took charge and came right back at the Bobcats, outscoring them by three and going to the locker room at the half trailing 29-33. Ashley Hood contributed seven points for the Hawks in the second quarter alone.

Unfortunately, the Hawks were only able to put up eight points in the third quarter, six of which were scored by junior Joslyn Sailer. Western Dubuque added 19, which increased their lead to 15 going into the final quarter of the game.

The Bobcats kept pulling away from the Hawks, and eventually finished off the night handing West Delaware a 68-48 loss. The Hawks were unable to score at all in the final two minutes of the game.

Hood was high scorer for the Hawks with 17 points. She hit three three-pointers. Sailer recorded 11 and Sara Heffernen tallied six.

On Friday, the girls traveled to Independence for a WaMaC rivalry contest. Unfortunately, the woes continued for the Hawks. The Mustangs handed them a 44-32 loss.

The Hawks went the first three minutes of the game scoreless. They eventually put up six points, but were trailing 6-11 at the conclusion of the first.

The second quarter was a big improvement for West Delaware, as they pulled within two of the Mustangs before Indee added a couple last minute baskets to go to half with a 16-21 lead over the Hawks.

If the Hawks coule turn back the clock, most likely they would like to replay the third quarter. The girls went scoreless in all eight minutes of the third. Independence took advantage of the time and increased their lead to 14 points, 16-30.

It seemed the Hawks came around a bit too late. They put up 16 points in the third quarter, but the scoreless thir haunted them and Independence got the win, 32-44.

Senior Ashley Hood was once again high scorer for the Hawks, recording 10 points. Sailer added nine.

The girls will play two games at home this week, with Maquoketa coming to town on Tuesday and Center Point-Urbana visiting on Friday.

WD vs. W. Dub.
FT: 6-11 55%
Individual scoring: Hood 17, Sailer 11, S. Heffernen 6, Vaske 5, Oleson 4, Bries 3, Gibbs 2

WD vs. Independence
FT: WD 3-7 43%
Individual scoring: Hood 10, Vaske 9, Sailer 4, Gibbs 3, Hahn 3, S. Heffernen 3