Lions rack up the steals, dump Muskies

MARION — The Linn-Mar Lions have a Division-I signee in Amanda Ollinger and another one headed on that path in sophomore Kamryn Finley.

And yet ...

'We didn't come out with a lot of confidence,' Ollinger said.

'There were times in which we were kind of timid,' added Coach Jaime Brandt. 'Right now, we're kind of two different teams. We can be intense, focused and competitive, and we can be timid.'

Add stingy to the list.

Class 5A 10th-ranked Linn-Mar collected 16 steals to offset a blah shooting night and defeated Muscatine, 49-29, in a non-conference girls' basketball game Saturday night at Linn-Mar High School.

'When our shots aren't falling, we have to pick it up somewhere else,' said Ollinger, a senior and a University of Iowa signee. 'We have to create a little chaos for the other team.'

The Lions (2-0) forced 22 turnovers, and committed only seven. Confident or timid, that's going to win games.

Ollinger scored 20 points, overcoming a 2-for-12 start from the field (she finished 7 of 19). She had six of the Lions' steals.

'It got a little better as the game went along,' she said. 'I had to get into a rhythm and work through adversity a little bit.'

Linn-Mar has held its first two opponents under 30 points.

Muscatine (0-2) got out to a 5-0 lead, but the Lions responded quickly behind Finley, who scored seven straight points in a 9-0 run, and Linn-Mar led 16-8 at the end of the first quarter.

The Muskies stabilized for a while, and were still in the hunt at 26-18 before the Lions landed another blow, an 8-0 run late in the third quarter.

Finley added 10 points despite missing a big chunk of the first half after getting whistled for her second foul.

Brittney Lancial tacked on six points and four assists, and Carly Spies came off the bench to grab nine rebounds.

Freshman Macey Rogers paced Muscatine with 10 points.

LINN-MAR 49, MUSCATINE 29

At Linn-Mar

MUSCATINE (29): Abby Rusch 0-3 0-0 0, Macey Rogers 3-5 3-4 10, Taylor White 1-7 0-2 2, Mati Hepker 1-4 0-0 2, Erin Oppel 2-5 3-4 7, Yaidelis Torres 2-5 1-1 6, Jessi Butler 0-1 0-0 0, Abby Estabrook 0-1 0-0 0, Amanda Doyle 1-1 0-2 2, Paige Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Paige Wagg 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 10-32 7-13 29.

LINN-MAR (49): Alie Akers 2-4 0-0 4, Lexi Frese 1-3 0-0 2, Brittney Lancial 3-4 0-0 6, Kamryn Finley 4-12 1-1 10, Amanda Ollinger 7-19 5-8 20, Megan Murphy 0-3 0-0 0, Carly Spies 2-6 0-0 4, Ally Johnson 1-2 0-0 2, Claire Larson 0-0 0-1 0, Allie Noggle 0-1 0-0 0, Brooke Lorenz 0-3 0-0 0, Nicole Glanz 0-0 1-2 1, Jaclyn Simons 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-56 7-12 49.

Halftime: Linn-Mar 21, Muscatine 13. 3-point goals: Muscatine 2-10 (Rusch 0-2, Rogers 1-2, White 0-3, Torres 1-3), Linn-Mar 2-17 (Finley 1-7, Ollinger 1-6, Murphy 0-3, Lorenz 0-1). Team fouls: Muscatine 13, Linn-Mar 12. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Muscatine 31 (White 8), Linn-Mar 34 (Spies 9). Assists: Muscatine 4 (White 3), Linn-Mar 4 (Lancial 4). Steals: Muscatine 5 (five with 1), Linn-Mar 16 (Ollinger 6). Turnovers: Muscatine 22, Linn-Mar 7.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com