The Bobcats committed 31 turnovers in a 54-11 loss to the 14th-ranked (5A) Rams at the Roundhouse in Marshalltown.

Southeast Polk jumped out to a 20-2 lead after the first quarter, playing a total of 10 girls in the quarter while a shorthanded MHS squad played just seven girls all game. The Rams’ lead ballooned to 40-4 by the halftime horn.

“I thought we got both physically and mentally worn down,” MHS head coach Brian Murphy said. “We held strong for a lot of that first quarter, but some of our offensive frustrations started seeping into our decision making. And we’re not subbing a whole lot with our current roster situation, and we know Southeast Polk likes to run, so there were a lot of variables that started adding up.”

Millie Heitmann led Marshalltown with five points on Monday; Morgan Hildebrand, Sydney Kapayou and Frankie Long all added two points each.

“As teams ramp up their defensive intensity as the season goes on, we have to continue making our choices on offense and not letting the defense dictate those choices,” Murphy said. “There were too many possessions where we were making choices out of desperation.”

With one game left before the holiday break, Murphy said there was still work to do in the second half even if the game was already decided.

“The season is still early,” Murphy said. “Our offensive end is certainly our focus now and even against their starters there were some mismatches that we liked and just never took advantage of them. … We had Millie posting up against a 5-foot-2 girl and never got it into her. Those little things don’t matter much in the moment but they start stacking up. So our focus in the second half was to stack positive results instead of negative ones.”

Ellie Hughes had eight rebounds for the Bobcats, and Frankie Long added four blocked shots and three rebounds.

With Amairra Johnson out of the lineup with an offseason injury and Kinsley Bowie now also out with an ankle injury, sophomore Niah Lott has entered the small Bobcat rotation.

“We want her going 100 miles per hour and just trying to create something,” Murphy said. “And she’s coming off an illness so I don’t think she looked like herself out there either, which has just been the story of our last week. We want her to go out there and create chaos, create a turnover, because she can ramp up the energy and the challenge for her is just doing that consistently at the varsity level.”

The final game of 2024 is back in the Roundhouse against Fort Dodge on Friday.

Southeast Polk 54, Marshalltown 11

SE POLK (2-3) — Margaret Johnson 3 0-0 8, Zoe Hinze 2 2-2 6, Brooklyn Ruddy 2 0-0 5, Alyssa Bartlett 3 2-2 8, Hallie Vander Weerdt 0 2-4 2, Carly Kielman 0 0-0 0, Ella Wheatly 3 0-0 6, Berkley Weiland 3 2-2 8, Avery Otte 1 0-0 3, Allison Bogwill 2 0-0 4, Sloane Gaffney 0 0-0 0, Presley Zeutenhorst 1 0-4 2, Izzy Bogwill 0 0-0 0, Kalyn Litwiler 0 0-0 0, Ivy Ohorilko 1 0-0 3, Olivia Twohey 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 21 6-12 54.

MARSHALLTOWN (4-2) — Millie Heitmann 2 1-2 5, Jorja Janssen 0 0-0 0, Ellie Hughes 0 0-0 0, Sydney Kapayou 1 0-0 2, Frankie Long 1 0-0 2, Niah Lott 0 0-0 0, Morgan Hilderbrand 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 5 1-2 11.

SE POLK 20 20 9 5 — 54

MHS 2 2 4 3 — 11

3-Point Goals–SEP 6 (Johnson 2, Ruddy, Otte, Ohorilko, Twohey). Team Fouls–SEP 7, MHS 8. Fouled Out–none.