Harlan Community Basketball Earns Home Split with Glenwood

Harlan Community's Grace Albertsen (12-17-24)

Harlan Community Basketball Earns Home Split with Glenwood -

(12-17-24) – A holiday split at the Palace Tuesday.

Harlan Community girls’ basketball dominated Glenwood to earn an 82-32 victory while the Cyclone boys’ fell in a tough one against the Rams, 74-67.

In the girls’ contest, both Grace Albertsen and Kensley Bruck scored 20 points for Harlan Community. Albertsen talked about her relationship on the floor with Bruck.

“We read each other really well, like if we're doing X and I'm at the high post, I can just dump it into her and she'll get the ball and score, and then ‘They can't guard us both,’ is what we like to say.”

Cyclone girls’ Coach Zach Klaassen really liked how his transition game was working.

“I thought really, the offense flowed off the defense. Lot of turnovers. We really stressed that we wanted to get out and not just in the press, but that 2-3 zone and just get fresh on those guards like crazy and see if we can turn them over. Get that to lead the easy buckets and gain some confidence that way and I thought it worked out pretty well.”

Leading scorer Molly Swensen was being shutdown by Glenwood defense, allowing Albertsen and Bruck to have plenty of opportunities down low to score. Albertsen says her and Bruck know the importance of converting on their chances when the defense favors their roles.

“Molly's a great shooter, so they're gonna lock her up and take away the outside and then that obviously opens up the middle because they can't pack it as much as they usually do with (us) having two 6-foot girls in there.”

Klaassen was also impressed with the 10-point performance by Brinley VanBaale, along with her defense.

“She had a lot of tip balls plus decent amount of steals, so it was good to see. Just hard-nosed player.”

Aubrey Schwieso added 18 points for Harlan Community, who’ve now won three straight. Maggie McChesney and Maggie Smith each had 10 points for Glenwood.

The Harlan Community boys came out strong early, taking a 4-pt lead into the 1st qtr break. But the Rams Ayden Gibson took over, on his way to score 33 points in the contest.

Cyclone Coach Mitch Osborn was pleased with how much better his team protected the ball from their previous game against Kuemper Catholic.

“Tons of improvement taking care of the ball. I had us down for 8 turnovers, so great job.”

Kobe Klaassen led the way for Harlan Community with a career-high 22 pts, including five from 3-pt range. Osborn knows how important it is for them to hit those shots from downtown.

“It stretches the floor and opens things up.”

Dallas McDowell and Ben Leinen each had 15 pts for the Cyclones, who have now dropped 2 consecutive games.

Both the girls’ and boys’ Harlan Community basketball teams will finish 2024 at home against Red Oak on Friday.

View past scores by visiting the Iowa High School Athletic Association's website, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union website,
or Iowa Quik Stats