Lady Hounds roll in Southeast Conference opener

FORT MADISON - Landon Bentley was ready to celebrate his third win as Fort Madison’s head girls basketball coach, but he wanted to first make sure to acknowledge the players who got him to this point.

Friday would have been the birthday for Tony Sargent, who died in August of last year. 

“I love Tony to death,” Bentley said. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in now. He’s the one who gave me the opportunity.”

Which is why, before Friday’s home game against Fairfield, Bentley’s message was, “Let’s play for Tony.”

The 55-19 triumph, Bentley said, was the type of hard-nosed game Sargent would have appreciated.

Fort Madison (3-0 overall, 1-0 Southeast Conference) opened the game on a 10-0 run, led 41-10 at halftime, then got the score to the point in the second half where there was a running clock. Only a couple of late 3-pointers from the Trojans kept the second half from being a lot worse.

“Our defense gave up 10 points in the first half,” Bentley said. “Until those two prayer threes at the end, it was three points in the second half. That is a statement for us. Our press looked phenomenal tonight. We’re playing with more discipline, we’re not reaching as much. We’re cutting you off. We’re getting in front of you. We’re looking great right now.”

“The defense was great,” said sophomore Dayonna Davis, who led the Bloodhounds with 20 points. “We were really working hard. We played as a team.”

Bentley has been preaching defensive intensity, and it has shown up in this early run.

“If you’re not paying attention and you’re throwing lazy passes, it’s going to get stolen,” he said. “We’re aggressive, we’re going to get in your face, we’re going to play hard-nosed defense.”

Davis, coming off the bench, had six points in the first quarter as the Bloodhounds led 16-5. She had eight points in Fort Madison’s 11-2 run that closed the first half.

“She did a great job finishing tonight,” Bentley said. “She stepped up huge for us. She’s the first one off the bench. I told her at the beginning of the season she could be a starter. She could easily be a starter.”

“It’s all about being prepared,” Davis said. “I’m sitting on the bench, talking to myself, just going through everything I need to do. It’s all about mentally preparing myself.”

The Bloodhounds also got 10 points from Ajia Jenkins. Reilynn Turnbull and Irelynd Sargent each had five points.

Fort Madison opened the season with a three-point win over Ottumwa, then had a 10-point win over Davis County on Tuesday before getting the first conference win in this one.

It’s the perfect start.

“I couldn’t ask to start my (head coaching) career any better,” Bentley said.

“We couldn’t ask for anything else,” Davis said.