FORT MADISON – Senior Camille Kruse was less than seven points from the school scoring record with a quarter to play Tuesday night.
Instead of finding her shots, she continued to look inside for teammates that were open as Clark County tried to find the answer for the Hounds' top scorer.
But the Indians had little in the way of the answer as Kruse went for 28 and the Hounds won 53-31 in a non-conference matchup at the Hound Dome.
“That’s just who Camille is. She’s our beast. She plays very unselfish basketball,” said Head Coach T.J. Sargent.
“We knew she was getting close in the third period and we tried to get her open looks, but it seemed almost every time she found someone open and gave it up.”
Sargent said she believed the single-game scoring mark is 34 and Kruse had all 28 before the fourth period started. She only took one shot in the fourth quarter, but found Dayonna Davis and Hadley Wolfe open late in the period for assists rather than forcing her own agenda.
Kruse started early with a 3-pointer to give Fort Madison a 5-2 advantage. After a Lady Hounds' defensive stop, Kruse would find Hadley again across the lane in transition for 7-2 lead.
Clark County would cut the lead to two at 7-5 but then Fort Madison would tear off 11 straight highlighted by Kruse’s 11 points to take an 18-5 first quarter lead.
Aija Jenkins, who finished with 11 on the night behind Kruse, scored on a putback to open the second quarter, while Clark County missed on their eight shots from the field in the second quarter allowing the Lady Hounds to amass a 30-7 lead with two minutes left in the half.
The Indians would make a small charge to the buzzer, outscoring Fort Madison 6-2 to trail by 17 at the break.
Kruse kept a regular beat with a 3-ball to open the Hound scoring in the third and then hit another after a couple defensive stops. She had five 3-pointers on the night and was 9-of-9 from the free throw line.
Clark County would never get closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
Fort Madison again got solid minutes from freshmen as Halle Menke, Davis, Wolfe, Dynasty Bell, and Mara Smith all got minutes in the win.
Bell came out and played stifling defense and came up with three steals, one which led to her first basket of the year in the fourth quarter.
“She’s a really good defensive player, but again, another freshman. We’ve got quite a few freshmen in this group. We’re trying to get some of these girls more ready and get them some confidence."
Sargent said a newer offense was giving Kruse some more open looks.
“It just depends on if we run it right or not,” Sargent said. “That’s where she was getting some open looks and we’ve been trying to get that.”
The Hounds improve to 10-6 overall and they stand at 4-2 in the Southeast Conference. They host Fairfield on Friday night and then travel to Burlington Notre Dame on Saturday in a 1 p.m. tilt. The varsity boys follow.
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