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Fort Dodge makes home hoops debut

Dodgers face Hoover before heading to Marshalltown

Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Liza Van Zyl of Fort Dodge scores against Des Moines Roosevelt in the Dodger gym.

The Fort Dodge basketball teams hit the court twice this week, hosting Des Moines Hoover on Tuesday and traveling to Marshalltown on Friday.

Action begins at 6:15 p.m. with the varsity girls games, and approximately 7:45 p.m. with the boys.

The Dodger boys (1-1) dropped a 51-39 decision to defending state champion West Des Moines Valley in their first game out, but rebounded by topping Des Moines Lincoln last Friday, 61-49.

Malcolm Clayton has hit double figures in both games, while Solomon Clayton scored 19 against the Rails, hitting 7 of 12 shots from the field. Nine different FDSH players scored against Lincoln.

“This is going to be a challenging week for us,” FDSH head coach Tom Daniel said. “But these are the challenges we need to continue to see in order to grow and get better.

“We’ll have a good gauge of where we are at early on by the end of this week.”

Solomon Clayton also led the Dodgers in rebounds (nine), assists (five) and steals (three) in the win last Friday. The senior and Brady Read are the squad’s top rebounders.

No. 2 (Class 4A) Hoover (2-1) opened the year with wins over Ankeny and Valley before falling to De La Salle out of Minnesota on Saturday. Aldreias Campbell and Douglas Wilson lead the Huskies, who limited the fourth-ranked Tigers to just 35 points total.

“Hoover has another good team and this will certainly be a tough task,” Daniel said. “Anytime you can beat Valley and Ankeny, you are playing well already.

“We’ll have to take care of the basketball and be more efficient on offense. You can’t live on the perimeter against a team like Hoover.”

Marshalltown (0-1) lost to Ankeny last week, 84-61. Junior Luke Appel had 26 points in that game, while Jacob Smith added 18, including four three-pointers.

“The Bobcats are always a rival,” Daniel said. “But in this conference, you expect to deal with a tough team every night. The Roundhouse is a tough place to play.”

Last year, Fort Dodge picked up a 71-44 victory over Marshalltown and lost to Hoover in the regular season (62-56) and substate (46-33).

The Dodger girls (2-1) have sandwiched wins over Des Moines Roosevelt and Lincoln around a loss to third-ranked (5A) Valley.

Senior Shariah Smith has had a strong start to the year, averaging 11.6 points, while Shareece Smith, Justice Crooks and Maggie Harvey are all above eight points per game. Shareece Smith, Crooks and Harvey went a combined 9-for-9 from the three-point line in the first two games of the season.

Hoover (0-3) has suffered losses to No. 9 (5A) West Des Moines Dowling, Ankeny and the Tigers, failing to score more than 26 points in a game. Freshman Daija Bates averages 6.5 points.

“We have two good chances for wins, but we have to compete and be ready,” FDSH head coach Julius Michalik said. “We need to put (Hoover) away early because if we let them hang around, they can hit a big shot or two and get the result we don’t want.”

Marshalltown (0-3) opened the year with losses to Des Moines North, Waterloo East and Ankeny.

“The Bobcats are struggling with numbers, as they have just 11 players in grades 9-12,” Michalik said. “But we still have to be focused because (Marshalltown) could play a great game and we could struggle and that would stop any momentum we have.”

The Dodgers went 3-0 against Hoover and Marshalltown a season ago, including a 52-51 victory over the Huskies.

DODGER BOYS (1-1, 0-0)

G Malcolm Clayton, 5-11, jr., 14.0

G Trey Mosley, 5-9, jr., 5.0

F Jordan Jackson, 6-3, so., 3.5

F Solomon Clayton, 6-4, sr., 13.0

F Brady Read, 6-3, sr., 1.5

DODGER GIRLS (2-1, 0-0)

G Shariah Smith, 5-3, sr., 11.6

G Shareece Smith, 5-5, jr., 9.3

G Maggie Harvey, 5-5, sr., 6.3

F Taelor Lessmeier, 5-10, jr., 4.7

F Liza Van Zyl, 6-0, jr., 4.3

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