Area girls basketball

Mount Ayr 38

MOUNT AYR — A bad start hampered the Mount Ayr girls in a 48-38 loss to top-ranked Bedford Tuesday night.

Kayla Lindenmeyer and Peyton Russell hit two 3-pointers each and combined for 18 points in the opening quarter as the Bulldogs jumped to a 20-8 lead after eight minutes. The halftime score was 31-21.

Bedford hit only one 3-pointer the rest of the night, but Mount Ayr could get no closer than eight points. Bedford (16-0) improved to 12-0 in the Pride of Iowa Conference.

“We had a bad first quarter and stayed even after that,” Mount Ayr coach Thad Streit said. “We struggled to score at times.”

Taylor Still had 17 points and eight rebounds along with three blocked shots for Mount Ayr (8-8). Brook Rychnovsky had six points. Paige Daughton had eight rebounds and three assists while scoring four points. Ashton Johnson had a team-high three steals.

Russell led the Bulldogs with 18 points and Lindenmeyer finished with 17.

East Union 45, Lenox 36

LENOX — Brittany Malone finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds to help East Union take the Pride of Iowa Conference victory Tuesday.

Kelsey Hoff added 12 points, and Rochelle Means had seven points, seven rebounds and three steals for East Union (3-12).

“We are finally back on the winning track,” said EU coach Matt Delger. “We had a great team win with a lot of contributors. Brittany Malone had a monster game. She really came to play and her teammates fed off of her energy all night.”

Katie Dukes led Lenox (1-15) with 14 points and nine rebounds. Madison Douglas added nine points and nine rebounds, Kara Henrichs had eight points and Aurora Arevalo finished with five points and 11 rebounds.

Exira/EHK 68, O-M 16

ELK HORN — Orient-Macksburg girls went scoreless in the third quarter in falling behind 56-9 as Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton sailed to the Rolling Hills Conference victory Tuesday.

Rachel Smith had three 3-pointers while scoring 18 points for Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton (13-4). Claire Paulsen also hit three 3-pointers while scoring 13 points and Chansea Nelson tallied 11.