Chaos is good – if you play for the
Gladbrook-Reinbeck (Reinbeck, Iowa) girls basketball team.
It's so good, in fact, that the Rebels helped establish a national record this week while outlasting
West Marshall (State Center, Iowa), 122-118, in a double-overtime thriller.
The total of 240 points bested the previous national record (222) which was set in 2004 when Thrasher (Booneville, Miss.) defeated Wheeler (Miss.), 113-109.
Mark Pawlak of the Marshalltown Times-Republican called it "the day the scoreboard never quit."
Winning coach Bruce Bailey told MaxPreps, "It probably was the most intense thing I've ever been in."
In the second quarter, 63 points went up on that scoreboard. The score was knotted at 98 following four quarters and 108 at the end of the first overtime. They combined to shoot 93 free throws.
Lauren Bengen
Courtesy of Gladbrook-Reinbeck
, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, paced five double-figure Rebels with 23 points. She also is the season leader with an 18-point average.
Hailee Halverson led West Marshall with 36 points. Her previous high was 12 and she entered the game with a 4.7 average.
Bailey explained that after being a conservative coach for his entire career, he installed the Grinnell College system this season.
He describes it as "goal oriented, run and gun, full-court press, scramble and get up a shot every seven seconds. Our theory is that we can wear teams out. We have 10 players and six lines. We change (some) of our lineup every 25 seconds. Each player knows at least two positions. I have a coach on the bench with a stopwatch. We are a scorebook nightmare for people.
"We double-team and take away the passing lanes. It's really hard for teams to hold the ball on us. We try to create chaos and keep teams from doing what they want to do."
There are five things the Rebels attempt to do in every game:
* Take at least 80 shots.
* Shoot at least 30 threes.
* Rebound at least 33 percent of their missed shots.
* Force at least 25 turnovers.
* Take at least 20 more shots than their opponent.
How successful have they been?
Well, they lead the state in scoring average (77.9), most field goal attempts (1,528), most field goals (600), most 3-point attempts (533) and most 3-point baskets (157).
The bottom line is that they have compiled a 14-7 record, are on an 8-game winning streak (during which they reached all five goals every time) and have topped the century mark in their last three games.
"The neat thing," Bailey said, "is that these are the exact kids I had last season. We won three games (lost 19) and averaged 39.5 points. We've turned some heads, I guess. I'm sold (on his new style)."
Ironically, the Rebels, who have just one senior, will open Class 2A state regional tournament play on Saturday at West Marshall, where they lost early in the season by a 70-54 margin.
The rubber game should be some kind of shootout.
