Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s Belen Ellenberger splits the GMG defense on her way to a layup during the Rebels 35-21 win over GMG on Feb. 1. Ellenberger finished with five points and the Rebels got their fifth win over the Wolverines over the past decade. Darvin Graham/Sun Courier

GARWIN — The Gladbrook-Reinbeck Rebels and the GMG Wolverines met in Garwin for a Tama County showdown on Feb. 3.

Both girls varsity teams have been positioned in the middle of their respective conferences so far this season. GMG is tied with Meskwaki and North Tama with four conference wins and only one win behind Colo-NESCO for third in the Iowa Star South conference standings.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck has experienced an up and down season and also holds four conference wins ahead of BCLUW, South Hardin and East Marshall. The Rebels sit alone at third place in the NICL West conference standings behind Grundy Center and AGWSR.

Monday’s game between the regional rivals was a low scoring, back and forth battle that favored the Rebels the whole way but never quite got beyond GMG’s grasp either.

The first quarter saw several missed shots and turnovers, ending with G-R holding an unstable 8-4 lead.

In the second quarter the Rebels found a groove offensively and took a 17-6 lead going into halftime. The Wolverines struggled to move the ball inside against Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s zone defense, often ending possessions with turnovers or missed shots.

The defensive front for G-R effectively neutralized GMG’s leading scorer Emily Vaughn, who was held scoreless despite being the primary ball handler for the Wolverines.

Behind the three-point shooting of freshman guard Adelyn Sienknecht and some timely buckets from forward Jenna Yilek, the Wolverines mounted comebacks in the third and fourth quarters that would bring the score to within 10 points or under.

But the Rebels proved too much to handle for GMG, breaking each comeback run with points of their own and challenging defense on the opposite end.

The Rebels took the win 35-21 and moved their QuikStats Era series record over the Wolverines to 5-1, dating back to 2011.

Long-range field goals were at a premium for both teams as Gladbrook-Reinbeck did most of their damage with layups and transition buckets.

The Rebels held a noticeable height advantage over GMG with their three bigs, Saari Kuehl, Katie Clark and Megan Cooley standing 5-foot-10 or taller. The Wolverines meanwhile topped out down low at 5-foot-8 with Yilek and Marriah Stonewall doing their best to contain their mismatched opponents.

Leading the way offensively for G-R was the junior forward Clark who scored 13 points and was one rebound shy of a double-double.

Kuehl was also one notch shy of a double-double, scoring nine points along with 11 rebounds.

Cooley dominated inside bringing down 10 boards while tallying a game-high four blocked shots to go with eight points scored.

GMG was led by Sienknecht, whose 11 points accounted for half of her team’s total scoring. Sienknecht was the only shooter who found any sort touch from outside as she was 3-for-8 from the three-point line.

Yilek was next for GMG with eight points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

In the home stretch of the regular season, Gladbrook-Reinbeck played a road game against Grundy Center Tuesday night and faced South Hardin on Thursday. The Rebels will play their last regular season game on Friday against AGWSR at home.

GMG played at Meskwaki on Tuesday and will host Valley Lutheran on Friday and East Marshall on Monday.