-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Mackenzie McIlrath of Fort Dodge shoot around Des Moines Hoover on Monday

The Fort Dodge girls rebounded from their first loss of the season with a convincing 60-17 victory over winless Des Moines Hoover in the Dodger gym Monday night.

The Dodgers (2-1) were coming off a 31-30 loss to Ames, but they put three players in double figures and were never really challenged by the Huskies (0-4).

LJ Maehl led the Dodgers with 15 points. Mackenzie McIlrath added 12 and Meah McCaleb chipped in with 10.

“It was a good win,” said Fort Dodge head coach Scott Messerly. “We told the girls there were some things we needed to shore up.

“We had pretty good balance in our rebounding. I saw some good things (last night) but I think we’ll know more about ourselves going forward, starting Tuesday night (at Des Moines Lincoln).”

The two teams were ragged to start the game, combining to miss their first 12 shots of the opening quarter. Fort Dodge finally found its rhythm and led 11-0 before Hoover finally scored with 2:30 left in the opening period.

Hoover missed its first nine shots, and though the Dodgers were just 5-for-19 in the quarter, they led 14-3 after the first period.

“We were kind of playing like we were still thinking about that loss early on,” said Messerly. “We were missing free throws and missing some layups, but then we kind of came around.”

Hoover has scored more than 20 points just once in four games. The Huskies were held to just 4 of 37 shooting (just 11 percent).

“But I hate to play teams like this because they just keep throwing it up and if they start making them they can score in a hurry. I just wanted to play well all the way through the game, which we did,” said Messerly.

Fort Dodge was 22 of 55 from the floor (40 percent). The Dodgers were six of 17 from three.

The Dodgers made it a 35-point game on a basket by McCaleb two minutes into the second-half and it was a continuous clock from that point on.

Fort Dodge played all 11 of its available players. Junior Ashlyn WIlls missed the game with an illness.

Dakota Pommer added nine points for the Dodgers, Brooklyn Pommer scored seven and Janelle Long scored five off the bench.

“We’re really young for the most part, but we got a lot of good things from a lot of girls,” said Messerly. “Janelle Long made her free throws, hit some jump shots and had four or five rebounds. It’s things like that which will help us a ton.”

Monday’s game started a three-game week for the Dodgers. They are at Des Moines Lincoln tonight then travel to Waterloo East on Friday.

Fort Dodge won the JV game 55-30. Maddie Hoshaw scored 22 points. Ellie Doster added eight.

FORT DODGE 60, DES MOINES HOOVER 17

Fort Dodge – Mackenzie McIlrath 4-10 2-4 12, Meah McCaleb 5-15 0-0 10, Dakota Pommer 4-7 0-0 9, Brooklyn Pommer 2-4 2-5 7, LJ Maehl 5-15 3-10 15, Destinee Phillips 0-0 0-0 0, Addison Lentsch 0-0 0-0 0, Maddie Hoshaw 1-2 0-0 2, Janelle Long 1-2 3-4 5, Edyn Witham 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-55 10-23 60.

Hoover – Brooklynn Royster 1-5 1-2 4, Takira Smith 0-2 0-0 0, Alayna Jarrett 1-11 2-6 5, Meleah Davis 1-10 1-4 3, Eleanor Ekwall 0-2 0-0 0, Eman Mohamed 0-2 0-0 0, Ernestine Kennedy 0-0 0-0 0, S’Ky Sanders 1-5 2-2 5, Ruth Fandeh 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 4-37 6-14 17.

Three-point shots – Fort Dodge 6-17 (McIlrath 2-5, McCaleb 0-2, D. Pommer 1-2, B. Pommer 1-3). Hoover 3-17 (Royster 1-4, Jarrett 1-7, Davis 0-3, Sanders 1-3)

Quarter scores: Fort Dodge led 14-3, 41-8, 53-13.

Total fouls: Fort Dodge 13, Hoover 20.

Fouled out: Ekwall.