Iowa high school girls basketball state tournament: North Polk holds on for win over Dallas Center-Grimes
DES MOINES, IOWA – There’s an adage in sports that defense wins championships. That held true Tuesday in the Class 4A state quarterfinals matchup as North Polk pulled out a 48-42 victory over Dallas Center-Grimes.
The Comets also avenged last year’s heartbreaking overtime loss to the Mustangs in the state championship game. This time, it was a battle between the 4 vs. 5 seeds.
“It’s great to go out and beat a team that beat us in the championship last year,” said North Polk guard Abby Tuttle. “We came out with a chip on our should in the second half and did a great job responding to their great first half.”
North Polk's Jada Podey celebrates a win over Dallas Center-Grimes during a Class 4A state tournament quarterfinal Tuesday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. (Photo by Ryan Timmerman)
It was a tale of two halves for the Mustangs, who drained 7 of 12 3-pointers (58.3 percent) in the first half but made only 2 of 13 (15.3 percent) in the second half. They weren’t much better inside the arc in the second half either as they connected on just 2 of 9 in the final 16 minutes.
North Polk coach Clint Albertsen made some key defensive adjustments at halftime, including switching on every screen and defending the 3-point line.
“We were really good with adjustments in the second half, because they were on fire in the first half,” Albertsen said. “Everybody was gonna switch regardless of who it was and get up on them on the (3-point) line and make them drive.
“Our big thing was running them off the line (in the second half) and making them take hard twos,” Tuttle said. “Our defense was great, and we stepped up in the second half. Defense leads to offense. I thought we did a really good job on the defensive end, which led to a lot of good buckets on offense.”
“They just kept making threes in the first half, but we locked down on those threes and kept them off the (3-point) line in the second half, and we just forced them to drive,” said Comet freshman guard Campbell Schulz. “We started switching, which held the threes back and that really got us going. Just making them drive really worked.”
“We didn't get as many good looks,” said DC-G coach Adam Jones. “They switched up a little bit how they were guarding the ball screen. (Becca) Aagard wasn’t guarding the ball screen as hard as she was early when we got some good looks.
“They just played it more aggressively defensively. We kind of got to a situation where we couldn’t make shots and the ball started to roll right for them.”
Dallas Center-Grimes' Vanessa Bickford takes a shot during a Class 4A state tournament quarterfinal game against North Polk on Tuesday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. (Photo by Ryan Timmerman)
Aagard, a 6-foot-3 junior center, led the Comets with 13 – many coming on putbacks, nine rebounds and three blocked shots – all game highs. Tuttle matched her with 13 points and Schulz contributed 11.
Vanessa Bickford had a solid game for the Mustangs, who are ranked 22nd in SB Live’s all-class top 25, with 12 points, five assists and six rebounds. Josie Lampe added 10 points and pulled down seven boards.
There were nine lead changes in the first quarter, but Tessa Jones buried a 3-pointer from the right wing just before the buzzer sounded to give the Mustangs a 14-12 adevantage at the quarter break.
DC-G took its biggest lead of the game, 27-20, on an Aubrey Johansen layup on an inbounds pass with 1:35 left in the second quarter. The Mustangs took a 29-24 lead into the locker room.
The Comets scored 10 straight points after the Mustangs’ only basket of the third quarter was a trifecta from Lampe at the 7:43 mark. They would only get a free throw, also from Lampe, the rest of the stanza with just 31.7 seconds left as they were held without a field goal for the rest of the quarter.
Meanwhile the Comets – ranked 14th by SB Live -- scored 10 straight before Lampe’s free throw to take a 34-33 lead into the fourth quarter.
After falling behind by four, DC-G showed signs of life when Bickford scored on a backdoor layup and buried a 3-pointer at the 4:31 mark to give her team the lead back at 38-37.
But that was the last time the defending champions led as North Polk scored the next seven points to go up six, and the Mustangs couldn’t get within four the rest of the game.
Even with the loss, DC-G has an impressive 85-14 state tournament record and a 7-3 mark under Jones at Wells Fargo Arena. Their season ends with a 20-4 record.
While it had to feel extra special avenging last year’s title game overtime loss, along with a 55-44 defeat in this year’s season opener. Albertsen downplayed that revenge factor.
“You know, on one hand that's a motivator, but on the other hand we're not the same team that was here last year, and neither are they,” he said. “Whoever we're playing in the first round, you just want to win and advance. They're tough, and every time you play them you know it's gonna go down to the wire.”
The Comets (23-2) now move on the play Clear Creek-Amana 5 p.m. Thursday in the semifinals. The two teams met last year with North Polk winning handily 61-30.
“They’re really good,” said Albertsen, who has his team at the state tournament for the fifth time in the past seven seasons. “We played them last year in the first round, and we played about our best game we played all year, and they have virtually that same team. They have a lot of shooters so it should be a good game.”
Clippers sail past Gilbert
Top-seeded Clear Creek Amana had no problem with a scrappy Gilbert squad in the 4A opener with a 68-30 victory.
Four players scored in double figures for CCA, led by Averie Lower with 17 points and seven rebounds. Beck Bliss hit 8 of 11 shots for 16 points – well above her 7.5 average. Ava Locklear had a huge game with 14 points and 17 rebounds, and Sam Schrage chipped in with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting.
The No. 1 seed Clippers dominated the game in every facet, outrebounding the Tigers 41-23, handing out 19 assists to only three for Gilbert and shooting 54.7 percent (29 of 53) from the field, while holding the Tigers to just 23.9 percent (11 of 46).
The Clippers, ranked sixth in SB Live’s all-class top 25 – the highest ranked non-Class 5A school, rolled from the start.
They broke the game open in the latter stages of the first quarter, scoring eight straight and a 16-4 run to lead 22-9 at the quarter break.
The onslaught continued as they opened up a 39-16 cushion on a Schrage layup at the 1:52 mark and led 41-20 at intermission.
The Tigers scored the first basket of the third quarter when Ella Henningsen made a layup at the 7:27 mark, but that’s as close as they’d get the rest of the game.
Mia Kautman was the only player to reach double figures with 11 points for Gilbert, which finished the season 15-10. Henningsen added seven points and a team-high six rebounds.
The unbeaten Clippers (24-0) advance to Thursday’s 5 p.m. semifinal when they’ll face North Polk.
Go-Hawks come back to beat Sioux Center
No. 2 seed Waverly-Shell Rock overcame a 10-point deficit to knock off defending Class 3A state champion Sioux Center 55-52.
The Go-Hawks, ranked 21st in SB Live’s all-class top 25, were also able to get the monkey off their back as they ended a string of four consecutive opening round losses, including their last visit in 2013.
Kately Eggen led all scorers with 21 points. Sydney Bienemann added 12 points – seven above her average, pulled down six rebounds and dished out three assists. She sparked W-SR by scoring seven straight points, including the bucket that gave her team the final lead. Freshman Lizzy Frazel had eight points, five assists, four blocks and a steal.
Freshman Maryn Franken was outstanding for the seventh-seeded Warriors, who moved up a class to 4A this season. She scored 12 points and was all over the boards, snaring 18 rebounds and also handed out eight assists.
Margo Schuiteman led Sioux Center in scoring with 19 points, including three 3-pointers, and grabbed eight rebounds. Makailyn Vander Waal added 16.
The game was in the balance, tied at 49-all in the final two minutes, but Bienemann made a layup and Eggena hit a jumper in the lane to put the Go Hawks up for good.
Waverly-Shell Rock, ranked 21 in SB Live’s all-class top 25, will take a perfect 24-0 record into Thursday’s semifinal game against Sioux City Bishop Heelan with tip scheduled for 6:45 p.m.
Sioux Center ends its season with a 17-7 record.
Crusaders win western Iowa tilt
Sioux City Bishop Heelan cruised into the semifinals with a 70-40 rout over Council Bluffs Lewis Central to wrap up the 4A quarterfinals in a battle of Interstate 29.
Four players scored in double digits for the Crusaders, who are ranked ninth in SB Live’s all-class top 25, including Abby Lee with 21 and Melina Snoozy with 20 points. Brooklyn Stanley chipped in with 12 and Maddie Demke added 10. Maddie LaFluer only had two points but had a team-high seven rebounds.
Brooke Larsen was a bright spot for the Titans with 24 points and 14 rebounds – both game highs.
LC led 10-7 on free throws by Brooke Larsen with 4:51 in the first quarter, but Heelan went on to lead 16-14 at the quarter break.
Heelan, ranked ninth in SB Live’s all-class top 25, led by just one point midway through the second quarter but ended the half with nine straight points to lead 32-22 at halftime.
The Crusaders took a commanding 24-point lead thanks to an 11-2 run to open the half and held a comfortable 50-30 advantage after three.
The Titans (19-5) scored the first five points of the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t get any closer as Heelan responded with nine straight and won going away.
Bishop Heelan, seeded third, will now take their 23-1 record into the state semifinals against two-seed unbeaten Waverly-Shell Rock at 6:45 Thursday night.
--Chris Short I @SBLiveIA
