SULLY — English Valleys Bears dashed Lynnville-Sully girls’ run at an undefeated regular season. A strong second-half surge had the Bears handing the Hawks their first loss of the season in the regular-season final on Lynnville-Sully’s court.
“The better team won tonight,” said Jerry Hulsing, Lynnville-Sully girls’ head coach, following the 63-57 loss. The Hawk girls end up 20-1 and 19-1 in South Iowa Cedar League play, winning the conference title.
“We did not show up ready to play and English Valleys wanted the game more then we did,” Hulsing said. “We didn’t execute our defensive game plan or our offensive plan. We had too many unforced turnovers, and we didn’t rebound the ball well.”
Class 1A sixth-ranked Lynnville-Sully had a 33-24 lead at halftime. The Bears outscored the Hawks 18-10 in the third quarter to take the lead and had 21-14 finishing run in the fourth period.
The last time a Lynnville-Sully girls’ basketball team went undefeated in regular-season action was in 1995-96, when the Hawks finished second at the 1A state tournament. The last time the Hawk girls won the SICL title was in 2000.
Marissa Vos scored 16 points to lead the Lynnville-Sully followed by Kasiah Ehresman with 15 points and Madison Rasmusson with 14 points. Brenna Lanser and Lysandra James each had said points.
James pulled down seven rebounds while Vos and Lanser each had six rebounds. Rasmusson dished out seven assists.
The Hawks shot 40 percent, 19-of-48, from the field. They were 16-of-31 from the free-throw line.
English Valleys had four players score in double figures. Rylee Voss fired in 19 points followed by Lauren Miller with 14 points. Audrey Grove had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Lexie Moore added 10 points.
Lynnville-Sully plays at home Feb. 17 in the second-round of the Class 1A Region 5 tournament. The Hawks play the winner of the HLV against Cedar Valley Christian, which is Thursday at Victor.
Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com