Third-quarter blitz pushes PCM into semifinals

MONROE — The only way to describe the first half of the Prairie City-Monroe girls’ basketball team’s regional opener against Centerville was ugly.

The Mustangs lacked movement, struggled at the foul line, depended too much on the 3-point shot on offense and had a few leaks in their full-court press and 2-3 zone on defense.

But the final two quarters was a much different story.

After leading by just two at the break, PCM got things together in time to blow out the Redettes, 62-29, in a Class 3A Region 6 quarterfinal Saturday.

The Mustangs outscored Centerville 24-1 in the third and rattled off 29 straight points at one point to dominate the final 16 minutes.

“I was disappointed early on in our lack of movement on offense,” PCM coach Bret Grier said. “We just stood around too much. Their 2-3 zone didn’t have to do anything.

“Our spacing was terrible on the press in the first half and we were unable to get back on defense because we had three girls guarding the ball on traps. We did a much better job with that in the second half and that’s when we started creating more turnovers.”

The Mustangs forced Centerville (6-16) into 56 turnovers and collected 38 steals in the win.

PCM, winners of five of its last seven, hosts Chariton in Monroe in the regional semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Chariton claimed a 44-41 win over Albia on Saturday. The other semifinal pits top-ranked and undefeated Mediapolis against Davis County.

PCM (15-7) led Centerville 26-24 at halftime.

Most of Centerville’s buckets came directly off the press or on lob passes into the paint to Taylor Lawson and Katie Sharp.

Grier said his team made adjustments in the second half and the end result was a lot of Redette turnovers.

“They were getting all of their points off lobs inside. We took that away in the second half,” Grier said. “We knew they turned the ball over a lot.”

Rachel Freland scored a game-high 23 points. She began the third quarter with a 3-pointer and two layups and then finished the frame with back-to-back treys.

In between were a few more buckets in the lane and several attempts from the foul line.

Unfortunately, PCM continued to struggle at the line. The Mustangs were just 16-of-34 from the stripe, but they did have 16 assists on 20 made buckets and six players had at least four steals.

Courtney VanHouweling finished with 11 points, seven steals, five assists and four rebounds, Rachel Gulling chipped in eight points and six steals and Jayci Vos posted four points, grabbed five rebounds, delivered six assists and grabbed six steals.

Kayla Jennings also had seven steals, Katie VandeWall pulled down five rebounds and Rachel Stafford collected six points, four boards and four steals.

Only five players scored for Centerville, which ended the season with eight straight losses. Lawson led the way with 11, while Sharp and Alyssa Barger each put in six.

Pella Christian 53,

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter 33

PELLA — A slow start once again doomed the CMB girls’ basketball team.

Coming off its best performance of the season in a win over Saydel, the Raiders never got anything going against Pella Christian during a Class 2A Region 7 contest.

The Eagles (12-10) outscored CMB 15-4 in the opening quarter, led 27-10 at halftime and cruised to an easy win.

Lexi Breon and Brianda Bane each scored nine points to lead the Raiders (5-17). Bane also grabbed six rebounds, while Carter Larson had six points and five rebounds.

The Raiders were just 11-of-38 from the floor and 2-of-11 from long range.

The loss marks the end of the high school careers of Breon and Mackenzie Schmitz, who had three points and three rebounds in the defeat.

Pella Christian, which snapped a three-game losing streak, travels to State Center on Tuesday to take on West Marshall in the regional quarterfinals.

BCLUW 58,

Colfax-Mingo 35

CONRAD — The second and fourth quarters went well for the Colfax-Mingo girls’ basketball team on Saturday night during a Class 2A Region 7 opener.

Unfortunately, the struggles in the first and third frames were too much to overcome.

BCLUW jumped out to an 18-2 lead after one and then outscored the Tigerhawks (0-22) 18-5 in the third and won going away. Colfax-Mingo won the second and fourth quarters 14-11.

Dakota Hostetter had one of her best games of the year for Colfax-Mingo, finishing with 12 points and nine rebounds. McKeely Tjaden chipped in nine points and four rebounds.

Both of those players can return to the Tigerhawks’ squad next year.

Seniors Sara Lahart and Ivy Moore cannot. Lahart scored nine points and had 10 boards in her final high school game, while Moore had two points, two rebounds and two assists.

Colfax-Mingo was 12-of-48 from the floor and 11-of-25 from the line.

BCLUW (6-16) travels to Urbandale to face Des Moines Christian in the regional quarterfinals on Tuesday night.