Iowa Valley prevents Hawk girls repeating as SICL champion

MARENGO — With the South Iowa Cedar League conference title on the line, Lynnville-Sully’s girls came up short of back-to-back conference championships Friday night. The Class 1A No. 12 Hawks dropped a 37-30 decision to host Iowa Valley in the SICL crossover game between divisional champions.

Lynnville-Sully finished in a tie with Montezuma atop the SICL West, but got the top spot on a tiebreaker. Iowa Valley won the SICL East division. It was the first year of divisional play for the conference.

“Tonight’s game was about our inability to rebound the ball and keep them out of the lane on defense,” Lynnville-Sully head coach Jerry Hulsing said. “We settled for jump shots, and not getting to the inside or attacking the rim.”

The Tigers out rebounded the Hawks, 42-36.

Despite shooting a frigid 19 percent, 9-of-47, from the field for the game, the Hawks led 18-16 at halftime. Lynnville-Sully owned a 28-25 lead going into the fourth quarter, but the Tigers outscored the Hawks, 12-2, to win the game.

Iowa Valley didn’t shoot much better from the field, 12-of-47, for 25 percent. The Tigers cashed in 11-of-16 free throw attempts while the Hawks went 7-of-17 at the line.

Lynnville-Sully got 13 points from Kasiah Ehresman, who hit three of the team’s five 3-pointers. Brenna Lanser added 11 points.

Iowa Valley had nine points each from Cherrise Ward and Sarah Kavanh.

“We need to work on being physical on offense and finishing through contact. In the second half, we were not aggressive on offense and it showed in our inability to score,” Hulsing said.

Lynnville-Sully (19-2) has two weeks to get back on track for a run at the 1A state tournament. The Hawks play the winner of GMG-Meskwaki Settlement in the second round of the Class 1A Region 3 tournament at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 at Sully.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com