Hawk girls runaway from Bears in 1A playoffs

SULLY — Familiar foes out of the South Iowa Cedar League conference stepped onto the court at Lynnville-Sully High School Tuesday night. The 1A 15th-ranked Lynnville-Sully girls hosted the English Valleys Bears in a 1A Region 5 quarterfinal.

Although the Hawks had trouble getting shots to fall in the opening two minutes, they stayed in control of the contest with their defense. English Valleys’ Audrey Grove had the first basket of the game at the 6:55 mark, but never led again as the Hawks powered to a 48-18 win.

Senior Brenna Lanser tied the game at 2-all on a basket. A putback by sophomore Carson Fisk at the 4:49 mark following a steal by junior Camryn Russell had Lynnville-Sully in front for good.

It was 9-2 when the Bears’ Madison Trimpe scored. Lynnville-Sully held an 11-4 lead after one quarter. The Hawks used a 13-0 run to put space between themselves and the Bears in the second quarter.

A 3-pointer by junior Jataya Meyer followed by a basket by Lanser pushed Lynnville-Sully to a 24-4 lead a the 3:07 mark of the second period. When junior Mariah Vos downed two free throws with 16 seconds left before halftime, the Hawks went into the break up 30-8.

“I thought our defense was pretty good. We did a good job of communicating on screens and rebounding the ball,” Lynnville-Sully head coach Jerry Hulsing said. “Overall, it was a good night. I thought the girls played well.”

With the victory, the Hawks (20-2) hosts Wayne, which edged out Morman Trail 47-44 Tuesday, in a 7 p.m. regional semifinal game Friday at Sully.

Sixth-ranked Marquette Catholic beat Central City, 65-28, and Belle Plaine, another SICL team, defeated Cedar Valley Christian in the other quarterfinal games Tuesday. Marquette Catholic hosts Belle Plaine at 7 p.m. Friday at Bellevue.

The winners of Friday’s semifinal games advance to the 1A Region 5 championship game at 7 p.m. Monday held at Cedar Rapids Jefferson. The region champion qualifies for the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union Class 1A State Tournament Feb. 27-March 4 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

In Tuesday’s quarterfinal, Lynnville-Sully held English Valleys scoreless through the first four minutes of the third quarter to lead 37-8. Going into the fourth quarter, the Hawks were in front 40-12.

“On offense we did a pretty good job of moving the ball most of the night and getting shots we wanted,” Hulsing said. “We just didn’t finish real strong.”

Lynnville-Sully shot just 26 percent, 17-of-63, from the field. Defensively, they limited English Valleys to 20 percent shooting, 8-of-40, from the field. The Hawks had a 44-38 edge in rebounding.

The Hawks turned the ball over 10 times while helping to force 27 turnovers by the Bears. Lynnville-Sully scored 11 points off Bear turnovers.

Lanser recorded a double-double for Lynnville-Sully with 18 points and 13 rebounds. She had three of the team’s nine steals. Fisk finished with 12 points and three steals. The Hawks converted on 12-of-19 free throw attempts.

Russell handed out three assists for the Hawks. Vos and senior Jelissa Rozendaal had two assists apiece.

Trimpe led the Bears with six points and Grove added four points. English Valleys was 2-of-2 at the free-throw line.

English Valleys 4-5-4-6—18

Lynnville-Sully 11-19-10-8—48

Lynnville-Sully (FG/3-pt); Lanser 7-4-2-18, Fisk 5-2-2-12, Vos 2-2-0-6, Meyer 0/1-2-1-5, Russell 0/1-0-1-3, Rozendaal 0-2-1-2, Scandridge 1-0-2-2, Cunningham 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 15/2-12-10-48.

English Valleys: Trimpe 3-0-2-6, Grove 1-2-4-4, Westhoff 1-0-0-2, Ackerman 1-0-1-2, Cox 1-0-0-2, Ayers 1-0-3-2, Schneider 0-0-2-0, Olson 0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 8-2-15-18.

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