SULLY — Lynnville-Sully’s Hawks held a double-digit lead in Friday’s Class 1A Region 5 semifinal in front of a home crowd. Visiting Wayne’s Lady Falcons didn’t go away as senior Demi Austin led a second-half charge.
Austin scored three straight baskets in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter to cut the Hawks’ 15-point lead down to three, 48-45. Up stepped Hawk senior Brenna Lanser making two drives to the basket resulting in two free throws and a field goal.
“It was tough as we were struggling a bit. Thankfully after Carson hit that 3 we were able to get going off it and build the lead again,” Lynnville-Sully senior Jelissa Rozendaal said after the 15th-ranked Hawks fended off the Lady Falcons for a 63-54 win.
Sophomore Carson Fisk drained a 3-pointer with 3:20 remaining in the game to put the Hawks back up to a 10-point lead, 55-45. It was the last field goal the Hawks made in the game as they salted away the win from the free-throw line.
Lanser, Fisk and junior Camryn Russell knocked down foul shots in the final 2:42 of the game. The Hawks were 8-of-13 at the line and gave up a basket and two free throws to Wayne in that span.
Lynnville-Sully (21-2) advances to the 1A Region 5 championship game against No. 6 Marquette Catholic (20-5) at 7 p.m. Monday at Wilton. Marquette Catholic beat Belle Plaine, 54-46, in Friday’s other semifinal game.
Two of Austin’s layups at the start of the fourth quarter came off steals from Russell, Lynnville-Sully point guard. Lynnville-Sully had a rash of turnovers and missed shots during Wayne’s rally.
“Coach (Hulsing) always tells us what we do is special so we need to go out and do it,” Lanser said. “I talked to Camryn a few times tonight about having confidence in handling the ball against that girl. We know she can handle it. She came back strong with the ball the rest of the game.”
Russell finished with six points, three assists and had two steals of her own. Lanser said the secret to Lynnville-Sully’s success this season is the Hawks’ teamwork.
“We’re all best friends. We’re family and we love each other so we play for each other,” Lanser said after another double-double performance for Lynnville-Sully. “Coach says he’ll take us — one-on-one — with anyone in the state.”
Lanser fired in 30 points, moving just five points away from the 1,000-point mark in her career. She pulled down 10 rebounds for the Hawks against the Lady Falcons. Lanser drained a season-high five 3-pointers in the game and went 9-of-12 at the line.
“We did what we had to do to get the win and at this point, that is what matters,” Lynnville-Sully head coach Jerry Hulsing said, “Our defense needs to communicate more and be ready to help stopping the ball from getting to the rim.”
Wayne led early, 4-3, on back-to-back baskets by Austin. Lanser’s first 3-pointer gave Lynnville-Sully a 6-3 lead. The game was tied three more times in the first quarter. It was 10-all going into the second period.
Lynnville-Sully racketed up its defense in the second period, which led to an 11-0 run by the Hawks. Lanser had a basket then rang up a trey off a steal by junior Jataya Meyer. Fisk, who finished with 16 points, scored three in a row.
Russell connected for a 3-pointer at the 6:25 mark to make it 21-10. The run was interrupted by two free throws by Austin.
Rozendaal hit a baseline jumper and made a layup off a steal for the Hawks. Sophomore Shiloh Cunningham stole the ball and had a layup to give the Hawks a 27-12 lead with 3:40 left in the first half. The Hawks led 33-19 at the break.
“The second quarter was our best quarter. We started off the game a little slow offensively,” Rozendaal said. “We pulled together on defense, got some good rebounds and knocked down a couple of shots which would help us win the game.”
Midway through the third quarter, it was 40-31, as Wayne junior Haylee Fortune scored nine of her 16 points. Lanser delivered a 3-pointer at the 3:11 mark then again with 30 seconds left in the period.
Wayne’s Macey Goretska, a junior, hit a shot at the end of the third quarter to narrow the Hawks’ margin to nine, 48-39. The Lady Falcons kept charging to get within three then the Hawks took charge again.
“On offense, we needed to make the zone shift side to side with ball movement. When we did, we were able to attack the rim. We hit some clutch free throws down the stretch,” Hulsing said.
Lynnville-Sully shot 64 percent from the free-throw line, cashing in 20-of-31 attempts. The Hawks went 18-of-59, 30 percent, from the field including hitting 7-of-27 from 3-point range.
The Hawks held a 46-34 rebounding edge. Fisk and Rozendaal each gathered in eight rebounds. Fisk had three assists and Rozendaal made three steals.
Wayne shot 44 percent, 22-of-50, from the field and went 10-of-17 from the line. Austin ended up with 25 points.
Wayne 10-9-20-15—54
Lynnville-Sully 10-23-15-15—63
Lynnville-Sully (FG/3-pt): Lanser 3/5-9-2-30, Fisk 4/1-5-4-16, Rozendaal 3-0-1-6, Russell 1-3-0-6, Cunningham 1-2-3-4, Vos 0-1-5-1, Scandridge 0-0-1-0, Meyer 0-0-3-0.TOTALS: 11/7-20-19-63.
Wayne: Austin 10-5-4-25, Fortune 8-0-4-16, Norris 2-4-3-8, Goretska 2-0-3-4, Andrews 0-1-3-1, Freeman 0-0-5-0. TOTALS: 22-10-22-54.
Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
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