MONROE — Prairie City-Monroe senior Rachel Stafford recalls something her AAU basketball coach said when she and her teammates were in the third grade.
“I remember our AAU coach, Brian Townsend, telling us when we were little that we would be at Wells Fargo Arena when we are seniors,” Stafford said. “For that to come true is amazing. It’s great to know that people believed we could do this all along.”
What Stafford and the PCM girls basketball team did was advance to the state tournament for the first time in 10 seasons.
What the Class 3A No. 11 Mustangs have next is a date with top-ranked and undefeated Sioux Center at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday at Wells Fargo Arena.
“We watched game film last night,” PCM coach Jeff Lindsay said. “We know what they do, and we know it won’t be easy. (Sioux Center) will try to make it an up tempo high paced game, and they want to wear you down mentally.”
Sioux Center (24-0) leads all of Iowa with 540 steals, but PCM (20-4) ranks fifth in 3A in fewest turnovers with 270. That averages out to about 11 per game.
If the Mustangs want to have any chance to pull off a first-round victory, they’ll have to take care of the ball against Sioux Center’s frantic full-court pressure.
“It will be important to slow things down once we break the press,” said PCM senior Katie Vande Wall, who comes into the state tournament averaging 9.3 points and a team-best 7.6 rebounds per game. “We play best when we are at our pace. We need to be in control of the game.
“Our five players went against six yesterday at practice so we can get a feel for the craziness of their press. They will try to cause havoc, but we need to do what we normally do.”
The Mustangs can play fast, but Lindsay feels like his squad plays much better when they pick and choose when to play fast.
PCM doesn’t necessarily need to set the nets on fire offensively.
The Mustangs allow 36 points per game defensively.
That stiff defense will be needed at “The Well” against a Sioux Center offense that averages 71 points per game, which ranks third in 3A.
“They shoot 3s well. They like to shoot a lot of 3s,” Lindsay said. “They like to dribble penetrate, too. We are going to have to do a good job of communicating. We are going to have to rebound it well, too. They like to hit the boards.”
Speaking of rebounding, Sioux Center’s top rebounder is junior Lexi Toering at 8.2 per game. No other player grabs more than 2.6 per contest. Toering also leads the team at 13.8 points and 5.75 steals per game.
Junior Jordyn Van Maanen scores 11.3 points per game and averages 3.4 assists and 3.2 steals per tilt. Senior Jessica Harald is the third player who averages in double-figures. She scores 10.2 points and collects 3.8 steals per game.
Sioux Center is supposed to win Tuesday’s first-round matchup. The Warriors are defeating their opponents by an average of 34 points per game. The two closest games of the season came by margins of eight and 13, and the Siouxland Conference champions won their final 15 games by an average of 22 points per game.
The Warriors also played in the state tournament last season, losing to Nevada in the first round.
The Cubs are back in the tournament this year, too, this time in 4A.
“No one is expecting us to win. We can just come in, play loose and play our game,” senior Bailey Brodersen said.
The Mustangs want to be underdogs. They thrive in that role.
“We are comfortable in that position,” Stafford said. “That’s where I’d rather be. It takes the pressure off us and allows us to play loose. In reality, we have nothing to lose, and we are expected to lose the game.”
PCM and Sioux Center open 3A state tournament play at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday. Fourth-ranked Crestwood (22-1) meets No. 5 Cherokee (20-3) at 1:30 p.m., third-ranked Center Point-Urbana (21-3) faces seventh-ranked Davenport Assumption (16-7) at 3:15 p.m. and second-ranked and defending champion Pocahontas Area (24-1) ends the 3A portion of the tournament against eighth-ranked Clear Lake (21-3) at 5 p.m.
If the Mustangs want to advance to Thursday’s 5 p.m. semifinal against either Crestwood or Cherokee, they’ll have to stick to what they do and try their best to play at their pace.
“We are not a team like them, and we can’t play like them,” said Lindsay, who will be coaching in his first state basketball tournament. “Our team is not built that way. It’s not a knock against our girls. (Sioux Center) chose to do things their way, and we did things a different way. We just both ended up in the same place.
“They know it’s going to be a challenge, but we play better when we know it’s going to be a challenge.”
The Mustangs’ in-game rotation includes seven players, six of which are seniors.
The non-senior is freshman Regan Freland, who leads the team in scoring at 13.7 points per game. She also averages 3.2 assists and three steals per game.
Senior Kayla Jennings averages 12.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and three steals per contest.
Senior Kaylee Townsend, the daughter of that AAU coach Stafford referred to, has 30 blocks, which leads all 3A players in the tournament field.
Vande Wall is the third member of her family to play in a state basketball tournament. Her older sister Lindsey was on the last PCM girls team to play in the state tournament, and her older brother Nate played on the boys teams which made it to state in 2011 and 2012.
“It was fun to watch them, and I am happy I get to carry on our family tradition. It will be cool to be on the same floor that they played on,” Vande Wall said.
The Mustangs are looking forward to playing on the state’s biggest stage.
Vande Wall is looking forward to converting her first “and one,” while Townsend can’t wait to make her first bucket on the Wells Fargo Arena floor.
Jennings is just happy she gets to share the experience with her long-time friends. Brodersen agrees.
“I couldn’t imagine doing this with another group of girls,” Brodersen said. “We have been dreaming about this since the third grade.”
It still hasn’t quite set in for senior Lexi Timmins.
“I’m super excited. I just can’t wait to step out onto the court,” Timmins said.