Fourth-ranked Hawks win district semifinal

MONTEZUMA — Lynnville-Sully’s Hawks recorded their 20th win of the season — a 69-26 victory over Sigourney — on Wednesday in a Class 1A District 10 semifinal contest at Montezuma.

They will face Montezuma for the second year in a row for a district championship. Montezuma got past Keota 49-39 on Wednesday in their semifinal contest.

Playing a team for the third time in one season is never easy. The Hawks had beaten the Braves twice in South Iowa Cedar League play this season — 73-43 in the season opener and 55-45 on Jan. 16.

Lynnville-Sully (20-3) plays Montezuma (19-3) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Newton High School. It is the same place the Hawks handed the Braves a 52-43 loss in the 2017 district championship game.

The District 10 champion advances to the Substate 5 title game at 7 p.m. Saturday against the District 9 champion in Oskaloosa. Iowa Mennonite plays New London on Thursday for the District 9 title.

In Wednesday’s semifinal game, which was postponed from Tuesday because of inclement weather, the Hawks pushed out to a 14-9 first quarter lead. They expanded the lead to 32-13 by halftime.

Lynnville-Sully did not let up coming out of the break, outscoring Sigourney 20-8 in the third quarter and 17-5 in the fourth period.

“We were a little slow getting it going, but found our rhythm in the second quarter,” Lynnville-Sully head coach Nick Harthoorn said. “We did a good job defending a couple of their key scorers. The guys took care of the basketball and got good shots overall.”

The Hawks limited the Savages to 23 percent (10-of-43) from the field. Sigourney was 3-of-21 from 3-point range and 3-of-6 at the free-throw line.

Lynnville-Sully shot 45 percent, 29-of-64, from the field. The Hawks were 7-of-16 from 3-point range and dropped in 4-of-11 foul shots. The Hawks dished out 17 assists and made 17 steals. They also had a decisive rebounding edge, 41-25.

Tanner Foster topped the Hawk scoring list with 13 points followed by Brevin Hansen with 12 and Jesse Van Wyk and Rylan James with 11 points apiece. Blaize Kuhlmann had nine points on three 3-pointers.

Hansen made six steals and Van Wyk had four steals. Van Wyk dished out five assists and Foster had four assists.

Van Wyk cleared eight rebounds while Kuhlmann and Corey McCoy each had seven rebounds. Tyson Vander Linden tossed in four points and Grant Wehrle had three points. Gage Vander Leest, McCoy and Kemper Lukehart each had two points.

Sigourney’s leading scorer for the game was Spencer Magill with 12 points.