No. 7 Marquette too much for fifth-ranked L-S in regional final

IOWA CITY — Lynnville-Sully head girls’ basketball coach Jerry Hulsing has preached tough defense to all of his Hawk teams over the years.

The key to Monday’s Class 1A Region 4 championship game against seventh-ranked Marquette Catholic was rebounding and transition defense.

Unfortunately for the fifth-ranked Hawks, they were not good in those categories until the fourth quarter.

By then it was too late as Marquette Catholic grabbed the lead for good late in the first quarter and ended the Hawks’ season one game shy of the state tournament for the fifth straight year following a 69-62 victory at Iowa City West High School.

“That was the two things we talked about most. We had to rebound the basketball and get back in transition, and we didn’t do it,” Hulsing said. “That cost us.”

Hulsing blamed himself as much as anyone after the loss. It was the fifth straight regional final loss for the Hawks and all five have been decided by eight points or less.

“It’s real frustrating. I have to figure out how to coach better and how to get my team ready,” Hulsing said. “I need to get better and it starts tomorrow.”

Marquette (21-2) jumped out to an early 6-0 lead but Lynnville-Sully (18-4) responded with nine in a row to take a 9-6 lead. Another 6-0 run by the Mohawks put them back in front.

L-S senior Shiloh Cunningham buried a 3-pointer to tie the score at 12-all before a free throw put Marquette ahead by one at the end of the first quarter. The Mohawks never trailed again.

The difference was Marquette’s ability to score inside the lane with relative ease. Whether it was Tori Michel or Teona Richman inside the lane or Macey Kremer in transition, the Mohawks got too many easy buckets for Hulsing’s liking.

“We dug ourselves too big of a hole and didn’t play well enough defensively to stop them,” Hulsing said. “Unfortunately, we just gave up too many easy buckets and weren’t physical enough. We can’t give up layups. The baskets they were getting were too easy.”

The Mohawks’ biggest lead of the first half was the halftime margin of 33-25. They pushed the advantage to as many as 13 in the third quarter. All nine buckets for Marquette came inside the paint, and the Mohawks led by 10 after three.

That’s when L-S made its run though.

Down by eight with 6:57 to play, L-S got within four on layups by junior Mallory Loftus and senior Carson Fisk. Marquette went back up by six but back-to-back buckets by Fisk and a basket inside by sophomore Krystal Van Dyke tied the score at 56-all.

The game would be tied again at 58, but the Mohawks went back in front with a pair of putbacks. They hit seven free throws in the final minute to pull away for good. Marquette did not make a 3-pointer in the game.

“They showed a lot of guts, heart and character. They showed the heart of a champion, came back and dug deep and made it a game,” Hulsing said. “We didn’t start the game playing with the urgency needed to and dug ourselves a hole.”

Fisk scored 18 of her game-high 24 points in the second half. Eight of those points came in the fourth when Hulsing made a slight adjustment to get her a few more post touches. That seemed to spark the Hawks at the offensive end, and a full-court press ignited the defensive end.

“We thought we had a mismatch in there with her,” Hulsing said of using Fisk more in the paint in the fourth quarter.

Fisk needed 17 points to reach 1,000 for her career. She went over the benchmark with a layup that closed the gap to 54-50 in the final frame. She is the first L-S player to go over 1,000 points since Brenna Lanser did it a few seasons ago.

“She is one of only about six or seven girls to do that, so that is pretty special,” Hulsing said. “Carson did a lot on the floor for us over the past four seasons.”

Hulsing also loses Cunningham and Kaylee Maasdam to graduation.

“They are great kids. Kaylee doesn’t play a lot but she brought it in practice every day. She’s an awesome kid, she’s funny and I love her to death,” Hulsing said. “Shiloh is our point guard. She does so many little things that people don’t realize. We’ll miss that next year.”

Fisk added seven rebounds and three assists to her 24 points. Van Dyke finished with 13 points, nine boards and three assists and Loftus put in eight points and corralled four boards.

Cunningham finished with six points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Hawks, who had their seven-game win streak snapped.

Michel and Richman both had double-doubles for the Mohawks, who have won 15 straight games. Michel had 18 points and 13 rebounds and Richman tallied 18 points and 12 boards.

Four players scored in double digits for Marquette, but L-S had an 11-0 advantage in bench points and a 14-6 surplus in points off turnovers.

Lynnville-Sully 62, Meskwaki 43

To reach Monday’s title game, the Hawks beat Meskwaki Settlement 62-43 at Victory on Friday night. Fisk fired in 26 points, and had seven rebounds and three assists.

Van Dyke posted up another double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Loftus had 12 points. Cunningham dished out four assists, made four steals, grabbed nine rebounds and scored six points.

A more detailed account of Friday’s game is on the Newton Daily News website — “Newton boys go winless in regular season; Hawk girls advance to 1A regional final.”