AGWSR takes rubber game to advance

ACKLEY – A highly-energized defense coupled with a potent inside scoring punch sparked the AGWSR girls’ basketball team to a convincing 49-31 victory over BCLUW here Tuesday during Class 1A regional quarterfinal play.

The Cougars roared early, leaping to a commanding 15-2 lead after one quarter and eventually captured the grudge-match between the two teams.

Knotted 2-all, AGWSR scored the next 13 points behind the tandem of senior Rachel Sicard and sophomore Grace Finger. The pair had a combined 24 points at halftime and 33 for the game.

“We got ourselves in a hole right away,” said BCLUW coach David Lee. “We had no idea they would play that way on defense. They really came out after us and I had not seen that type of defense from them this season. 

“They took Allison (Engle) away from us and we just tried to force things and made some bad passes. (MaKenna) Kuper was fantastic tonight for them.”

Sicard tallied four buckets in the first period and Finger had seven points had three hoops and a free throw on an and-one.

“The defense was big,” said AGWSR coach Laurie Gann. “We knew we needed to stop their flex cuts, we worked hard on that and it paid off.” 

The Comets made a push to make it a game in the second. BCLUW opened the quarter on a 9-2 run to pull within 17-11 and then closed to five, 19-14 on Walters’ three-point play at the 4:07 mark. Fueling the 9-2 spurt with Lizzie Garber baskets around a Jade Hammers’ three-ball and Engle two.

The Cougars answered with seven straight points to finish the half with five points for Finger and Whitanie Nederhoff two to lead 26-14 at intermission.

“We felt we could dominate inside and did a nice job of getting looks inside,” said Gann. “To win the way we did with Alyssa (Hames) only scoring one basket was a statement by our girls. We would not have done that and won earlier in the year.”

Hames is averaging nearly 15 points per game and was limited to one basket in the third quarter as the Cougars led 35-22 after three and took the fourth 14-9.

For the Cougars, Sicard netted 18 points and had a double-double with 10 rebounds – seven on offense, followed by Finger with 15 and eight boards. Kuper and Nederhoff chipped in six points. The winners had 15 steals with seven for Kuper and Finger five, while Hames grabbed eight rebounds and Kuper dished five assists.

“We had to take care of Hames and for the most part did. But by doing that we neglected the inside and not necessarily Sicard, but just the area,” said Lee. “They had more girls down low then we did and got beat on the boards.”

Walters led the Comets with 10 points to go with seven rebounds with six points for Garber. Engle collected four points, rebounds and assists each, and Betula Messerly had seven boards. BCLUW was averaging 47 points per game this season.

The two teams split NICL West games with each winning at home – AGWSR, 42-40 first and then BCLUW, 47-43,

The Comets closed the cage campaign at 15-9.

“I feel blessed to have coach these kids,” said Lee. “There was nobody believing we would have the record we finished. We played a lot of good teams and had some big wins.” 

The eighth consecutive win improved the Cougars to 18-5. AGWSR played Algona Garrigan in a regional semi-final Friday.

Scoring by Quarters:

BCLUW2          12         8          9          -31

AGWSR15         11         9          14         -49

            BCLUW scoring – Chloe Walters 10, Lizzie Garber 6, Payton Pekarek 4, Allison Engle 4, Betula Messerly 4, Jade Hammers 3. Three-point goals: Hammers 1.

            AGWSR scoring – Rachel Sicard 18, Grace Finger 15, Makenna Kuper 6, Whitanie Nederhoff 6, Alyssa Hames 2, Morgan Bakker 2.