Garrigan ends AGWSR girls postseason

ALGONA –The tournament trail came to an end for the AGWSR girls’ basketball team, losing 63-41 to Algona Garrigan in a Class 1A, Region 2 semi-final contest here Friday.

The No. 14 Cougars, winners of eight straight, struggled early against the fourth-ranked Golden Bears’ full-court defense. Several of AGWSR’s 18 turnovers came in the opening eight-minutes as Garrigan dashed to an early 15-6 cushion and led by 10, 23-13 after one quarter.

“That is a legitimate team,” said AGWSR coach Laurie Gann. “The problem was we wanted to slow the game down and when they got the lead it is tough to do. Their quickness really was tough and trying to defend the drive really got us early.”

Garrigan’s fantastic freshmen tandem of guard Molly Joyce and 6-foot-3 post Audi Crooks didn’t disappoint. Joyce netted a game-high 23 points with 10 in the first quarter and Crooks had 16. Crooks is averaging 23 points per game and Joyce 18.

The Cougars remained within striking distance at halftime, down 35-23, and were within 40-29 on a Rachel Sicard basket three-minutes into the third period.

The Golden Bears closed the third on a 10-4 spurt for a 50-33 lead and behind eight points by Crooks to start the fourth ballooned the cushion to 21 points at 58-37.

“We did a lot of good things tonight, but obviously not enough,” said Gann. “Turnovers early really hurt and then a couple charging calls I didn’t like didn’t help.”

Sicard topped the Cougars’ scoring at 14 points with nine for Alyssa Hames, Grace Finger six and MaKenna Kuper, five. Hames grabbed seven rebounds, Finger six and Whitanie Nederhoff had four to go with four assists.

Katie Noonan chipped in 10 points for the hosts with two treys and Madison Meester had eight.

The win improved Garrigan to a lofty 22-1 and into the regional final Wednesday at Hampton against 17-7 East Buchanan. East Buch beat Colo-NESCO, 38-20 Friday.

AGWSR wrapped-up an impressive campaign at 18-6.

“We made great strides the year,” said Gann. “We had a lot of question marks coming in and I was thinking a .500 record, so 18 wins is a heck of a year. The girls deserve a lot of credit for coming together as a team and made it a very enjoyable season.”

The Cougars captured two post-season wins, 56-19 over North Iowa and then beat BCLUW, 49-31.

            Scoring by Quarters:

AGWSR13         10         10         8          -41

Garrigan23        12         15         13         -63

            AGWSR scoring – Rachel Sicard 14, Alyssa Hames 9, Grace Finger 6, Makenna Kuper 5, Whitanie Nederhoff 3, Morgan Bakker 2, Natalie Lippert 2. Three-point goals: Hames 1.