L-S girls dominate Iowa Valley, come up short in season-ending loss to Danville

SULLY — Midway through the first quarter of a Class 1A Region 7 quarterfinal game, the Lynnville-Sully girls’ basketball team led Iowa Valley 6-4.

After that, the 11th-ranked Hawks used a 27-2 run to put away the Tigers and went on to down their conference rivals, 69-35.

It was the Hawks’ second win over Iowa Valley this season.

“There isn’t any secrets,” L-S head girls basketball coach Jerry Hulsing said. “Nothing happened tonight that surprised me. I just think we executed and played well defensively. We were surgical in how we ran our offense, too.”

The Hawks led 21-6 after the first quarter and outscored the Tigers 22-12 in the second and 26-17 in the final two periods.

Six Hawks scored in the game and four reached double figures. It was the team’s sixth straight win and L-S has won 14 of its past 15 games.

Elise Alberts used a pair of back-door cuts to score the first two L-S buckets of the night and Kate Harthoorn’s two free throws helped the Hawks lead 6-4.

The hosts won the rest of the quarter 15-2. Ava Brummel made four consecutive free throws, Tatum Huyser converted a layup on another back-door cut and then buried a 3-pointer and Aubree Arthur scored inside on a pick and roll to the basket.

“It’s part of our offense,” Hulsing said about the back-door cuts. “Everyone knows we run it and tonight it was just there. I think it’s there more than we try to do it. It’s something we try to do as part of our offense.”

Huyser opened the second with a 3. She added a layup and another 3 later in the frame and Harthoorn added three free throws and a trey in the quarter as the Hawks led 43-18 at the break.

Arthur and Majesta Vos each scored four of the team’s 12 points in the third and Arthur opened the fourth with a bucket.

Six Hawks scored in the final frame. Alberts’ 3 pushed the margin to 68-31 late in the quarter.

“We were efficient. For three and a half quarters, we were really good offensively,” Hulsing said. “We missed a bunch of bunnies in the second quarter. We got good looks but rushed and didn’t finish strong.”

Huyser had a career-high 17 points and added two assists and Harthoorn added 14 points, four rebounds, six assists and four steals to lead the Hawks. Harthoorn was 9-of-12 from the free-throw line.

Alberts tallied 12 points and six boards, Arthur registered 11 points and five rebounds and Vos chipped in eight points, 10 rebounds and three assists.

Brummel put in six points and grabbed seven rebounds, Alaina Roberts had four rebounds and two steals and Brilynn Tice and Morgan Jones each pulled down two rebounds.

The Hawks (19-4) shot 35.7 percent from the floor, made 5-of-15 from 3 and buried 24-of-33 from the foul line. L-S out-rebounded Iowa Valley 42-33 and turned the ball over nine times.

“We played good defense,” Hulsing said about the first-half barrage. “We moved our feet, frustrated them and kept our hands out and forced them into tough shots. We rebounded the basketball really well, too.”

Lola Frimml had 17 points and six rebounds to lead Iowa Valley, while Lydia Kriegel chipped in 11 points and four boards.

The Tigers (11-12) shot 23 percent from the floor, made 1-of-12 from 3 and connected on 14-of-22 from the foul line. They committed 22 turnovers.

Danville 51, Lynnville-Sully 50

The Hawks couldn’t hold a double-digit halftime lead on Friday. Lynnville-Sully led by 10 at the break but was outscored in the second half during a narrow 51-50 home loss to Danville in the 1A Region 7 semifinals.

L-S shot 46 percent from the floor but turned the ball over 17 times.

Vos led the Hawks with 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three blocks and Harthoorn tallied 13 points, five boards and two steals.

“The girls played hard and did a lot of good things,” Hulsing said. “We played well on both ends for three quarters. Our defense was good, we were communicating and we ran our offense well. We didn’t rebound the ball very well down the stretch. We forced things on offense, resulting in several turnovers late.”

Arthur added six points, six rebounds and two assists, Huyser chipped in eight points and three assists and Roberts collected four points and three rebounds. Brummel also grabbed two boards.

L-S was 5-of-15 from 3 and made 3-of-7 from the foul line. Danville (19-4) shot 45 percent from the floor, connected on 4-of-15 from 3 and hit 5-of-12 from the foul line. The Bears turned the ball over 12 times.

Alaina Gourley had a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double to lead Danville, while Rylee Morris finished with 18 points, five rebounds and four steals.

“I want to say thank you to our seniors for their dedication to our program,” Hulsing said. “They have put in a lot of time and have grown into good basketball players, but more importantly, they are outstanding young ladies.”