L-S girls win twice, advance to regional finals

SULLY — It took a few minutes for the Lynnville-Sully girls basketball team to get going on Tuesday during its Class 1A Region 8 quarterfinal against Madrid.

But once the offense caught up to the Hawks’ suffocating defense, there wasn’t much the Tigers could do.

Class 1A No. 11 Lynnville-Sully broke a 5-all tie with a 32-2 run that started in the first and went into the third during a 54-20 home win.

“We were wound tighter than tight,” Lynnville-Sully head girls basketball coach Jerry Hulsing said. “Once we relaxed and started doing what we needed to do, things start flowing better.”

The Hawks’ leading scorer, Kate Harthoorn, did not score in the game, but L-S still won by 34 because five players put in at least eight points and Ava Brummel led the way with 15 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals.

“When teams focus on (Harthoorn) and try to slow her down, we know others need to step up, and I think we did a good job with that,” Brummel said.

It had been 10 days since the Hawks last played a game so the slow start was understandable. The Tigers were coming off a last-second half-court heave to win their first-round game, too.

But the L-S defense was on all night, holding Madrid to single digits in every quarter. They led 12-5 after one and won the second 15-2.

“We conditioned quite a bit over our mini break. We had 10 days off and needed to go get it,” Hulsing said. “We are not changing anything and haven’t over 30 years so it was really just working on execution and putting them in different spots and situations and let them react out of that.

“We tried to sharpen up our defense and fine tuned some things. I think our defensive pressure took them out of their offensive sets all night long.”

Brummel scored seven of her of her game-high 15 points in the first quarter. She had plenty of opportunities inside as the Tigers focused their defensive attention on Harthoorn, who did dish out five assists and grab three rebounds in the win.

Brummel’s bucket off an inbounds pass late in the frame made it 12-5 and then Alaina Roberts opened the second with a 3-pointer.

Five different players scored in the second and most of the production came in the paint and off impressive passing from teammates.

Breah Lowry’s layup made it 17-5. Brummel scored on a putback and then found Roberts later for a layup. Roberts delivered a pass to Brooke Harthoorn, who scored inside, and Isabelle Vos found Lowry for two earlier. Vos also made a pair of free throws in the quarter.

The Hawks (18-5) scored the first 10 points of the second half and six came inside from Brummel. Vos also scored six of her eight points in the period and Brooke Harthoorn canned a 3 to swell the lead to 42-11.

“I feel like I could have finished better in the first half, but I got better position and better looks in the second half,” Brummel said. “I think I was going too fast with my moves.”

Roberts and Lowry both connected on triples in the fourth. L-S was 5-of-15 from downtown in the win.

Lowry finished with 11 points, four rebounds, two assists and four steals, Roberts contributed eight points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals and Vos totaled eight points, four boards and two assists.

Brooke Harthoorn registered eight points and three rebounds, Brilynn Tice grabbed three rebounds and Brynlee Farrell collected two boards.

The Hawks shot 33.3 percent from the floor, made all five of their free throw attempts and turned the ball over 13 times.

“That makes us tougher, but Kate brings a lot of things to the table for us that you don’t see in the scorebook,” Hulsing said about the balanced scoring. “More kids who can score just makes us a better team all around.”

Madrid (7-16) committed 34 turnovers and was limited to 26 percent shooting.

Jillian Olmstead led the Tigers with nine points and eight rebounds and Lauren Dvorak added eight points and six boards.

Notes: Tatum Huyser went down with an ankle injury early in the second quarter and did not return. “She’s a tough kid, but I don’t know a whole lot right now,” Hulsing said. … The Hawks’ freshmen trio of Lowry, Vos and Brooke Harthoorn combined for 27 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and five steals off the bench. “They bring that youthful energy,” Hulsing said. “They’ve played a lot of basketball, and we’re seeing that come to play every night. They do a lot of little things. They’ve grown up a lot this season, are tasting this for the first time and are hungry. That makes them want to taste more.”

Lynnville-Sully 56, Martensdale-St. Marys 45

Kate Harthoorn broke out of her scoring funk with 20 points and four 3-pointers, Tice produced the best game of her prep career so far and the state-ranked Hawks eliminated Martensdale-St. Marys 56-45 during the 1A Region 8 semifinals on Friday.

The Hawks led 13-7 after one quarter and outscored the Blue Devils 17-10 in the third. Martensdale-St. Marys won the second and fourth 14-13.

“The girls played great defensively,” Hulsing said. “We didn’t allow them to get many good looks. We didn’t close out with high hands and they hit a few shots in the second quarter but overall we did a great job. The girls did a good job of answering their run with a run of our own.”

Harthoorn’s 20-point night included 4-of-6 from 3 and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. She also finished with two rebounds, five assists and two blocks to lead the Hawks. It was only her second double-digit scoring game since Jan. 31.

Tice posted a career-best 13 points and seven rebounds, Lowry chipped in seven points, four rebounds, three assists and four steals and Brummel finished with six points, nine rebounds and three assists. Vos had three points and two rebounds.

The Blue Devils had won the only two previous meetings against L-S since 2010. The two teams last played in 2022.

“A big key was our reserves who did a great job in practice getting us ready for tonight,” Hulsing said. “They pushed us and got us ready.”

The Hawks, who did not have the services of Huyser due to an injury, overcame 39.5 percent shooting from the floor and committed 17 turnovers but were 21-of-30 from the foul line and 5-of-9 from 3. Lowry and Roberts both went 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.

Rylie Fugate led the Blue Devils (17-6) with 13 points and six rebounds and Autumn Elbert put in 12 points. Martensdale-St. Marys shot 33.3 percent from the floor, made 7-of-22 from 3 and connected on 10-of-14 from the foul line.