Second-quarter outburst nabs Newell-Fonda a spot in 1A state semifinals

By Ryan Timmerman | Photos by Matthew Putney  

DES MOINES - Mary Walker got what she expected.

Walker knew playing at the IGHSAU girls state basketball tournament at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines would be a little daunting at first. 

But once she and her Newell-Fonda Mustangs settled in, the Class 1A No. 2 seed proceeded to pummel seventh-seeded Woodbine, 81-60, in the state semifinals on Wednesday.

“We have a lot of players that can step up at any given time,” said the senior Walker, who led the game in scoring with 24 points. “We all trust each other and love being on the court together. Whoever has the hot hand has it, and we find ways to get the ball there.

“It’s the first game at state, I think everyone has some jitters or nerves at the start. But our coaches do a great job of telling us to take in the moment, but letting us know that everything will fall into place.”

That mentality showed.

After the first quarter ended 22-17 in favor of Newell-Fonda, the Mustangs amassed a 25-7 run that lasted the duration of the second period to go into halftime up 47-24.

Newell-Fonda (23-2) rode a balanced attack to the win. Nine Mustangs scored in the game and seven tallied five or more points in the victory. The squad scored 44 points in the paint and 35 off of 25 Woodbine turnovers.

Walker recorded the game-high in points with 24. She surpassed 1,000 career points in the Mustangs’ regional final win over AGWSR. Junior Kierra Jungers went for 18 points and McKenna Sievers had a dozen.

Woodbine (23-3) had three players reach double figures, led by Nicole Hoefer’s 19. Teammate Charlie Pryor went for 17 and Amanda Newton had 11.

However, the Tigers couldn't match the efficiency of the Mustangs.

Walker and Jungers combined to shoot 18 of 23 from the field. Both took -- and made -- two 3-pointers and Walker sank the only two free throws the pair attempted. And each grabbed five rebounds.

“We just have to stick to what we know and play Mustang basketball,” said Newell-Fonda junior Kierra Jungers. “That’s pretty much it. We work together well. We calm each other down when we need to, and we hype each other up when we need to.

“We’re a very close-knit team. We have great team chemistry and we’re always there for each other. It felt great. Every team starts the year wanting to be here, and we just feel so blessed to be where we are.”

North Linn topples WMU in 1A quarterfinals

North Linn is out to wear teams down.

With an up-tempo pace, the team prefers to make basketball into a bit of track meet, and that mentality has Class 1A third-seeded Lynx into the semifinals of the IGHSAU state basketball tournament Wednesday at Wells Fargo Arena.

North Linn sprinted its way past Winfield-Mount Union in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday, thrashing the Wolves by a final of 68-36.

All told, 11 Lynx players contributed toward the scoring tally and six scored five points or more.

“It doesn’t matter who scores for us,” said sophomore Molly Boge, who led the contest in scoring along with Macy Boge as each finished with 13 points. “As long as we play as a team, that’s the main thing. We have a lot of weapons, and it showed.”

North Linn (23-1) is hardly new to success. The program has taken five straight teams to state and won 20 games for the 13th consecutive campaign.

On the other hand, WMU (22-2) is making its first trip to state since 1998, when first-year head coach Mendy McCreight was on the roster as a player.

Besides the two Boges, the only other North Linn player to reach double figures in scoring was Kamyn Kurt. While she ended with 11 points, she’s proven able to score in bunches as she’s exceeded 1,000 career points.

But having so many players score for the Lynx meant that not only was the scorekeeper busy, but fresh legs were cycling in and out of the lineup, which wore down the Wolves, who relied heavily on the size and physicality to win the Southeast Iowa Super Conference’s North Division this season,

“We run a lot at practice, so we’re used to going up and down at a fast pace. I don’t think a lot of other teams are ready for that. By the time the second half comes, a lot of teams get really tired.”

“It’s really fun getting here,” Boge said. “But you don’t want to come here just to have fun, you want to finish the job. We started off a little slow, but we found some momentum and got our fans into it. Hopefully that carries over into the next round.”