Class 4A State Championship: Ballard 47, Glenwood 45 –
Josie Fleischmann has been Ballard’s most reliable 3-point shooter all season, but she never made any as important as the ones she hit in her final high school game.Fleischmann knocked down a tying 3 with 1:57 left, then sank the game winner with 37 seconds to go, lifting the Bombers to a 47-45 victory over Glenwood and the Class 4A state championship.
Brooke Loewe added 16 points and seven rebounds for Ballard and all-tournament captain Molly Ihle, a 5-foot-6 senior, led both teams with 13 rebounds and scored six points. Madison Camden hit four 3-pointers and scored 20 to lead top-ranked Glenwood, while Jenna Hopp had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Ballard was the first Iowa team to beat Glenwood, which finished 21-4. Loewe, Camden and Hopp also made the all-tournament team along with North Scott’s Ashley Fountain and Emma Miner of Dallas Center-Grimes.
Class 3A State Championship: Unity Christian 48, West Lyon, Inwood 31 –
Sisters Janie and Gracie Schoonhoven had one more act together and it was the most satisfying of all. Janie forged her third double-double of the tournament with 17 points and 16 rebounds and Gracie added nine points and seven assists to lead Unity Christian to the Class 3A state championship with a 48-31 victory over West Lyon.
Unity used a 13-0 second half run and strong defense against West Lyon star Brooklyn Meyer to take control in the all-northwest Iowa matchup and claim its third state title. The Knights, who won 2A championships in 2015 and 2016, finished the season with 14 straight victories and a 25-2 record. Janie Schoonhoven, a senior, had 54 points and 36 rebounds in her three games at state and was named captain of the all-tournament team. Gracie, a sophomore, finished with 53 points and 19 assists –many on passes to her sister –and also made the all-tournament team. Tyra Schuiteman, another all-tournament selection, scored 12 points for the Knights.
A key in their victory was the defense against the 6-foot-2 Meyer, a junior who has committed to South Dakota State and already has more than 1,000 points in her career. Meyer scored 10 points in the first quarter, but Unity Christian’s constant double-teaming eventually took its toll and she went 1-for-9 the rest of the way to finish with 12 points and four rebounds. She had had averaged 17.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in West Lyon’s first two games this week. Hayley Knoblock added seven points for the Wildcats (24-2), who also finished as the state runners-up in 1998, and Kennedy Kramer scored five. Meyer and Knoblock also made the all-tournament team along with Cherokee’s JeMae Nichols.
Class 2A State Championship: Dike-New Hartford 47, Maquoketa Valley, Delhi 42
Dike-New Hartford found its shooting touch just in time to win a state championship. Shackled for three quarters by Maquoketa Valley’s zone defense, the Wolverines outscored the Wildcats 22-9 in the fourth to claim a 47-42 victory in a battle of unbeaten teams and win the Class 2A state championship. Dike-New Hartford rallied from 11 points down in the third quarter to grab the lead early in the fourth quarter, then survived some shaky free throw shooting down the stretch to add the basketball title to the 2A volleyball championship it won in November.
Taylor Kvale, a 5-foot-3 junior, made the key plays to get the Wolverines (26-0) back in it and finished with 12 points. Ellary Knock also scored 12, Payton Petersen and Sophia Hoffmann added eight each and Paula Gonzalez scored six, including a key 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter. Petersen, a freshman, was named captain of the all-tournament team after receiving that same honor in volleyball.
Dike won the six-player title in 1988. The Wolverines started only one senior so they should be title contenders again next season. Knock, Tucker, Imler, West Branch’s Sasha Koenig and Nodaway Valley’s Maddax DeVault joined Petersen on the all-tournament team.
Class 1A Championship: Newell-Fonda 66, Bishop Garrigan 52
Same matchup, same results. Newell-Fonda is the Class 1A state champion for the third consecutive year. The Mustangs got some clutch play and free throw shooting from all-tournament captain Macy Sievers in the closing minutes and beat Bishop Garrigan of Algona 66-52 for its fourth title overall. Sievers finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and three steals as the Mustangs closed out another memorable season by defeating the same team they beat in last year’s championship game and avenging a 66-45 loss to Bishop Garrigan back in December.
Bailey Sievers added 14 points for Newell-Fonda (26-1), which became the eighth school to win three consecutive championships. Maggie Walker scored eight points and Ella Larsen had seven points, nine rebounds and seven steals.
It wasn’t a typical game for Newell-Fonda, which averages 81 points and usually scores on a series of fastbreaks and layups off steals. But against a team that had 6-foot-3 sophomore sensation Audi Crooks it the middle, the Mustangs did what they needed to win it.
Newell-Fonda, which also won the 1A title in 2015, finished with 14 steals and scored 26 points off turnovers. Bailey Sievers also made the all-tournament team along with Crooks, Meyers, Montezuma’s Elise Boulton Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton’s Quinn Grubbs.
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