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 –
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.