Strong 2nd Half helps Heelan beat East

Heelan broke open a close game in the third quarter and hit their free throws down the stretch to beat East on Tuesday night 61-49 at the East gym.

East led 29-27 at the half thanks to 8 first half points each by Jeff Sponder and Adam Woodbury.  Heelan Head Coach Tom Betz had mentioned that he wanted to stop the inside game of East so he made defensive adjustments at the half to do just that.

The Crusaders tightened their zone defense around Woodbury and Sponder, forcing East to hit their outside shots.  On offense, Heelan used 6 points from Chris Karpuk in the quarter plus a couple of buckets from Zach McCabe to build a 9 point lead going into the 4th quarter.

McCabe would hit a basket to start the final period to make it 49-38 Heelan but East would hit back-to-back threes by Jordan Thomas and Quinton Behlers to pull the Black Raiders within 5.  But that’s as close as East would get.

The Black Raiders started missing their shots and had to resort to sending Heelan to the free throw line.  The Crusaders would hit 12 of 16 free throws in the 4th quarter to put the game away.

McCabe would lead Heelan with 17 points while Michael and Alex Malloy would each score 16 points.  Michael Malloy had the game of his life for Heelan — hitting a few early shots and playing tight defense on Thomas.

East had three players in double figures, led by Sponder with 11 while Woodbury and Behlers each had 10.  Sponder and Woodbury were held to a combined 5 points in the second half and only 1 basket.  Thomas was held to just 8 points.

Heelan sweeps the season series and improves to 13-4 on the season, 5-3 in the conference.  East falls to 15-3, 6-2.

Thinking ahead to the NAIA Tourney

We are now about 1 month away from the NAIA Women’s Division II National Tournament at the Tyson Events Center.  This will be lucky number 13 for Sioux City hosting the annual tournament and teams from the Great Plains Athletic Conference have won 8 of them, including 7 of the last 8.

This year appears to be no different with the GPAC currently having 3 teams ranked in the top 5.  Hastings is the number one team in the country – the Broncos have 3 national titles under their belt.  Northwestern has 2 national titles under their belt and they just moved up one spot to number 4 in the latest NAIA poll.  The #5 team is Briar Cliff.  The Chargers fell one spot after losing at Hastings this past Saturday.

Three-time and defending champ Morningside is currently ranked 12th which means this could be the first year that the Mustangs, Chargers and Red Raiders could all make the tournament.  The GPAC could also have 5 teams in the field this year with Concordia ranked 25th in the latest polls.  It is very likely that that everyone ranked in the top 25 will make the field of 32.

There are still some big games left in the regular season to help determine the seeding for the GPAC Tournament, not to mention the national tournament.  On Wednesday, Morningside will visit Northwestern and on Saturday the Red Raiders will play at Hastings.  Briar Cliff will host Morningside on Feb. 17, renewing their rivalry.  Remember, the regular season champ gets an automatic bid and currently Hastings has a 1 game lead over Northwestern and a 2 game advantage over Briar Cliff.

Meanwhile, there are teams outside of the GPAC that will come to Sioux City on March 10.   Davenport (Michigan) is the number 2 team in the country.  The Panthers were in the top spot until losing to conference rival Cornerstone on January 27, 65-54.  The 2 teams will have a rematch on February 20.

Former 2 time runner-up Cedarville (Ohio) is back in the hunt for a national title and is currently ranked third.  The Lady Jackets are playing a little like Morningside — shooting three-pointers like they are going out of style.  Cedarville has shot 435 triples this season and has won 14 straight games.  There is a quirk in their schedule; the Jackets have not played conference rival Shawnee St. yet.  The Bears are ranked 7th in the latest poll and the 2 teams will play this Thursday night and again on February 20.

Up north, the Dakota Athletic Conference has three teams ranked in the top 25 — Black Hills St. (#6), Jamestown (#10), and Minot St. (#13).  Minot St. visits Black Hills St. on February 19.

There are clearly some very good basketball games left this season as the NAIA field will continue to sort itself out.  The top 4 seeds are still up in the air with just 2 weeks left in the regular season.

Super Bowl Thoughts

So New Orleans has a Super Bowl.  The Saints brought Peytan Manning back to earth on Sunday, beating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17.  A few things come to mind:

1)  The first thing I thought of was the Saints fans back in the ’80’s that wore those paper bags over their heads.  The Saints winning the Super Bowl is kind of like the Clippers winning the NBA Title.  Prior to this year, New Orleans had only won 2 playoff games in their team history.  The city of New Orleans has really had nothing else in terms of professional sports.  There’s the AAA baseball team — the Zephyers.  They had the Hornets in the NBA but lost them to Oklahoma City.  Oklahoma City!  And NHL in New Orleans?  You got to be kidding.  Nope, there’s the Saints and that’s it.  They worship their team down there and they finally get to celebrate.  Good for them.

2)  I like Drew Brees.  Brees is a very likable kind of guy.  He’s got that mole on his face but is really down to earth.  When Brees was a free agent and it was clear that San Diego was not going to bring him back, New Orleans needed a star to build around and he kind of made sense for the team.  The toughest part was selling him on coming to New Orleans.  The Saints gave him enough money and the rest is history.

3)  I am sick and tired of seeing Peytan Manning as the face of the league.  Its time for somebody else to get the attention and Brees and the Saints is a refreshing change.  Maybe we’ll stop putting Manning on a pedestal now and put him in the Hall of Fame before his career is even finished.  Manning still does not have as many Super Bowls as Tom Brady so the comparison between the two QB’s will never end.

4)  I hate Katie Couric.  What the heck is she doing interviewing Barack Obama during the Super Bowl Pre-Game Show talking about health care?  Noboday cares!  Save it for the evening news that nobody watches!

5)  The best commerical of the night was the Snickers spot with Betty White and Abe Vigota.  Hands down winner!  What was your favorite commerical?

North loses twice to Ames

It was an opportunity for the North Stars.  For the girls, they needed a win to stop their recent three-game losing streak and right the ship before the last week of the regular season.  For the guys, it was a chance to play on the Wells Fargo Arena floor in Des Moines against the number one team in the state.

Unfortunately, it was 2 losses.

The North girls overcame an early 15 point deficit but could not come all the way back, losing to the Little Cyclones 54-52 in a rematch of last year’s 4A state title.  The North boys could not overcome the talented duo of Harrison Barnes and Doug McDermott, falling 73-53.

In the girls game, Ames built a 28-15 halftime lead and pushed it to 15 in the third quarter.  Jenna Power came off the bench to hit three threes for the Cyclones and the Kellogg sisters — Kionna and Shaya — dominated the inside with 10 combined points to build the lead.

But, North came alive midway through the third quarter with a 10-0 run sparked by a three by Brittni Donaldson and a three by Josee Jansen.  The Stars used that run to pull within 2.

Ames, however, got some big baskets by Ellen Hansen in the 4th quarter and pushed their lead back up to 9.  Leading by 8 with about a minute to go, Jansen hit another three and then North forced a turnover from Kionna Kellogg.  On the inbounds play, Jansen popped a three from the top of the key to cut the lead to 2.  Cheyenne Pritchard was fouled with 3.4 seconds left but missed both free throws.  But, North had to go the length of the floor and a miracle toss from Jansen was wide.

The loss was the 4th in a row for North, as they fell to 13-6 on the season.  Donaldson finishedwith 19 points and was the only player in double figures for the Stars.  Jansen and Kari Ceasar each had 9.  Kionna Kellogg led the Little Cyclones with 12 points, Power and Pritchard had 11 apiece and Hansen had 10.

In the boys game, North had some hope early when Damek Tomscha hit a three-pointer in the corner early in the first quarter forcing an Ames time out.  The Little Cyclones came back to lead 16-9 after one quarter but outscored the Stars 20-6 in the second quarter.  North didn’t even score in the second quarter until 1:48 until halftime.

North came out strong in the third quarter and went on a 7-0 run to start the half.  North even, at one point, cut the lead to 12 points.  However, Barnes and McDermott were too much as Ames cruised to a 20 point victory.

Barnes finished with 30 points and had about 5 dunks in the game.  The future North Carolina Tar Heel is the best leaper I have ever seen.  At one point, Barnes jumped up for a rebound and it looked like he was walking on the other player’s heads.  Barnes has all the tools to play at the top college level — he has unbelievable quickness, he can shoot from the outside, and he can drive to the basket.

McDermott finished with 25 points but he was not as impressive to me.  The future Northern Iowa Panther hit three triples in the game and that might be where he plays at UNI — on the outside.  McDermott would present a lot of challenges on the perimeter for defenses but in high school, his size at 6′8″ forces him to play in the paint.

Pat Kurth led North with 16 points, Tomscha finished with 14 and Dylan Ohl was in double figures with 12.  The Stars fell to 10-6 on the season.

Another lopsided game between Heelan and North

Before Thursday night’s game between 3A #1 Heelan and 4A #7 North, everybody thought it would be a lot closer than the 19 point game the Crusaders won at the Tyson Events Center in early January.

Nope.

Carli Tritz had a game high 28 points as Heelan beat North 63-47 to sweep the season series and outright clinch the MRAC title.  The Crusaders went on an 11-0 run to start the game and never looked back but it was not the Heelan offense that was the most impressive; it was the Crusaders D that was the difference.

Brittni Donaldson — North’s leading scorer, averaging 16.1 points a game — was held to just 3 points on Thursday night, all coming on one three-point play in the first quarter.  Josee Jansen — North’s second leading scorer, averaging 14.5 points a game — was held to just 7 points, all in the second half.

Heelan frustrated those 2 players all night long with a stifling full court pressure that left the Stars catching the breath all night long.

Tritz was all over the floor — as usual.  She blocked shots, she made steals, she rebounded the ball, and she scored points.  Amanda Hoffman finished with 13 points — 10 in the first quarter — and shut down Jansen on defense.  Millie Niggeling added 12 points and dominated the boards.  Heelan improved to 16-1 and has won 13 in a row.

Freshman Keisha Eickholt was the only player in double figures for North, finishing with 10 points off the bench.  Abby Axthelm and Kari Ceasar each had 9 as North lost their third straight game and fell to 13-5.

Dakota Valley able to whip West

The Dakota Valley Panthers have a lot of young talent and those numbers were able to withstand the talent of Wesley Staten and West, beating the Wolverines 80-60 on Tuesday night in McCook Lake.

With 5:35 left in the game, West was finally able to cut into a DV lead as little used Kale Provost hit a three-pointer from the corner to cut a 6-point lead in half to 3, 57-54.  However, on defense, Staten picked up his 4th foul of the game and Head Coach Kelly Boyle decided to take the sophomore out of the game for a couple of minutes.

Big mistake.

The Panthers went on an 12-0 run, keyed by Brock Bergmann, who scored 9 points in the 4th quarter and Dakota Valley pushed the lead to 69-54.  Bergmann made one huge play during the run, tipping a pass away from West and running the ball down near the scorer’s table, leaping up and throwing the ball back across his body to Eliot Bacon for an easy lay-up.  Bergmann also had some key offensive rebounds for DV and finished with 20 points.

Matt Lupkes also had 20 points for the Panthers.  The Junior got hot early in the game, hitting 3 three-pointers in the first quarter and had 15 points at the half.  West was able contain the shooter in the second half, but that’s when Bergmann took over.  Joey Feilmeier was also in double figures with 13 points.  Brady Rust and Colin Gunderson each had 8 as the Panthers improved to 8-4 on the season.

Dakota Valley only has 1 senior on their roster so this might be a team to watch in South Dakota next season.  The Panthers kind fly under the radar next to some of the talented teams in the Siouxland area but shouldn’t be taken lightly any more.  DV’s one problem is lack of size inside.  Bergmann made up for it on this night with great hustle to take away some key rebounds.

Meanwhile, the struggles continue for West, who fell to 3-11 on the season.  Staten finished with a game high 27 points and Destin Mace had a nice game for the Wolverines with 14 points.

Heading into February

So January is over and the high school playoffs are coming up fast.  The girls regionals begin in 2 weeks for Class 1A and 2A.  3A and 4A begin on the 17th.  I have seen all the city teams play and I wanted to share a few of my observations up to this point.  So, let’s go school by school:

Bishop Heelan

Both the boys and girls have been ranked in the top ten all season.  The girls seem almost unstoppable.  Carli Tritz has been a joy to watch and is clearly the best player in the city.  Heck, she might have a thing or two to teach the guys.  I have never seen a more determined player on the court than Tritz.  When there’s a loose ball and it becomes a race, nobody will beat Tritz.  She has the heart and desire to take this team as far as she can.  Its fun to watch Tritz and Millie Niggeling play together — they’ve only been playing together since elementary school.  Darron Koolstra has done a great job as head coach and his laid back style is a distinct opposite of Doug Moody’s style which has rubbed off on the girls.  This team has all the ingredients to win the 3A title

For the boys, the Crusaders have a dynamite combination in Zach McCabe and Alex Malloy.  The problem is who will step up to support them.  Chris Karpuk has been up and down.  Shane Graves has shown flashes of talent but he is still a freshman.  Heelan needs consistency from players other than McCabe and Malloy.  Still, this lethal combo could take Heelan back to back.  Malloy’s slashing style and McCabe’s outside shooting packs an offensive punch few can equal.  Heelan is the favorite in its substate to go back to Des Moines but you can’t count out MOC-Floyd Valley or Algona.

Sgt. Bluff-Luton

I have been real impressed with the job that Terry Pomerenke has done this season.  The Warriors have a lot of talent and came within an eyelash of upsetting Hinton just the other night.  Cassidy Breon and Melissa Wiig are two very solid players.  The problem is that SB-L has to play Heelan in the first round of the regionals.  The Warriors play in a tough region and they lost to Heelan by 14 back in December.  Still, its been a good season.

The boys just don’t have the manpower to compete with other teams in the city.  I like the development of Cole Croston, though.  The sophomore is still a work in progress but has improved steadily this season.  He has some shot blocking ability and can shoot but just needs experience.  The Warriors will lose Derek Jensen and Ross Chettinger but with Croston, Josh Peterson, and Logan Shine all coming back, SB-L has some promise next year.  Croston’s improvement will be the key when they join the MRAC.

Sioux City East

The Black Raider boys are the favorite in their substate to go to the state tournament — again.  Adam Woodbury has come a long way in a short amount of time.  The sophomore has dramatically improved his game and has become a dominant force in the paint.  The other night, Woodbury’s presence keeped O’Gorman from driving into the lane.  Woodbury has worked on his footwork and no longer is out of position defensively.  His size gives him a distinct advantage over everybody else.  Its hard to believe this is the same player I watched as a freshman a year ago.

I’ve also been impressed with Quinton Behlers.  This kid can shoot the rock.  In fact, he has been more consistent than Jordan Thomas from the perimeter.  Still, when Thomas is on, East goes strong.  It will be tough for anybody out of Substate #1 to go far in the state tournament with Ames the clear favorite to win it all.  But East has a chance to make a dent.

Its been a long year for the East girls.  Dan Pomerenke has some players but just not enough talent.  I like Reyna Mikulicz as a developing player.  The sophomore can play and is definately a player to watch that might be under the radar.   The Black Raiders start 4 juniors along with Mikulicz so there’s next year to look forward to if there’s improvement.

Sioux City North

I give Joe Burkhart a lot of credit for getting as much as he can out of his team.  Burkhart is hard nosed and a heavy discipline and the Stars have played more disciplined this season.  North has played a very difficult schedule that gets even tougher with a game against #1 Ames this week.  Pat Kurth has improved this year and so has Danny Rudeen.  When Damek Tomscha has been shooting the ball well, North wins games.  When he doesn’t, North doesn’t win games.  Dylan Ohl remains a mystery to me — he has a lot of potential to be a really good player but I have seen Ohl make simple mistakes on the court that senior players just should not make.  North’s tough schedule will not give them a good seed in the substate and match-up with East in the semis looms large.

Speaking of mysteries, there’s the North girls.  Everything was going along swimmingly until this weekend when the Stars lost 2 games in a row at the Tournament of Champions.  When I saw the score of the South Sioux City game on Saturday, frankly I was stunned.  North beat the Cardinals 91-75 earlier in the season but lost the other day 71-55.  In the loss to Lincoln SE on Friday night, North could not figure out the 2-3 zone.  Lincoln cut off Brittni Donaldson’s ability to drive to the basket with the 2 guards at the top of the key.  Josee Jansen was left with long range threes and every time they threw it inside to Keisha Eickholt or Kari Ceasar, the passes were batted around for turnovers.  The Stars were ranked sixth but will fall in the new poll later this week.  I thought this team was a lock for the state tournament but after this weekend I am not so sure.  Kirk Walker has a lot of work to do to right the ship in a short amount of time.

Sioux City West

It has been a rough year for Boys Head Coach Kelly Boyle and Girls Head Coach Rick Whitesell.  Both teams have struggled this year with injuries, players quitting, players declared ineligible and all sorts of issues.

As for Wesley Staten, it must be very frustrating for this talented sophomore.  Staten, however, has to learn discipline.  He has tremendous scoring ability but he needs to reel in his game so his teammates can catch up.  I’ve written this before and its worth repeating again — great players make their teammates great.

South Sioux City

In the 2 games that I have seen the Lady Cardinals, I have been a little disappointed.  It basically revolves around turnovers and taking care of the basketball.  The Cardinals have some talent but has been taking unnecessary risks with poor passing and wild three point shooting.  South Sioux needs to slow things down and run their half court offense with the idea of throwing it inside to Tristen Sharp.  And when Sharp is double and triple teamed, she needs to learn to dish back outside to find the open shooters.  SSC likes the run and gun style but they might be better suited to slowing things down a bit — just my opinion.  Kelly Flynn still has his team in position to go far in the state tournament — maybe the win over North will give the team some confidence.

The boys are going through a tough stretch right now with consective losses to Omaha Skutt.  The Cardinals problem is lack of strength inside.  Jose Bonilla is still a work in progress and there’s no other true inside threat on the team.  But this is still a young team and everybody but Alex Groth is back next year.  Mike Gesell is getting some looks from top colleges and for good reason — he’s an awesome player, maybe the best player in the city.  The Cardinals are probably a year away from contending for a state title but you never know when the young players will put it all together.

Heelan beats Hull Western Christian

It was almost a must win game for the Heelan Crusaders.  After falling to North on Friday night, Heelan had to travel to Hull, IA to play Western Christian.  The Crusaders rallied in the 4th quarter to beat the Wolfpack 72-66.

The game was back and forth all night long with the lead changing hands many different times.  Western was playing without leading scorer Tyler Wolterstorff, who had a deep thigh bruise and did not even dress for the Wolfpack.  Still, Matt Westra picked up the slack, scoring 10 points in the third quarter as Western led 54-52 after three periods.

Western would push their lead to 6 but Zach McCabe hit a big three-pointer in the 4th quarter to cut the lead in half and then Heelan took over on the free throw line.  The Crusaders hit 13-16 free throws in the final quarter.  Alex Malloy alone was 7-8 in the quarter and 14-16 in the game from the charity stripe.

Malloy led Heelan with 22 points while McCabe put in 19 and Chris Karpuk chipped in with 10.  Westra had a game high 26 points for Western Christian while Bryce Groeneweg had 15 points and David Den Herder was in double figures with 12.

The Wolfpack clearly did not have the answer for Malloy and his speed all night long.  Western Christian tried to cut off Malloy’s slashing style but couldn’t keep up and were forced to foul.  The Wolfpack did harass McCabe all night long.  The future Iowa Hawkeye hit 3 three-pointers in the first quarter and had 12 points at the half but did not score again until the 4th quarter.

Heelan led 35-34 at the half and then Westra took over the game in the third quarter.  Heelan stayed close thanks to a three from Shane Graves and two triples from Reed Buckstead.

It was a huge win for Heelan, who improved to 11-3 on the season.  Heelan currently is the number two seed in the substate but a loss to Hull would have slipped the Crusaders to 4th or even 5th.  Algona has wrapped up the number one seed with Heelan 2nd and Denison-Schleswig third coming into Saturday night’s games.  MOC-Floyd Valley is 4th followed by Le Mars, Storm Lake, Sgt. Bluff-Luton and Spencer.  Right now, the Crusaders are slated to play the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs but the seeding will not be finalized until next weekend.

Heelan has a difficult upcoming schedule — the Crusaders next 3 games are all against ranked opponents.  Heelan — currently 5th in Class 3A — will play at Omaha Skutt, ranked first in Nebraska Class B, at Sioux Falls Roosevelt, number one in South Dakota, and at East.

Free Throws help East beat O’Gorman

East and O’Gorman renewed their rivalry from the good ole Sioux Interstate Conference days and the Black Raiders survived a scare from the Knights, winning 57-50 on Tuesday evening.

The game was marred by a total of 38 fouls — 24 of them by O’Gorman who ended up fouling out 3 players.  East took advantage by going to the free throw line 42 times, hitting 30 of them, which was more than half their point total.

East never led by more than 9 points as O’Gorman stayed within shouting distance.  The Knights leading scorer — Sterling Nielsen — was held scoreless in the first half but hit 8 points in the third quarter to bring the 2 teams even at 40-40.

Jordan Thomas, however, proved to the be the difference for East as the senior guard hit two three-pointers in the third quarter and was 5-5 from the free throw line in the 4th quarter.  Thomas finished with 17 points to lead the Black Raiders, Adam Woodbury had 12, and Quinton Behlers and Jeff Sponder each had 10 points apiece.

The Black Raiders shot 14-18 from the line in the 4th quarter while O’Gorman was just 5-12 from the charity stripe in the entire game.  Nielsen would lead the Knights with 14 points, all in the second half.

East improves to 12-2 on the season and clinched the number one seed in the substate playoffs.  The Black Raiders will have a bye in the first round in late February and will more than likely host either North or West in the second round.

Cardinal Boys win OT thriller

It was low scoring but it was exciting.  Class B #4 Beatrice tried to slow down the South Sioux City Cardinals on Thursday night.  However,  SSC — ranked #5 in Class B – escaped with a 47-43 win in overtime to advance to the River Cities Conference tournament championship on Saturday.

With a 41-39 lead, the Cardinals had the ball and about 30 seconds left.  However, Mike Gesell had the ball poked from his hand by Tandon Dorn of the Orangemen and Phil McClure hit a three-pointer with 7 seconds left to give Beatrice a 42-41 lead.

On the inbounds play, Gesell dribbled the ball off his foot and it went out of bounds with 6 seconds remaining.  After a sequence of timeouts and an almost steal by Gesell, Tommie Bardsley was fouled by the Cardinals with 5.4 seconds left and had a 1-and-1.

Bardsley would hit the first free throw to make it 43-41 but he missed the second.  Gesell would rebound and race down the court, only to miss the final lay-up.  However, Jose Bonilla trailed the play and stuffed home the rebound with no time remaining.  The officials talked it over and allowed the basket to stand.  If there had been replay, it would have been very close.  Bonilla’s dunk came with less than a second on the clock to tie the game at 43.

In the overtime, Beatrice continued to stall and South Sioux City would not come out of their zone defense.  Nobody would score until the Orangemen would turn the ball over and Austin Groth fired a long range jumper that missed.  But Bonilla was there again for the rebound and put it back in off the glass.  Bardsley would miss a long jumper with 5 seconds left and Gesell hit 2 free throws to put the game away.

Bonilla would led the Cardinals in scoring with 13 points while Gesell finished with 12 — 10 coming in the first half.  The Cardinals only scored 4 points in the 4th quarter — all 4 by Bonilla.  Alex and Austin Groth each finished with 7 points.  Bardsley for Beatrice led all scorers with 16 points.

The win avenged a loss to Beatrice on Saturday by 9 points at the Mini Dome.  Before the game, Head Coach Terry Comstock said that the Cardinals wanted to push the tempo of the game so the Orange would not stall like they usually do.  However, SSC built a 5 point lead in the 3rd quarter so Comstock laid back and decided to let Beatrice play their game.  For awhile, it looked like the wrong strategy but it worked out in the end.

The Cardinals improved to 8-2 on the season while the Orangemen fell to 9-2.  South Sioux City will face off with either Skutt or Gross in the championship game Saturday night — weather permitting — at Omaha Gross High at 7 pm.

Earlier in the day, the South Sioux City girls lost to Skutt 71-49.  The Lady Cardinals were led by Tristen Sharp with 16 points.  SSC will fall into the consolation bracket and will play either Beatrice or Roncalli Saturday at 1:00.