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"I was really proud of the girls in the first half. Things were going real well for us. I was pretty optimistic at halftime," said H-LP co-head coach Neal Brandt. "Even in the third quarter, we hung with them. I was pleased with the girls for hanging with them. We just ran out of gas and didn't have enough left in us. But the final score doesn't really show how close the game really was."
The Wolves came out firing in the first quarter, moving ahead of the Eagles 19-17.
Both teams quieted down offensively in the second stanza, but NSK stepped up its defensive intensity and was able to gain a 29-27 halftime edge after holding H-LP to eight points.
"I thought we played them tough the first half," said H-LP co-head coach Jenni Schweitzberger. "We tried to stay with our game plan of putting lots of pressure on two of their girls (Rebekah Rolling and Kelsey Gerhart), but right away other girls got hot from the outside so we had to make the adjustment and play man-to-man defense."
"Our transition game and press slowed things down a little bit as far as letting them get into their offense," Brandt added. "We were able to get down the court and get some easy baskets pushing the ball, which is our strength."
The Eagles and Wolves battled back and forth until midway through the third quarter when NSK clamped down its defense and was able to generate enough offense to open up a 47-39 lead.
H-LP was limited to only eight points in the fourth quarter of the loss. The Eagles capitalized on a couple of turnovers in the opening minutes, scoring six quick points, and then hit a couple of three-pointers to break the game open.
"They are a very good ball club with lots of offensive threats, but the bottom line is that they know how to sit down and play tough pressure defense," said Schweitzberger. "We struggled with our shooting the second half, but just hung on through our defense. In the last six minutes of the fourth quarter, we just absolutely gave it all we had and came up short."
The Peters triplets each had strong games to close out their H-LP careers. Deni Peters led the way with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting. She also five rebounds and three steals. Jena Peters tallied six points while Shelby Peters grabbed five rebounds and blocked three shots.
"We're going to miss the Peters girls," said Brandt. "Each one of them brings a different aspect to the game. Together they really helped the team. They will be missed and hopefully we'll have some girls that step up and fill their shoes. I'm optimistic and already looking forward to next season. We had an excellent year and I think they're motivated to get further into the tournaments and have more success as far as the record because of this season."
Anna Brandt also had 11 points, four rebounds, six steals and six assists. Christine Larson chipped in eight points and snared six rebounds as well.
The Wolves were 20-of-50 overall for 40 percent, but they were only 7-of-17 from the free throw line and committed 26 turnovers. The Eagles were 24-of-53 from the floor, 6-of-17 from beyond the arc and 12-of-17 from the foul stripe. NSK also had a strong effort on the offensive and defensive boards and forced 17 steals.
Rebekah Rolling topped NSK with 19 points, followed Kelsey Gerhart with 16 second-half points. Gerhart also grabbed 14 rebounds, including nine of the offensive variety.
Brandt credited his defense for sticking with such a talented team.
"Their athleticism and depth were big," he said. "They were rotating a few more girls in and out. They rotated girls on Anna to try to continue that full-court pressure. They denied her from getting the ball and tried to take her out of the equation. It was effective, but I thought that we handled the pressure really well overall."
Harris-Lake Park ends the season with a 14-8 record, while North Sentral Kossuth (22-2) moves on to play No. 10 Mason City Newman with a state berth on the line.