Wolfpack spoil Indians' state quest

Talk about playing your best basketball in the postseason.

After finishing fifth in the Lakes Conference and splitting both regular season meetings with Spirit Lake, Western Christian upped its win streak to seven with an impressive 49-34 victory Friday, Feb. 19 in the semifinals of the Class 2A regional tournament in Rock Rapids.

"We got off to a poor start and couldn't take care of the ball," said Spirit Lake coach Rick Reinking. "For some reason, we also came out nervous. We had 14 turnovers at the half and you can't do that against a team playing as well as Western is. We also didn't shoot the ball well. We were down around 30 percent and that's been our bugaboo all year."

The Indians only lead of the contest came a minute into the game when Alli Gerking made 1-of-2 free throws. Western Christian quickly responded with a 9-0 run that Kayla Gesink sparked with a three-pointer that got the Wolfpack on the scoreboard.

With 45 seconds to go in the first quarter, Sammy Spies drove into the lane for a hoop, and then K.J. Veldman scored on a short jump short on a nice pass from Spies to slice the gap down to 11-8.

Abby Horstman scored five points in the opening minute of the second stanza to propel WC ahead by a 16-8 margin. The Indians pulled back to within four points before the Wolfpack used a 14-2 spurt to move ahead 30-14. Jocelyn Bousema and Shantelle Gritters each nailed treys during the run. With less than a second left in the half, Veldman splashed in a three-ball from three-feet beyond the arc to cut the halftime deficit down to 13. Veldman scored 12 of her team's 17 points in the first half.

After cutting the gap down to 30-19, Bousema jump-started WC with another triple. The Wolfpack missed four straight shots to start the third quarter.

WC outscored SL 13-4 in the initial eight minutes of the second half, getting one final three-pointer from Bousema in the left corner to push the lead to 43-21.

Spirit Lake was limited to four free throws and one field goal in the first five minutes of the final stanza. The Indians ended the contest on a 7-0 run, getting two late baskets from Mary Brown and one by Veldman.

Veldman led all scorers with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting. The freshman guard had five rebounds and four steals as well. Brown and Gerking also chipped in five points each. Brown, Spies and Chelsie Stettnichs each grabbed three rebounds, while Regan Sieperda finished with eight rebounds and two blocks.

It was the final outing for Spies, Brown, Stettnichs, Sieperda and Caila Jones.

"The seniors did everything we asked of them," said Reinking. "They worked hard and I hope they had an enjoyable year because I think we did. There were lots of tears in the locker room afterwards and that means that they cared and took this one hard. The effort was there. It just didn't work out tonight."

Bousema led the Wolfpack with 11 points. Horstman added 10 points, followed by Gesink with nine, Brooke Wolterstorff with eight and Gritters with six. Bousema and Gritters combined to nailed five three-pointers.

The Wolfpack ended up shooting 17-of-43 from the field for 40 percent and 6-of-18 treys for 33 percent, but kept the game close after struggling to a 6-of-18 effort at the foul line. WC also committed six fewer turnovers than SL.

The Indians were 13-of-39 overall for 33.3 percent, connecting on just 6-of-23 shots in the second half. SL also hit on just 1-of-13 triples and 7-of-19 free throws.

Spirit Lake ends the season with a 17-7 record, while Western Christian (13-10) advances to take on Lawton-Bronson in the 2A regional finals.