By Mark Schafer
The News-Review
SIGOURNEY – Two wins in two different ways have them on the cusp of a State tournament appearance.
The Sigourney girls basketball team hasn’t made it this far in the post season since their head coach, Kaylee Weber, was a sophomore in high school.
For the current Sigourney players their main goal is just to keep the season going.
“Honestly through the last minutes of the game I was just thinking, ‘I don’t want to lose,’” freshman guard Brynn Clarahan said following a 64-60 win over Lone Tree on Friday night. “I had the confidence going up for the final shots, and I don’t want the season to be done yet and I know the seniors don’t want to be done yet either.”
Through their first two rounds of the class 1A region seven tournament the Savages have been able to gain two wins in completely different ways. Both can be summarized by the team not wanting to let the season end for their seniors.
In their first round game, a rather easy 62-33 victory over WACO the Savages were able to let their seniors leave a bit of history behind as they etched a new record into the record books.
Seconds into the class 1A region 7 quarterfinal game on Feb. 18 Sigourney senior McKinley Chittick drained a three pointer to give the Savages a start with the lead.
After WACO made a basket of their own, and Sigourney secured a couple of foul shots by Josephine Moore, the Savages stole the ball away from the Warriors and gave the ball back to Chittick. She sank her second three pointer.
From there the rout was on, and the start of the raining down of threes from the Savages in the game.
In total the Savages would sink 12 three pointers to help them gain the rather lopsided win.
“We tied a school record for most threes in a single game,” Sigourney head coach Kaylee Weber said. “Anytime you can do that it is pretty special. Our defense was really good which helped open up the offense that we saw.”
While Sigourney was busy draining threes on their end of the floor, the WACO defense was completely overwhelmed by the swarming Savage defense.
Four of the first five WACO possessions ended in a turnover. Most of the turnovers were caused by the Sigourney defense pressuring WACO at half court and forcing their guards into a position where they couldn’t pass.
“Our defense leads to our offense,” Weber said. “Our seniors don’t want to be done yet and the entire team has really taken that to heart. The underclassmen don’t want to be done yet either. I am really proud of them.”
The Savages held a comfortable 35-13 lead at halftime in that game. Although the scoring slowed down in the second half the Savages were able to hold onto the lead and advance into the regional semifinals.
Chittick, who hit five three pointers in the game, finished with 19 total points. Clarahan added four three pointers and finished with 17 points. Ava Fisch scored six points, off two three pointers.
The 12th and record-tying three pointer came in the fourth quarter by Ella Bruns. Those were her only points of the game.
Josephine Moore scored nine points. Addy Fineran added four points. Becca Gretter also had four points.
The Friday night regional semifinal game against Lone Tree wasn’t quite as comfortable.
After the Savages opened up a 22-6 lead in the first quarter Lone Tree seemed to wake up.
“You know it is a long drive from Lone Tree,” Weber said. “Maybe the team just woke up after the first quarter. After the first quarter I felt really good and I kind of stopped coaching for a little bit. Which, that was my fault.”
The Savages continued their three-point shooting prowess in the first half as they drained six three pointers to build up a 34-18 halftime lead.
In the second half things started to get uncomfortable as easy passes for Sigourney started to result in interceptions. Lone Tree happily took the turnovers and converted those into points.
The once healthy lead for Sigourney dwindled, slowly at first, before big heaves of points seemed to fall off the scoreboard.
After three quarters the Savages led 44-37. The seven point lead for the Savages disappeared off two quick turnovers and the Savages were clinging to a six point game with one minute left on the clock.
With little time left on the clock the Savages rerouted their attack on the hoop. Instead of settling for outside shots the Savages worked the paint as much as they could. Their philosophy seemed to change from settling for shots to making sure their shots counted.
Three times in the final minute a Sigourney player, either Clarahan or Josephine Moore would drive deep into the paint and go for a layup.
All three times the Savages were able to make the shot and draw a foul earning an extra shot.
On all three occasions the two Savage scoring stars were able to score the foul shot and extend the lead.
“Out total game plan in the final minute was to take the inside shots,” Weber said. “We know we can make a bunny 97 percent of the time, and those were the shots we needed to take at the end. I just told the girls to make the shots they know they can make, and they listened and we preserved the win.”
In the final seconds, Sigourney held a 64-60 lead. The Lions tried to sink a three, but it skimmed off the front of the rim and landed in the hands of Josephine Moore. Moore than gave the ball to Clarahan.
Clarahan was forced to take an outside three pointer, but her shot missed its mark too. Moore once again gobbled up the rebound and the Savages held on to the four point win.
For Moore the rebound helped her become the career rebounds leader for Sigourney.
“She has been chasing the rebound record all four years of high school, but especially this year. That was something she really wanted,” Weber said. “It is huge. The girls know they need to rebound, and Josephine has been the leader for us all year and it is great to see her get the record.”
Moore led the scoring for the Savages against Lone Tree with 24 points. Clarahan added another 22 points.
Chittick had 13 points. Fisch scored three points and Addy Fineran scored two.
The Savages (19-5) will travel to Iowa City West to play Springville (19-4) at 7 p.m. on Feb. 26. The winner of that game will advance to the State basketball tournament.
Photos by Mark Schafer
