By Mark Schafer | The News-Review
 SIGOURNEY – The second quarter was the one that sent them on to the next round.
On Feb. 17 the Sigourney girls were able to extend their season with a 58-47 victory over EBF. That game was benefited by a 25-point second quarter by the Savages.
Sigourney had started the second quarter with a 19-17 lead, but soon both teams were tied at 22. That is when sophomore Brynn Clarahan seemed to get her game jump started.
Clarahan stepped up her defense and started to use her defense to generate offense throughout the second quarter.
Steals led to non-contested shots for the Savages and they were able to pull ahead with the lead.
“We just started to run EBF out of the gym,” said Kaylee Weber, the head basketball coach for the Sigourney girls. “We don’t want to let any team compete with us at home. The girls have a lot of fun when they are able to get their defense going and especially when that leads to offense. We were able to box out, we were able to get the steals, and we also got EBF to be a little more physical and get the fouls that all helped us.”
With Clarahan’s defense pushing the pace of the defense, and offense for the Savages, they were able to pull ahead to a 44-28 lead at halftime. Which, at first, seemed like it was going to be a comfortable lead.
The lead was able to get a little more comfortable in the second half. Although the offense slowed down, both teams scored eight points in the third quarter and the lead was preserved for the Savages.
“We just started to settle in the second half,” Weber said. “It felt like the 10 minute break really helped EBF get recharged, and for whatever reason, we weren’t playing with the same intensity throughout the second half that we had ended the first half with.”
The fourth quarter was an uneasy one for the Savages as both teams were chained down by foul after foul. Although the Rockets used their renewed second half energy to pull closer and closer, the Savages kept the lead just out of reach and eventually to an 11-point victory.
“It is nice to beat a team that made State multiple years in a row, yes, I know they lost a lot of girls from those teams, but it is still the same coaching,” Weber said of EBF, who had made the State basketball tournament the last two seasons. “We just need to keep the confidence up as we head into the next round.”
Brynn Clarahan led the Savages with 27 points in the win. Bailey Gretter added 10 points. Another eight points were scored by Addy Fineran. Charli Smothers and Adalynne Tremmel both had five points each.
The second round game for the Savages was moved to Pleasantville. Although the Savages battled throughout the game they fell to the Trojans, 64-55. Pleasantville led 14-9 after the first quarter, but Sigourney would battle back to trail 26-25 at halftime.
Both teams kept the pace up in the third quarter with Sigourney leading by two. The fourth quarter had Pleasantville score 24 points while Sigourney was limited to 17.
The Savages end the season with a 15-9 overall record.
Photos by Mark Schafer
