1A Girls State Basketball Preview
DES MOINES — The last stop on the “Final Flight” for the Villisca girls basketball team is the Wells Fargo Arena.
The state tournament begins Monday at 10 a.m. when the Blue Jays take on Newell-Fonda in the 1A quarterfinals.
“It's amazing we've been dreaming about this since our first basketball game,” Villisca’s Amanda Focht said after the Bedford game. “We always wanted to go to the state tournament and it's awesome now.”
At 21-4, Villisca has won six straight games and are 14-1 in 2013. They were able to shut down the Bedford Bulldogs in the regional final and win 57-50.
The Blue Jays trailed by four points at halftime, but rallied and had the game tied by the end of the third quarter, taking over the lead in the fourth for good.
Bedford tried to take over the lead, but weren’t able to do so. The Bulldogs received a tough blow when senior Kayla Lindenmeyer fouled out in the final minutes.
“She's a great passer and that whole offense runs off what she does,” Focht said about Lindenmeyer.
For the five seniors on the team (Focht, Jill Vanderhoof, Morganne Haer, Jenny King and Bree Ann Fisher), the group has developed a chemistry of playing together since grade school.
“We've had that chemistry with each other for a long time,” Vanderhoof said. “We know what one person is going to do and what the other person is going to do.”
Villisca Head Coach Donna Williams said this team deserves the opportunity to play in state.
“They've grown up, they really have,” Williams said.
All five seniors have been playing since freshmen year for the high school program. However, only Focht, Vanderhoof and Haer have been playing as starters since freshmen year.
“I think that we all work together really well. It helps to have someone big inside and then Jill can also come outside and shoot,” Haer said. “That helps us to have not just an inside game, but an outside game.”
Newell-Fonda enters the tournament with a 22-2 record overall and 9-1 in the Twin Lakes Conference. The Mustangs two losses this season were to Sioux Central and Estherville-Lincoln Central. Only Estherville-LC qualified for state.
Newell-Fonda has been ranked in the top five of the Iowa Girls High School Basketball Rankings and was at one point ranked first.
In regionals, Newell-Fonda defeated Coon Rapids-Bayard, Southeast Webster and Northwood-Kensett, all via double-digit points.
The player to watch for Newell-Fonda will be Renee Maneman. The junior averages 17.3 points per game, third most in the Twin Lakes conference. Maneman also leads the team in assists and steals.
Villisca will also need to account for Andrea Christensen and Claudia Larsen. Christensen averages 10.5 points per game, while Larsen leads the team in rebounding, averaging 6.4 boards per game.
The other quarterfinal round games will be Marquette Catholic against Ar-We-Va, Colo-Nesco versus Burlington-Notre Dame and Earlhan against Central Lyon. Should Villisca win, they play the winner of the Marquette Catholic/Ar-We-Va game. The semifinal game would take place at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. The championship game will be played Friday, March 1 at 4 p.m.
“We were always hoping to go to state, but we weren't overlooking anybody. Finally here, this was our storybook ending. This was our goal,” Vanderhoof said. “Our goal wasn't state champions, but if we get there, it will be amazing. But we're just going to take it one game at a time.”