MARSHALLTOWN – Six North Mahaska Warhawks scored seven points or more Wednesday night to earn a spot on the Class 2A girl’s state basketball tournament. The fourth-ranked Warhawks held off Hudson 48-39 to advance and will face Central Lyon in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, March 4.
The teams traded leads throughout the first quarter and the first three-fourths of the second. Hudson held a 10-9 edge after the first eight minutes. NM was ahead 15-14 when Warhawk senior Kayla Readshaw drilled a 3-pointer with 2 minutes 56 seconds to play in the half. They would never relinquish the lead.
North Mahaska saw leads of 8-10 points diminish to two but never gave in to the Hudson onslaught.
“It was another big team win for us,” said NM coach L.E. Moore is taking his fifth NM team to state. “We had to change some things up when our shots weren’t falling but the girls stayed after it.”
Hudson scored the first two baskets then Warhawk senior Regan Grewe drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner and on the next position duplicated the effort from the right. Readshaw’s first triple put NM up 9-4. The Pirates came back to take the lead and the teams swapped scores until Readshaw hit her second three.
North Mahaska had trouble with Hudson star Madison Willand, who finished the game with 10 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Ansley Trunck scored 11 for the Pirates.
North Mahaska scored from inside and outside in the contest and secured the victory with free throws down the stretch. NM hit nine 3-pointers from four different players and spread the scoring across the lineup.
Grewe led the scoring with 11 and Breckyn Schilling added 10. Nataliya Linder, Readshaw and Aly Steil each scored eight, and Sydney Andersen put in seven.
North Mahaska forced 19 Hudson turnovers, eight coming on steals. Steil, who had a solid floor game, accounted for four and Readshaw snagged three. Schilling, Grewe and Linder each blocked a shot. The Warhawks outrebounded Hudson 31-21 with Andersen and Linder leading the way with nine and eight respectively.
“Aly played a heck of a game,” said Moore. “She kept the ball alive and allowed us to keep working.”
Steil was quick to give her teammates the credit for the win.
“My teammates kept moving and getting a position for me to get them the ball,” said Steil. “My folks got me into basketball when I was little and I had some good teachers in handling the ball. We are hard to beat when we play together.”
North Mahaska enters the state tournament as the number four seed and a record of 22-2. Central Lyon, from Northwest Iowa, is the fifth seed with a mark of 19-4. The teams will meet at Wells Fargo Arena on Tuesday, playing the last game of the session at 8:30 p.m. The winner will advance to the 2A semifinal against either top seed Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont (24-0) or Treynor (21-3).
