Kee girls basketball team continues its postseason roll with 59-42 home win over Turkey Valley and 51-42 triumph at fifth-rated Riceville
20-point average in two wins ... Kee girls basketball junior Addison Winters takes the ball to the basket in the Lady Hawks’ 51-42 triumph at fifth-rated Riceville in the Class 1A Region 5 Semifinals Friday, February 21. In Kee’s two Region 5 Tournament games this past week, Winters poured in an average of 20 points, scoring 22 points in the Lady Hawks’ 46-28 home win over Turkey Valley Tuesday, February 18 and another 18 points in Friday’s win at Riceville. View and find out how to purchase this photo and many more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this webpage.
The postseason road for the Kee girls basketball team looked to have some curves in it this past week, as the Lady Hawks’ Class 1A Region 5 Tournament matched them up, first, with a co-champion of the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) they had just lost to about a month earlier and, then, took them to the home of one of Class 1A’s highest regarded teams. But Kee’s girls ended up sitting firmly in the driver’s seat in navigating both of those projected curves. The Hawks hosted fellow UIC foe Turkey Valley in a regional quarterfinals contest Tuesday, February 18, leaving little doubt in fully deciding a regular season split with the UIC co-champs by handing them a 46-28 drubbing in this third match-up that had much more riding on it than just win-loss bragging rights.
That quarterfinals victory advanced Kee’s bucket brigade to the Region 5 Semifinals, where a fifth-rated Riceville team awaited the Lady Hawks with its 21-1 season record and homecourt advantage Friday, February 21. From the opening jump, Kee paid little heed to any of those perceived advantages for the host Wildcats, trailing for just a couple minutes in the middle of the second quarter but otherwise holding a strong upperhand throughout the ballgame to stun Riceville with a 51-42 victory to advance further down the postseason tournament trail.
Improving to a 19-6 season record consisting of a 13-3 mark in Upper Iowa Conference play that left them in third place in the final UIC standings, the Kee girls are next scheduled to play for the right to go where they haven’t been since the 2017-2018 season. The Lady Hawks will be matched up with Dunkerton Wednesday, February 26 in the Region 5 championship game to be played at New Hampton High School at 7 p.m., with the winner of that contest earning the right to play in the Class 1A State Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, with those Class 1A games to begin Wednesday, March 5.
For more complete coverage, pick up this week's print edition or subscribe to our e-edition or print edition by clicking here.
