Lady Pirates advance in district play

By Gary Simmons, Sr.
POSTVILLE - The Lady Pirates hosted the Blue Devils from West Central last Tuesday (February 8) night in their final regular season home game. The Blue Devils, winning 4 out of their last five contests, came in to play a Postville team that had lost 4 out of their last five games. These were two teams heading in different directions. West Central got off to a great first quarter lead, 11 to 5, and shot 52% from the floor on the night to defeat the Lady Pirates 58-31.
The first quarter belonged to West Central as they took a 6 point lead, 11-5. A high scoring second quarter by both teams, 16 points West Central and 14 points Postville, made it an eight point advantage for the Blue Devils at halftime, 27-19.
The contest heated up in the third quarter as the Lady Pirates scored 9 points but allowed West Central to collect 15 points for the period. In the final quarter the Lady Pirates could only manage 3 points as the Blue Devils blew the game open and went on to win by 27 points, 58-31.
West Central had 10 more shots at the basket than the Lady Pirates as they hit 25 of 48 shots from the floor for 52% while Postville hit 13 of 38 for 34%. The Blue Devils outrebounded the Lady Pirates 23 to 14, Kendra Kerr led Postville with four rebounds for the game.
Eight Lady Pirates found their way to the scoring column lead by Shauna Lechtenberg with 7 points and Kaylee Zuercher with 6 points. Senior Alysia Lawson and teammate Lexie Everman collected 5 points each for the Lady Pirates.
Kendra Kerr tossed in three points while leading the team in assists (3) and steals (5). Kristin White and Leah Lechtenberg had 2 points each and Jessica Schultz made 1 point from the free throw line to round out the scoring.
ELGIN - The last times these two teams met (December 14) Postville left the floor with a 30 point win over the Tigers. Playing their final regular season game of the year the Lady Pirates were defeated by 9 points, 45-36. Postville finishes the season 3-6 in the Upper Iowa Conference and 9-10 overall.
The Tigers got off to a fast start as they took a seven point advantage in the first quarter with a lead of 15-8. Postville battled back in the second quarter to keep the scoring close as Valley out scored the Lady Pirates 8-6 giving them a 9 point lead at the break, 23-14.
The third quarter belonged to the Tigers as they tossed in 16 points to Postville's 10 points to take a commanding 15 point lead into the final frame, 39-24. The Lady Pirates played hard and cut into the Tigers lead as the won the scoring battle in the fourth quarter 12-6 to cut the winning margin to 9 points, 45-36.
Postville's Leah Lechtenberg led a host of Lady Pirates in scoring with 10 points. Kaylee Zuercher added 6 points and Kendra Kerr collected 5 points for the game.
Postville hit 16 shots out of 49 attempts from the floor for 33% and Valley made 21 of 47 shots for 45%. Postville outrebounded Valley 35 to 32 for the game with Shuana Lechtenberg cleaning the glass for 6 rebounds to lead the Lady Pirates.
Junior Brittany Heins underwent surgery on her ACL and will be undergoing several months of rehabilitation.
Postville hosted Lansing Kee High in first round action in Girls District play Monday night and defeated the Hawks 51-44. The story will appear in next week's paper.