Lady Pirates beat Kee; fall to Ed-Co

LADY PIRATES BEAT HAWKS IN SEMIFINAL 51-44, LOSE TO VIKINGS IN DISTRICT FINAL 44-31

By Gary Simmons, Sr.
POSTVILLE - The Lady Pirates hosted Kee High of Lansing in the District 7 Semifinal game played here last Monday (February 14th) night. The Hawks lead at halftime by three points 30-27 but the Lady Pirates outscored Kee High in the final two quarters to win by seven points, 51-44, and advance to the District Final game against the Edgewood-Colesburg Vikings on Saturday.

The Lady Pirates trailed by four at the end of the first quarter, 15-11 and reduced the Hawks lead from four points to three points by the break outscoring Kee High 16-15 in the second quarter.

The third quarter was played evenly as both team defenses stepped up the pace. Postville collected two more points than the Hawks to cut the lead to 38-37. In the final frame Postville put came all the way back taking the lead scoring 14 points and holding the Hawks to 6 points of offense for a 51-44 win.

Postville hit 38% from the field making 13 of 34 two point attempts and 37% from the three point stripe hitting 6 of 16 long range shots. Postville made 7 of 14 baskets from the free throw line for 50%. Kee High hit 26% from 2 point range on 9 of 34 attempts and 30% from three point land on 7 of 23 shooting. The Hawks made 5 of 13 free throws from the charity stripe for 38%.

The Lady Pirates were lead by Shauna Lechtenberg with 17 points with 15 points of those points coming from beyond the arch on 5 of 7 shooting. Kaylee Zuercher also finished in double figures with 15 points and collected 10 rebounds for a double-double. Jessica Schultz rounded out the high scorers with 9 points.

Postville's Leah Lechtenberg collected 3points and matched teammate Zuercher for most rebounds in the game with 10. Lexie Everman added 3 points, and teammates Kristin White and Kendra Kerr finished the contest with 2 points each.

"We never gave up and everyone played hard tonight," Coach Daryl Schultz commented. "It was a good win for us and this is a new season (playoffs) where anything can happen. I liked the effort the team played with tonight."

POSTVILLE - The Lady Pirates coming off a come-from-behind victory over the Hawks of Kee High last Monday night faced a tough Edgewood-Colesburg Viking team in the District final here last Saturday night. The Vikings got here with a quarterfinal win over Central Elkader 63-45, last Monday (February 14th) night and a semifinal victory over the Tigers of Valley Community 45-30, last Wednesday (February 16th).

The Vikings used size and bulk in the form of Mindy Meyer in the first quarter to take a 15-2 advantage. While many Postville turnovers lead to fastbreak opportunities and easy points for Edgewood-Colesburg.

"We were a little shell shocked in the first quarter," Coach Daryl Schultz commented. "Meyer scored the bulk of points for them and we just couldn't find a way to stop her."

The Vikings kept the pressure on in the second quarter causing turnovers and throwing over the full court press to score easy buckets. The Viking defenders were anticipating the pass and made several easy steals. Edgewood-Colesburg took a huge 28-6 lead at the break.

"We were looking at a huge 22 point deficit at halftime," Coach Schultz said. "I just wanted us to focus and go back and play good basketball. I think we did that."

In the third quarter Postville's defense made the shot harder to come by and they scored as many points in that quarter as they had in the first half. The lead grew to 30 points as the Vikings began to send in some subs leading 42-12. This contest looked to be over.

But someone forgot to tell the Lady Pirates. The defense became a full court scramble as the Vikings began to find it difficult to get the ball up court. Postville was anticipating the passing lanes and making the steals. Kristin White and Shauna Lechtenberg each had four steals.

The Lady Pirates pulled within 11 points with just over a minute left to play in the game. The Vikings hit two free throws down the stretch for their only points in the fourth quarter as Postville made the game exciting in the end outscoring Edgewood-Colesburg 19-2. Final score the Viking 44, Postville 31.

The Lady Pirates were lead by Kristin White with 15 points and Kendra Kerr with 5 points and tied for the most rebounds with Shauna Lechtenberg at five each. Lexie Everman and Jessica Schultz contributed 4 points each, Kaylee Zurecher added 2 points and Leah Lechtenberg finished the scoring with 1 point for the Lady Pirates.

Postville hit 31% from the 2 point range hitting 11 of 35 attempts while Edgewood-Colesburg hit 18 of 41 shoots for 43%. Postville was 2 of 11 from three point range for 18% and the Vikings hit 2 of 6 from beyond the arch for 33%. Free throw shooting went to the Vikings hitting 4 of 6 attempts for 67% while the Lady Pirates posted 33% on hitting 3 of 9 from the charity stripe.

Postville finished their season with an overall record of 10 wins and 11 losses. Postville played 10 games with out starting center Brittany Heins. Edgewood-Colesburg advances to regional play with a 20-4 overall record.