Lady Pirates lose two key conference games last week

By Gary Simmons, Sr.
POSTVILLE - The Turkey Valley Trojans arrived in Postville last Tuesday (January 25th ) for a key match-up between Upper Iowa Conference opponents. The Trojans 4-2 in conference play and 12-4 overall were looking to hand the Lady Pirates, 2-0 in conference and 8-2 overall, their first conference loss of the season. Once Postville's Brittany Heins left the game with a knee injury that's just what they did as the Trojans handed the Lady Pirates their first conference loss of the season going on to win 47-32.
"The second year in a row we lose Brittany late in the season," Coach Daryl Schultz commented. "She went high in the air and came down on one of the Turkey Valley player's feet and as she shifted her weigh to compensate something had to give. You can't replace a Brittany Heins but this team will work hard and play together. They know what we need to do. We went through it last season."
Brittany Heins had just appeared in the Waterloo Courier as one of the "Preps to Watch" and the women's coach from the University of Wisconsin was in the stands to see Brittany play.
Postville held an early first quarter lead by a score of 11-8. But the second quarter was all Trojans as Postville managed 3 points and Turkey Valley burned the nets for 21 points to take a commanding halftime lead of 29-8.
The second half of the game could not change the outcome as the Lady Pirates scored the same number of points as Turkey Valley. The Trojans won the third quarter outscoring Postville 10-9 but the Lady Pirates outscored Turkey Valley 9-8 in the final frame as both teams score 18 points in the second half.
Postville was led by Brittany Heins and Shauna Lechtenberg with 8 points each. Six of Lechtenberg's points came from beyond the arch. Jessica Schultz grabbed six boards to lead the Lady Pirates in rebounds and Kendra Kerr dished out 3 assists for Postville.
SUMNER - The Lady Pirates went into their first game of the season without starting post player junior Brittany Heins who hurt her knee early in the week in a loss at Turkey Valley. Postville showed some patience early and made good shot selections to enjoy a 15 to 13 lead at the end of the first quarter but the offense sputtered in the second quarter and the defense stayed in the locker room at half time as the Sumner-Fredericksburg Cougars (4-2, 10-4) defeated the Lady Pirates by 33 points, 67-34.
Postville could only produce four points in the second quarter, all scored by Leah Lechtenberg. The Cougars didn't get their offense on track in the second quarter due in large part to a good Postville zone defense. At the half it looked to be anybody's ballgame with the score in favor of the Cougars 23-19.
In the third quarter Postville couldn't find the basket and the defense couldn't find a way to stop Katie Bormann. Getting the ball in the low post either by dribbling into the lane or catching and shooting the ball quickly in the paint Bormann accounted for 10 of the Cougars' 26 points in the third quarter. The Lady Pirates couldn't answer on the offensive end with only four points, and turnovers led to a lot of easy baskets for the Cougars.
The Cougars played their starters for the first three minutes of the final period before putting in the third string players at the 4:56 mark. Postville continued to battle and generated 11 points in the fourth and final frame of the game while the defense allowed 18 points. The Lady Pirates (2-2, 8-5) lost two in a row for the first time this season.
The Lady Pirates were led by junior guard Lexie Everman and sophomore center Kaylee Zuercher with 9 points each. Zuercher led the team in rebounds with seven.
The Lady Pirates converted on 13 of 46 shots from the field for 28% shooting on the night. The Cougars hit 57% hitting 28 of 49 shoots from the floor.
The Lady Pirates have five games left and will have played four by press time next week. North Fayette played here last night, Postville travels to Monona Friday night to take on the Bulldogs, then host last year's state champs and #1 ranked Waukon in a non-conference bout here Saturday night. The Blue Devils from Maynard will be in town next Tuesday for another conference match-up.