Tribe’s State Double Date ruined by Dutch Treat

After nearly two years, the streak is over. Fourteenth-rated MOC-Floyd Valley ended the Waukon girls basketball team’s lengthy win streak Tuesday, March 8 with an 83-76 overtime win at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines. The top-rated Indians fell in Class 3A state quarterfinal action and had their victory train derailed after 52 consecutive wins.

“Obviously it was very disappointing for us,” said Waukon coach Gene Klinge after his 14th state tournament appearance ended. “When you win as often as we have, you get the mindset that you’ll just continue to win.”

Waukon had to play from behind late in the fourth period. Senior Sam Reiser drove from the left corner to knot the score at 65 with 30 seconds left. MOC-FV had a chance to put the game away, but Mallory Richardson’s three-point attempt fell short of the basket.

Senior forward Emily Garrett notched the first points in extra time, sinking a pair of foul shots a minute into the frame. MOC-FV negated the points with a pair of their own, which kicked off a lethal nine-point run for the Dutch. The Indians were able to trim their deficit down to four, 75-71, on another set of Garrett free throws, but MOC-FV held on to the lead to shock the Tribe, 83-76.

Garrett, who ended with a career-high 19 points, also kicked off scoring, accounting for four points as the Tribe worked to an early 6-5 lead. The Dutch stole the advantage with their first trey of the evening and worked their way to a 17-10 lead. A free shot by senior post Stephanie Snitker and a triple by Reiser pulled the Indians within three by the end of the first, 17-14.

Senior guard Carlyn Wacker banked a shot at the five minute mark to cap a 9-2 Indian run and move Waukon back to the lead, 23-21.

After trailing 35-34 at the half, the Tribe got a third quarter boost from Reiser and junior forward Tiffany O’Neill. The duo accounted for 11 points as Waukon mounted a 13-4 stretch to take a 47-41 lead.

O’Neill had a putback 2:15 into the fourth to put the Indians ahead by eight, 58-50, before things began to unravel for Waukon.

With his charges holding that eight-point advantage, Klinge had hoped that was a sign of a happy ending. MOC-FV’s shooters had other plans, adding five timely triples in the fourth quarter and overtime. For the night, the Dutch were 11-for-21 behind the arc.

“I thought we were back on track in the third, but we just couldn’t get past an eight-point lead. Every time we went up by eight, they hit a three. They had hot shooting and we couldn’t get away,” the coach noted. “I was disappointed in our ability to defend the three. But, sometimes we were there and they still got off the shot.”

In fact, Klinge was a bit amazed by the three-point accuracy of the Dutch. Many teams, he explained, have trouble adjusting to the wide open space of the Barn, especially while shooting from outside.

The Dutch triple wasn’t the only factor in the loss. The Indians shot 48 percent from the charity stripe. Waukon was only three-for-nine from the line in the fourth.

“Our free throw shooting probably did us in. Had we made a few more that might have been enough,” Klinge remarked. “We’d been a pretty good free throw shooting team all year.”

MOC-FV shot just under 78 percent, landing 28 of 36 attempts. They hit all but one of their 13 free throws in extra time.

Fouls were a factor too as three Indians ended the night early.

The Indian coach also credited the Dutch for hounding Waukon’s offense. “They played good defense and took us out of our offense. We had to improvise a lot,” Klinge mentioned.

“I thought our girls played hard and gave a good effort. It’s been a tremendous run,” he added. “It’s always tough to bow out of the tournament early.”

Perhaps a small consolation for the Tribe is the fact that it took a record-breaking performance to end their two-year win streak. The Dutch squad’s 11 triples rewrote the old 3A single game mark of eight three-pointers set by the 1996 Washington squad.

Waukon combined with MOC-FV to create yet another state tournament record. The 159 total points in the game were the most ever scored in a 3A tournament game. The old mark was 138, which the Dutch helped set when they lost to Carroll in 1996.

Reiser added her named to the Class 3A record books. She scored 32 points, the best single game output since Washington’s Jenny Childress scored 30 in 1994. Reiser also passed out a game-high five assists and also blocked a shot. She was later named to the all-tournament team.

O’Neill registered a double-double with ten points and 13 rebounds. She also blocked a Dutch shot.

Garrett’s 19 points were complemented by nine boards.

Snitker pounded the glass for ten rebounds and contributed eight points and a block.

Wacker led the defense with five steals. She also registered four assists.

Richardson came off the bench to lead a balanced MOC-FV attack with 23 points, including five three-pointers. Jenna Koele ended with 19 points, Morgan Achterhoff had 15, and Maggie Achterhoff 14.

WAUKON FG FT PF TP

Alex Langland 0 0-0 0 0

Carlyn Wacker 2 0-1 5 4

Molly Rixen 1 0-0 2 3

Tiffany O’Neill 5 0-4 3 10

Sam Reiser 13 3-4 5 32

Emily Garrett 5 9-12 2 19

Jordan Curtin 0 0-0 2 0

Stephanie Snitker 3 2-8 5 8

TOTAL 29 14-29 24 76

3-point goals: Reiser (3), Rixen

MOC-FV FG FT PF TP

Brooke Achterhoff 1 1-2 3 4

Morgan Achterhoff 4 6-7 1 15

Jenna Koele 4 10-14 1 19

Maggie Achterhoff 5 1-2 4 14

Mallory Richardson 5 8-9 2 23

Cassie Huizenga 0 0-0 0 0

Haley Janssen 0 0-0 1 0

Janna Boemendaal 0 0-0 3 0

Jenon Katt 0 0-0 0 0

Megan Johnson 1 0-0 5 2

Rachelle DeHaan 2 2-2 2 6

TOTAL 22 28-36 22 83

3-point goals: Richardson (5); Ma. Achterhoff (3); B. Achterhoff, Mo. Achterhoff, Koele