Grundy girls, boys basketball teams win Friday

GRUNDY CENTER – The young Grundy Center girls basketball team is determined to make every year as special as the last.
 
That means the core group of juniors leading the way in the Spartans' 57-53 win over AGWSR in Grundy Center on Friday are fighting for a high school career filled with conference titles.
 
Now, Grundy Center can make that a reality with a win over South Hardin on Friday. The Spartans broke a tie atop the NICL West standings on Friday and lead the Cougars by one game with both teams having one left to play. AGWSR will also play South Hardin on Tuesday.
 
"Our goal was to be conference champs all four years of our high school career," Grundy Center junior Brooke Flater said. "We're all excited to get the opportunity again this year."
 
Hailey Wallis scored 19 points, Kylie Willis added 14 points and Brooke Flater contributed 12 points for the Spartans. Flater added eight rebounds and three assists.
 
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Mandy Willems led all scorers with 25 points for the Cougars and had four assists and three steals. Taryan Barrick contributed seven points and a team-leading six rebounds.
 
Willems returned to the lineup after suffering a mild ankle sprain in Tuesday's game with BCLUW, rehabbing the ankle hard in the days between conference matchups.
 
"You could tell she was hurting by the end of the game and just running on pure adrenaline, but she's a gamer," Gann said. "It shows what kind of player she is.
 
"We gained a lot even though we lost and it's stinging them that they'll probably end up second in the conference, but I told them there are bigger things out there for us to get."
 
AGWSR           14  5   7  27 — 53
GC                   10  7  17 23 — 57
   AGWSR–Ally Finger 0 0-0 0, Alyssa Hames 1 0-0 3, Mandy Willems 5 12-13 25, Aubrie Fisher 5 3-4 14, Natalie Lippert 0 0-0 0, Taryan Barrick 3 1-2 7, MaKenna Kuper 1 0-2 3, Whitanie Nederhoff 0 0-0 0, Rachel Sicard 0 1-2 1. Totals 15-35 17-23 53.
   GC–Reegan Zinkula 1 1-2 4, Hailey Wallis 5 6-7 19, Maddie McMartin 1 0-0 3, Sydney Mathews 1 0-0 3, Sarah Lindeman 1 0-0 2, Cora Saak 0 0-0 0, Kylie Willis 4 6-6 14, Brooke Flater 3 6-8 12. Totals 16-49 19-23 57.
   Stat leaders
   3-pointers: A 6 (Willems 3, Hames, Fisher, Kuper); GC 6 (Wallis 3, McMartin, Mathews, Zinkula). Rebounds: A 27 (Barrick 6, three with 4); GC 27 (Flater 8, Wallis 6, Willis 6). Assists: A 9 (Willems 4); GC 12 (Flater 3, Willis 3, Mathews 3). Steals: A 7 (Willems 3); GC 9 (Four with 2). Blocks: A 2 (Willems, Sicard); GC 3 (Three with 1). Fouls: A 16, GC 18.
 

 
SPARTANS SHAKE LOSING STREAK: There's been so many close calls for the Grundy Center boys basketball team.
 
The losses have hurt, but the Spartans finally had a breakthrough on Friday night, knocking off AGWSR 60-43 and ending an 11-game losing streak in the process.
 
"We've been so close these last couple of weeks only to go stagnant a couple of times and not finish it," Grundy Center coach Joe Nelson said. "Tonight, we beared down, the kids played hard and we stuck to the game plan."
 
Cale Hendricks led all scorers with 23 points for the Spartans, including five 3-pointers. Joe Johnson added 10 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots and Drew Rathe scored 11 points while distributing eight assists and hauling in six rebounds.
 
The Spartans (2-15, 2-9 NICL East) led from start to finish on Friday night, and a big reason for that was in the rebounding game, where Grundy Center held a 37-17 advantage.
 
"We made adjustments in our rotations today and challenged a couple guys that we put out there that we thought would do a better job of boxing out and they did," Nelson said, "We did a great job of keeping them off the glass."
 
AGWSR            8  18  7  10 — 43
GC                   16 15  8  21 — 60
   AGWSR–Alex Hames 5 2-2 14, Keon Huffman 4 0-0 11, Luke Starr 4 0-0 9, Tanner Weichers 0 4-4 4, Aaron Roelfs 1 1-1 3, Liam Stubbe 1 0-0 2, Alec Stahl 0 0-0 0, Ethan Ubben 0 0-0 0, Sawyer Heitland 0 0-0 0, Jaden Penning 0 0-0 0. Totals 15-53 7-7 43.
   GC–Drew Rathe 2 6-6 11, Cale Hendricks 9 0-0 23, Travis Kuester 0 0-0 0, Sage Klar 0 2-2 2, Mitchell Munson 2 2-2 7, Josh Kuiper 1 0-0 2, Joe Johnson 5 0-1 10, Tanner Appel 1 3-4 5, Landon Graham 0 0-0 0. Totals 20-45 13-15 60.
   Stat leaders
   3-pointers: A 6 (Huffman 3, Hames 2, Starr); GC 7 (Hendricks 5, Rathe, Munson). Rebounds: A 17 (Stubbe 5, Starr 4); GC 37 (Johnson 11, Rathe 6). Assists: A 8 (Stahl 3); GC 14 (Rathe 8). Steals: A 6 (Stubbe 2); GC 7 (Rathe 4). Blocks: A (Ubben); GC 8 (Johnson 6). Fouls: A 13, GC 11.
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