Second chance: Spartan girls back in 2A title game

DES MOINES – Grundy Center girls basketball got its revenge Friday morning.
  
Now, the Spartans get their opportunity for redemption.
  
The Spartans got another crack at the Cascade team that defeated Grundy Center in last year's Class 2A title game, and Hailey Wallis led a third-quarter charge that paved the way for Grundy Center to unite for victory at the free-throw line, a 59-49 triumph over the Cougars on Friday morning to ensure there would be a new champion in Class 2A.
  
Grundy Center remains undefeated at 24-0. The Spartans will play Treynor (25-1) in the 2A title game at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Treynor held back a rally from Central Decatur for a 58-53 win on Friday afternoon. The Cardinals will be looking for some revenge of their own – Grundy Center defeated Treynor, 42-39, in last year's state semifinals.
  
Hailey Wallis led the Spartans with 25 points, adding seven rebounds and three steals.
  
"A theme for this season was redemption," Wallis said, "and it's perfect that we got to play against them to achieve that. … There's not a lot of people that get to accomplish this [two state title games] … But we're not done yet, we have one more we want to achieve."   
 
Grundy Center trailed at halftime, 17-16, but an 11-5 run in the third quarter got the Spartans rolling against Cascade's 2-3 zone that suffocated the Spartans in the paint in the first half. By the end of the quarter, the Spartans had outscored Cascade 21-9 and led by 11.
  
Cascade closed within four points in the fourth quarter and had two opportunities to make it a one-possession game, but a turnover and a missed layup eventually put Sydney Mathews on the line for the start of a free-throw parade, with Grundy Center hitting 13-of-16 free throws in the last 1:55.
  
"I'm constantly shooting free throws when I'm practicing on my own," said Reegan Zinkula, who was a perfect 4-for-4 at the line in the fourth quarter toward her nine points on Friday. "We had to go to the line, be confident and go in there and do our thing."
  
Cascade coach Mike Sconsa added: "I dared them to hit their free throws, … I was purposefully trying to get them there, extend the game as much as possible, hoping they'd miss, and they didn't."
 
...
 
The Spartans also got another lift from freshman Lainy Thoren, who has slotted into a senior-dominated team to step up and contribute with valuable post minutes to keep seniors Kylie Willis and Flater fresh. Thoren finished with four rebounds, one assist and one steal.
  
"She provides a nice size presence," Lindeman said. "She can handle the ball so she helps us there – I'm proud of how she stepped up, it's not an easy situation."
  
As the only remaining undefeated team in Class 2A, surviving a challenging 2A bracket filled with tight matchups, Lindeman isn't taking Grundy Center's run for granted, even if a title has been the ultimate goal from day one.
  
"We find a way to grind it out," Lindeman said. "We're gonna find ways to get it done, and more often than not we have. … We're happy, we're excited, but we still have one more job to do."
 
To order prints of these photos, click here.
 

 
For the full story, see next week's Grundy Register. Subscribe by calling (319) 824-6958 or clicking here.