Edmunds County Tribune -

The Ipswich girls went 3-0 last week with three homecourt non-conference wins. They topped Hitchcock-Tulare 52-47 on Tuesday, defeated Groton Area 49-35 on Thursday and bested Florence/Henry 48-31 on Friday. The trio of wins improved Ipswich's overall mark to 5-1.

Against H-T, the Lady Tigers grabbed a late two-possession 48-42 lead with an Abby Grabowska trey and the rest was history. But they had trailed 14-12 after a quarter, before grabbing a narrow 26-23 halftime edge. The IHS lead was 41-33 with a quarter to play.

Abby Grabowska and Halle Heinz each led Ipswich with 17 points and Grabowska included a trey. Kamryn Heinz, getting in some quality minutes, scored 14 points with her team's remaining trey. Aleah Steger was their only other scorer with four points.

Ipswich shot 22-53 from the floor with that pair of treys and was 6-11 at the free throw line. The visitors were 20-49 from the floor with a lone trey and finished 6-12 at the line. Credit Ashley Masat with 14 points and Elizabeth Salmen and Dannyn Peterson were next with 12 points each.

Ipswich totaled 31 rebounds, led by Tessa Kilber, Abby Grabowska and Kamryn Heinz with five apiece. But the visitors enjoyed a narrow 35-31 edge there. Each team committed 18 turnovers. Steger forced five of the opponents miscues with steals. (Ipswich totaled 16 thefts.)

The homecourt Tigers gradually prevailed over Groton, leading 8-7 after a quarter and 29-13 at intermission. That was courtesy of some torrid second-quarter shooting by Ipswich.

But Groton staged a third-quarter rally and actually drew to within four points, 29-25. But Ipswich got a timely basket, a steal conversion from Halle Heinz to help restore order and Ipswich would also receive two free throws from Kamryn Heinz and a Steger steal for a 35-25 lead with a quarter to play. And again the rest was history.

Ipswich was led by Halle Heinz with 19 points and that included three treys. Abby Grabowska added double-figure scoring capability with 12 points. Next was Kilber with eight points with two of them being treys. Also credit Kamryn Heinz and Steger with four points apiece and Bailey Hammrich with two points.

Groton was led by Gracie Traphagen with 12 points.

Ipswich shot 14-51 from the floor, including those five three-balls. Its free throw effort was 16-24 for the night. Ipswich added a 30-rebound evening led by Abby Grabowska with 10 for a double-double effort. But Groton claimed 42. Ipswich played an impressive floor game, though, with only seven turnovers; Groton, 20. That's because Ipswich came away with 17 steals in a balanced team effort.

Against Florence-Henry, the Lady Tigers again slowly, but steadily took control of the momentum. They led 17-11 after a quarter and 22-13 at intermission. Halle Heinz gave Ipswich its initial double-figure lead in the game with a third-quarter-opening basket, but it would certainly not be Ipswich's last double-digit edge. The hosts led 37-23 with three quarters in the books and coasted to their win.

Halle Heinz led all scorers with 18 points and included three treys. Kamryn Heinz also reached double-figure scoring territory with 11 points that included a trey. Abby Grabowska finished with eight points. Kilber scored four points also including a trey and Steger contributed four points, as well. Bailey Hammrich netted a trey for her three points.

Florence/Henry was led by Morgan Roe with 11 points. Next was Mykcel Sprung with eight counters.

Ipswich fueled its win with a 42-30 rebounding edge, led by Abby Grabowska's 11. Kilber added eight retrieves and Kamryn Heinz, seven. Ipswich also committed only 10 turnovers; F-H, 13. The Lady Tiger forced 10 turnovers with steals, led by Halle Heinz with two.

The Ipswich girls' next upcoming game will be a Huron Holiday Classic in Huron on December 28 beginning at 2:30 p.m. versus Chester Area. The Lady Tigers will return to host Waubay/Summit a night later in a girls/boys twinbill. Then on January 3 Ipswich hosts a g/b doubleheader with Lake Region Conference rival Warner invading the Tiger Den.