Edmunds County Tribune -

Ipswich captured seventh-place at the State B girls' high school basketball tourney in Huron last Saturday afternoon with a 52-49 victory over Waverly-South Shore, a team that the Lady Tigers had also narrowly edged in overtime during the regular-season.

"As for the W-SS game, we just did a much better job of boxing out and rebounding," said IHS coach Brian Hogie. "That led to us getting in some transition, which led to a little more offensive rhythm."

So the Lady Tigers came into the game well-prepared and played confidently, ending their season at 19-5 with the win, creating a happy memory for all the seniors on the team. And there were seven of them! Senior Kamryn Heinz was named to the all-tourney team. She averaged some 16 points per game and around nine rebounds per game in the tournament – two huge reasons why.

Another one of those seniors, Bailey Hammrich, saved her only two points of the entire tourney with an open seam to the basket for a two-possession 49-45 Lady Tiger lead late in the contest. Waverly-South Shore wasn't quite ready to head out into the snow just yet, though and strung together a pair of two-point baskets to draw even at 49-all. But the Lady Tigers responded with a Halle Heinz trey with about eight seconds left and then watched the Coyotes launch an unsuccessful trey attempt at the buzzer.

As you might guess, this game was extremely tight throughout and W-SS grabbed a slim 17-16 edge after a quarter. Ipswich countered with a 10-6 win of the second quarter for a 26-23 halftime lead. Halle Heinz then scored the final five points of the third quarter with two free throws and a trey for a 36-30 IHS advantage, entering the final quarter. And Ipswich was able to stave off the Coyotes down the stretch for the win!

The Heinz sisters combined for 38 of the IHS Lady Tiger points, led by Halle with 21 game-high points, including a 5-7 trey-shooting effort. Kamryn's 17 points included a lone trey, and she got to the free throw line 10 times without a miss. And just as importantly, Ipswich included a third double-figure scoring performance from yet another senior Abby Grabowska with 12 points, featuring two huge treys. And Hammrich completed the IHS ledger with that key crucial basket.

Waverly-South Shore countered with 17 points from Ali Kranz and 16 from Emily Kranz. Four other Coyotes scored.

Ipswich shot 15-41 from the floor with those eight treys and was a warm 14-16 from the charity stripe. The Coyotes responded with a 19-46 floor-shooting effort that included six treys and finished only 5-16 at the line.

Ipswich also utilized that narrow 32-28 rebounding edge, led by Kamryn Heinz with 11 for a double-double. The Lady Tigers sustained 11 turnovers; the Coyotes, 10. Three of those were from IHS steals, led by Aleah Steger, Kamryn Heinz and Halie Feldman with one each.

Aleah Steger in State B action.

Meanwhile, second-seeded De Smet upset undefeated Ethan 49-39 in Saturday's finale of the tourney to capture this year's championship. Corsica-Stickey logged a third-place win over Freeman 55-45 and Warner topped White River 54-48 for its second straight State B consolation championship.

What more can you say about those IHS seniors, alphabetically, Olivia Gohl, Abby Grabowska, Bailey Hammrich, Kamryn Heinz, Sydney Loken, Aleah Steger and Ashlee Thorson, that hasn't already been said. Just ask their coach!

"Our seniors were great leaders for our girls. They competed so hard for this team. It's going to be hard to replace them next year. Combined they played 517 games, scored 2,817 points, 1,757 rebounds, 623 assists and 538 steals," said Hogie. "They are a special group. Not many teams can say they have a state cross country champ, state track champ, all-state volleyball player, all-state basketball player, State Snow Queen and a great artist. All seven of them are academic all-staters."