The Lakes Conference proved it is one of the toughest girls’ basketball leagues in the state on Monday, as its co-champions both secured spots in the Class 2A state tournament. For the second straight year, Estherville-Lincoln Central will make the trip to Des Moines after the Midgets rolled over Roland-Story, 43-27, in the regional final in Algona. ELC limited the Norsemen to just seven first half points and were led by Alyssa Johnson’s nine points. Estherville-Lincoln Central, which finished runner-up at last year’s state tourney, will take a 24-2 record and a number two ranking into the quarterfinals. That first round matchup will represent the rubber-match with conference foe, Western Christian. The Wolfpack ran roughshod over Kuemper Catholic, Carroll to qualify for state with a 94-56 victory. Brooke Wolterstorff dominated the contest with 24 points. Western Christian is 22-3 this season. The Midgets and Wolfpack split their season series, each winning on the opponent’s home floor, and will play a third time on Monday at 6:45pm inside Wells Fargo Arena.
The other Class 2A pairings feature undefeated and defending champion OA-BCIG (25-0) squaring off with West Marshall (20-5), undefeated West Hancock (25-0) draws Pella Christian (21-3), and unblemished Bellevue (25-0) meets IKM-Manning (23-2).
Meanwhile in Class 1A, ninth-ranked LeMars Gehlen Catholic will represent northwest Iowa after winning its third straight overtime contest in the regionals. The Jays needed an extra session to take down eleventh-ranked Central Lyon by a point, 54-53 in Orange City. Gehlen Catholic will enter the state tourney with a 20-4 record, and takes on North Butler (21-1) in the quarterfinals. Also, Ar-We-Va (21-3) meets Bedford (24-1), West Sioux (24-1) gets Lynnville-Sully (23-2) in the opening round, and North Tama (21-4) plays against undefeated North Mahaska (25-0).
The Iowa High School Girls State Basketball Tournament begins Monday and runs through Saturday.
