The MMCRU girls’ basketball team traveled to Des Moines’ Wells Fargo Arena to play Exira-EHK on March 3 for the quarterfinals of the IGHSAU Girls’ State Basketball Tournament. This was the first state tournament appearance in the short history of MMCRU High School.
Going into the game, the MMCRU record was 21-2, while the Spartans’ had a perfect 23-0 record. Starting for the Royals were Taylor Harpenau, Emily Dreckman, Ellie Hillbrands, Jaylen Bork, and Kora Alesch.
The Royals jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the first quarter. The entire frame was very close and at the end the Royals had a one lead, 10-9. Exira-EHK dominated the second quarter and by the intermission the score was 30-21 Spartans.
Going into the third quarter, the Royals came out strong. At the end of the third quarter, the Royals were up 45-43, making a great comeback. However in the fourth quarter the Royals fell short, losing the game 60-55.
MMCRU ended up shooting 37% from the field and 60% from the free throw line, compared to the Spartans’ 52% from the field and 73% from the free throw line. Dreckman led the team with 20 points and Hilbrands was right behind her with 17 points.
Some of the other players who scored for the Royals were Harpenau with nine, Bork with five, Alesch with two, and Holmes with two. The top rebounders were Hilbrands, Dreckman, and Bork with nine, eight, and seven respectively.
For the Spartans their shooters were Gubbs with 25 points, Burmeister with 14, Ramussen with 11, and Emgarten with 10 points. Leading the rebounds for the Spartans’ were Partridge and Emgarten with eight and five respectively.
Head coach Gillian Letsche talked about the game, “We had a slow start in the game but came back in the third quarter. The girls fought to the end and I couldn’t be more proud that we made history this year.”
Emily Dreckman added, “Playing at Wells Fargo is definitely my favorite memory of basketball so far! It has always been a dream to make it to state and this year we were able to make it happen! We knew that they were a good shooting team and they definitely hit some big shots. We worked hard and played well as a team. We saw the open players, but just couldn’t pull it off. We will definitely miss our seniors, but we will put in the extra work this off-season to get back next year and hopefully make it farther!!”