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Tigers surge late, top Warriors in OT
Senior Lydia Kriegel scores 26 and becomes all-time leading scorer in win for Tigers
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
MARENGO — Lydia Kriegel and the Iowa Valley girls basketball team would not be denied.
The Tigers topped HLV-TC in a thrilling 53-52 overtime win in a Class 1A Region 2 first-round game Thursday night in Marengo.
“I got to hand it to all my teammates trusting me and giving me the ability to do what I do out on the court,” Lydia Kriegel said. “Having the trust and the bond we do really helps.”
It was the third match-up between the two teams, second in the last week, as the Tigers got their seventh win of the season.
“The win feels amazing. Honestly, going in I did not know how it was going to go,” said Lydia Kriegel. “The past couple of practices have been great, and it all finally coming together at the end of the season is nice.”
In two instances late in the fourth, it seemed that the Warriors would pull away, but the Tigers kept fighting and shots started falling.
After a technical foul was called on the Tigers, the Warriors led 36-30.
That is when the Tigers got hot after not hitting a three all game.
Lydia Kriegel confidently shot from the corner to make it 36-33 and scored again on the next possession.
Clara Fry then hit from deep, and just like that, the Tigers reclaimed the lead at 38-36.
The Warriors responded with two threes of their own from Lily Randall and Emery Hall to take a 42-38 lead.
Lydia Kriegel responded with another three and scored on a putback with 2.1 seconds remaining to force overtime.
Overtime went back-and-forth, and Fry hit two clutch free throws late to give the Tigers a 53-50 lead with 12 seconds to go.
An Izzy Kriegel basket put the Tigers up for good at 50-49.
The story through three quarters in this tight game was the three-point shooting.
The Warriors had seven to the Tigers’ none. The Tigers hit four in the fourth and overtime compared to the Warriors’ three.
“We just kept saying, somebody has to shoot the ball,” Iowa Valley coach Janet Holst-Behrens said. “It was just a matter of being confident and doing it. Of all the times to become confident it was great they did it in the fourth quarter.”
Several other Tigers hit big shots from outside the paint, in addition to the late-shooting from Lydia Kriegel.
Fry hit multiple shots in the second half, Maeci Marshall hit a clutch jump shot in overtime and Myla Frimml had an important surge to start the second half.
Frimml hit three jumpers early in the third from the high post to give the Tigers a 23-17 lead.
The Tigers led 7-5 after a quarter in what ended up being a low-scoring first half.
The Warriors led 14-13 at intermission and had four threes from four different players.
Scoring picked up in the second half as the game become one of back-and-forth runs from each team.
Emery Hall led the Warriors with 13 points. Ayla Hall and Randall each had 12. Emery Hall hit four of the team’s 10 total threes, Randall had three.
The Warriors finish the season 12-10, their most wins in a season since 2006-07.
Lydia Kriegel had 26 for the Tigers and became the team’s all-time leading scorer in the win.
Fry was also in double digits with 11 and Frimml added nine.
“It means a lot,” Holst-Behrens said on the win. “These kids have worked really hard.”
The Tigers now get take three with English Valleys in the second-round of regional play Tuesday.
“I’m excited for the rematch,” Lydia Kriegel said.
