Girls state tournament wraps up

DES MOINES - It was a thrilling week of action at Wells Fargo Arena last week, as the floor saw 35 high school basketball games as part of the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union's state tournaments.

In Class 1A, top-seeded Newell-Fonda staged a fourth-quarter comeback to win the state title 65-63 over third-seeded Bishop Garrigan. The Mustangs dominated their first two games, 77-47 over eighth-seeded St. Albert and 84-33 over fifth-seeded Saint Ansgar. Garrigan cruised in their first two games as well, upending sixth-seeded Martensdale-St. Mary's 55-40 and second-seeded Marquette Caholic 69-37.

Garrigan led Newell-Fonde 33-30 at halftime and 54-40 going into the third quarter, but Newell-fonda stormed back with a 25-9 fourth quarter run to preserve their perfect season. Macy Stevers poured in 25 points for the Mustangs.

In Class 2A, third-seeded North Linne pulled out a 66-42 win over fourth-seeded Osage in the championship. North Linn escaped six seed Western Christian 49-44 in the first round and beat second-seeded West Hancock 61-46 in the semifinals. Grace Flanagan scored 27 poitns in North Linn's blowout win in the championship.

In one of the most competitive brackets, Bishop Heelan took the Class 3A title. After beating Des Moines Christian 50-38 in the quarterfinals and outlasting Clear Lake 61-57 in the semifinals, Bishop Heelan took on fifth-seeded North Polk in the championship. North Polk was coming off a 46-44 win over top-seeded Dike-New Hartford in the semifinals.

In the Class 3A championship, Bishop Heelan used a 17-5 first quarter to win 53-46. Heelan's Ella Skinner led the game with 19 points.

After beating both Mt. Pleasant and Keokuk in the regional tournament, top-seeded North Scott went 3-0 at The Well to win the Class 4A championship. North Scott beat eight seed Clear Creek-Amana 63-53 in the quarters, came back to beat fourth seed Center Point-Urbana 40-32 in the semifinals and then ended sixth-seeded Lewis Central's cinderella run 49-35 in the Class 4A championship. Grace Boffeli had 21 points and 17 rebounds in the final game.

Johnston won three games by 10 points or less to take home the Class 5A championship from the No. 3 seed. The Dragons beat sixth-seeded Southeast Polk 75-71 in the quarterfinals and then took down second-seeded Johnston 71-61. In the title game, Johnston won a 69-65 thriller over top-seeded Waukee. Kendall Need led the Dragons with 21 points.

That's all for high school girls basketball in the state of Iowa. The chase for the five IGHSAU basketball titles will pick up next season when basketball tips off again in the winter.