IMS stuns Keota

Before the game even started, both coaches had the same message: It?s a new season.

The Iowa Mennonite girls? basketball team entered the postseason following a 4-17 regular season, and was tasked with facing the 11-10 Keota girls, who were riding a hot streak, in Keota.

That didn?t mean anything on Thursday night.

IMS slowed the game down, and behind 17 points from Riley Schmieder the IMS girls pulled off the tournament upset, 38-29.

?It feels amazing, I can?t really describe it,? Schmieder said. ?They are a really good team and they are a very similar team to what we played in our sophomore year and we lost. It just feels really good to come back and win now that we are seniors.?

Despite some people potentially writing off IMS after a disappointing regular season, IMS? Hannah Miller said the team knew they could come in and beat anyone.

?We had that mindset of nothing to lose, so we gave it all we had,? Miller said. ?We fought to the end. We were up, which gave us momentum to keep us going. It?s exciting.?

On the other side, the loss marked the end of the season for Keota, a team with seven seniors on its roster.

?That was tough in the locker room,? Keota head coach Jenny Hobbs said. ?They took it hard, and Madison Sieren and Madison Sheetz are four-year varsity players, and a lot more are three-year varsity players. I told them that this is going to make them tougher in life.?

Keota started the game off scoring the first four points, before a 9-1 run from IMS gave them a 9-5 lead early in the second quarter.

Keota had back-to-back buckets from senior Madison Sheetz, who finished the game with a team-high 14 points, to tie the game up, but Keota couldn?t get over the hump, as IMS took a 16-11 lead into halftime.

Perhaps more important than the lead was the fact that Sheetz, the team?s leading scorer on the season, picked up three fouls in that first half.

?Sheetz was in foul trouble most of the night,? Hobbs said. ?When they are defending Brooke and Madison Sieren, Madison Sheetz is really our only offensive option. With her sitting on the bench, we didn?t have our offensive option. That was a problem all year. We just couldn?t score the ball.?

In the third quarter, IMS extended its lead to 23-12, but a 9-0 run from Keota pulled them within two points. After a timeout from IMS head coach Aaron Gingerich, IMS extended it back to a four-point lead, 28-24  going into the fourth quarter.

?It made me want to fight back even harder,? Miller said. ?It was like, ?No, this can?t happen. We have to keep on going so we can win and move ahead.??

Madison Sieren kicked off the fourth quarter with a Keota 3-pointer to make it a one point game, but IMS went on a 10-2 run that spanned the rest of the game to pick up the playoff victory.

?We built a nice lead a couple of times, and Keota came back every time,? Gingerich said. ?I told them that this is what they had to expect. They are playing a really good team, and they aren?t going to back down easily. It was amazing to see their toughness and ability to answer the runs.?

With the victory, IMS will have a date with conference rival WACO, who won its first-round playoff game against Tri-County on Thursday night.

WACO won both games between the two this season, each by 16 points, but the team is looking forward to the challenge.

?It?s always hard to beat someone three times,? Schmieder said. ?Our freshman year we played Lone Tree in our first round of districts and they had beaten us twice, but we beat them in the playoffs. I?m looking forward to getting them one last time.?

The game against WACO will be played in a neutral site in Keota on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.