IMS wins thriller over Keota

KEOTA -- It is not even Thanksgiving yet and there is some intense basketball being played in the area.

Witness the Keota and Iowa Mennonite School girls game Tuesday.

Iowa Mennonite School trailed by two points with no time on the clock and Suzanna Yoder at the free-throw line. As both teams stood at midcourt and watched, Yoder sank all three free throws for a 49-48 victory.

There was a debate whether she was behind the 3-point arc when she was fouled.

'I don't know if I was behind the line,” Yoder said. 'There are a lot of bad calls that went both ways.”

There was some debate whether she was fouled before time ran out.

'It seems he came in and blew the whistle after the horn went off,” Keota coach Jeff Sprouse said. 'My girl said she didn't touch her. That girl made all three free throws hats off to her.”

There was no debate about whether it should have come down to an official's call.

'You can never blame a game on the refs,” IMS coach Kari Heusinkveld said. 'There are plenty of things that happen throughout the game that went their way that I thought should've went our way. There are things that went on our way that maybe should've went their way.”

'It is not on the officiating,” Sprouse said. 'We have to learn to adjust. You have to be in a position where something like that is not a factor at the end of the game.”

The fact that it was a factor was not lost on Yoder.

'It is not a great feeling,” she said. 'I was shaking a ton. I have shot free throws so many times that it is almost a calming effect to have that same routine. It was nerve-wracking, but I had confidence in me.”

All three shots dropped through the net cleanly.

'Yoder has ice in her veins,” Heusinkveld said. 'She had all the pressure, but she loves it.”

Keota led for much of the first quarter, but Yani Gutierrez canned a three for a 17-15 IMS lead as the frame ended.

Keota did not have the lead again until Brianna Duwa's 3-pointer with 1 minute, 44 seconds left in the game gave the Eagles a 44-43 edge, although it was tied twice in the second quarter when Addison Swanson made three straight buckets for Keota.

'I thought Brianna did a fantastic job stepping up,” Sprouse said.

Duwa also hit a triple at the end of the third quarter to cut into the biggest IMS lead (eight points) of the night. It was 39-34 to start the final stanza.

Addison Sprouse hit a triple to tie the game at 41 with 3 minutes left.

'The way we played at the end of the fourth quarter is what we need to do all the way through the game and then we won't have the issues we had at the end of the game,” Coach Sprouse said.

Addison Sprouse finished with five rebounds, three assists and 17 points, going 9 of 11 at the foul line and sinking two threes. Paige Thompson had three assists, took down 11 rebounds and put up nine points. Swanson had eight points and seven rebounds.

Yoder led IMS with 24 points with five 3-pointers, five assists, three steals and six rebounds. Gutierrez has a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Mia Graber added seven points and two assists.

'At the end of the game, you want the ball in your best player's hands, regardless whether or not everybody in the gym knows it's going there or not,” Heusinkveld said. 'I felt like this group did a nice job of executing. We need people to get to the right spots, but what it really comes down to is whether or not the shots go in. I like to be in that position.”