Pekin punches ticket to state

PELLA ? It takes a big stage for Beth Atwood to get nervous, and maybe for the first time in the senior?s career, it happened on Monday against Van Meter.

?About a half hour before the game, someone said that our side of the stands were full,? she said. ?The year that we?ve had is just awesome, and they certainly can cheer for us.?

The Panthers? faithful came in bunches, packing their entire half of the Pella Christian gym and spilling over to dominate about a fifth of the Van Meter side. With that kind of support and Pekin basketball?s first trip to Des Moines on the line, the Panthers stepped up and gave that crowd something to cheer about.

This season, they?ve paid their dues, time after time and the beat will go on after a 55-36 victory, for they are the Region 5 champions of Class 2A

?Last year, we got beat in the semifinals,? said Pekin head coach Davis Eidahl. ?Last year, on our shirts it said, ?Why not us?? This year, they say ?It?s our time.? That?s been their goal since this summer and they?ve played that out, put it together and helped each other every step of the way.

?I?m feeling real good for the girls. Any time you have four seniors start, that tells you something. I?ve known all year that if we played like we could, we?d do this well. These five girls and Kaylee Linder off the bench play so well together, they don?t have to worry about team chemistry.?

Atwood, who was recently named the Southeast Iowa Superconference Player of the Year, scored 18 points and collected nine rebounds to lead the Panthers. Maci Gambell was the other Pekin player in double-digits with 16 points.

Gwynne Wright and Sloan Reighard each scored eight and Cassidy Tolle rounded out the scoring with five points.

This game was a bit more challenging than the team?s previous appearance against Highland, where it seemed as if every shot went in. Monday saw an 18-42 field performance for the Panthers and the inside players had to do a bit more work than they did on Friday.

Gambell opened the scoring with a layup that was immediately answered by Van Meter?s Mackenzie Roberts. Wright flashed her defensive prowess with back-to-back steals on the next Van Meter possessions, scoring a basket of her own on one of the first and setting up Reighard for a shot on the second.

The nerves calmed down a bit in the second quarter for the Panthers. Atwood and Roberts traded baskets to open it, then the Pekin forward sank a pair of free throws and found another inside shot to make it 16-10.

That?s when Gambell started to hit her stride. The only non-senior starter has put up big numbers all year long for the Panthers.

She attempted a 3-pointer but was fouled on the play and made two of her three free throws. She then drove inside on the next possession and went to the line again, making one of two. When the defense adjusted to cover her, good ball movement around the perimeter from Gambell to Wright to Tolle saw the Panthers? only 3-pointer of the night, extending the lead to 22-12, igniting the Pekin crowd.

?This game reminded me of playing at Newton,? said Eidahl. ?We were behind Mason City, looked at our crowd and said, ?We won?t lose.? That?s what I told the girls tonight. Van Meter hardly had anyone in the crowd, and nobody realizes what a boost that is.?

The Bulldogs rallied back in the third quarter. After a basket from Atwood and free throws from Gambell made it 26-16, Van Meter went on a short run of their own, scoring points from Roberts and Jones to bring the lead down to six. Chelsea Bright then stole the ball away from the Panthers and set Van Meter up for a 3-point attempt to make it one possession. The errant shot found the hands of Wright, who immediately launched a pass across the court to Atwood to end the run.

Van Meter then shifted gears and played the perimeter game. Emily Roberts nailed a 3-pointer to make it 28-23 and after a Gambell 3-point play inside, Jones found the basket with a 3 of her own to cut into the lead a bit. Atwood and Roberts would trade a basket apiece and Bright would make a jumper in the waning seconds of the quarter. Van Meter seemed content to run the clock down on their final possession, but Gambell picked Jones? pocket, prompting a loose ball scramble that ended with Pekin having possession for the final 13 seconds.

?We just had to calm the girls down in the third quarter,? said Eidahl. ?We take Sloan, Beth and Maci and rotate them around to different positions. We?ll get a combination that works for a while and then move them somewhere else when it stops working.?

Atwood added, ?We kept telling each other, ?Hey, you?re fine, the shots will start going in,? and when they started making shots, we stayed calm and played our defense.?

Pekin?s conditioning and free-throw shooting proved to be too good for Van Meter in the final quarter. Wright and Emily Roberts traded buckets to open the stanza. Atwood connected on an open jumper and then Tolle drew Van Meter?s Ellie Folkerts?s fifth foul, sending the Bulldog junior to the bench, then made both free throws to extend Pekin?s lead to 41-32. That run continued for the Panthers until the two-minute mark, when Mackenzie Roberts hit a free throw to make it 49-32.

At that point, the Bulldogs seemed resigned to their fate, subbing in some fresh legs to play the final two minutes. Van Meter got a 3-pointer from Mackenzie Roberts, but Wright connected on four free throws and Atwood hit a basket to make the score final, 55-36, sending the Panthers to celebration mode.

And fittingly enough, after the teams shook hands, the Pekin student section joined the team in celebration, turning Pella Christian into Pekin northwest for a few minutes.

?There?s no words,? said Wright. ?This is amazing. I?ve been dreaming about this since I was a little girl. It?s real now and it?s awesome. We made our free throws, played defense and that?s what wins you the game. I?m still so shocked. I?m going to cry and it?s awesome to go again with [my sister] Zoey and share another sport with her and it?s so much fun.?

Pekin?s quarterfinal matchup will be at 6:45 p.m. on Feb. 29 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines against 23-1 Okoboji.