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Wildcats, Huskies knocked out
Columbus, Highland and Mid-Prairie girls drop semifinal showdowns
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
COLUMBUS — The last of the area’s girls basketball teams were all eliminated in the regional semifinals last week. Columbus, Highland and Mid-Prairie all failed to move on to the regional finals, thus ending the girls basketball season for the Union area.
The closest shot for any of those teams came by the Columbus Wildcats, who fought Danville to the very end in the Class 2A Region 2 semifinal. Columbus saw a late rush fall short in a 53-49 loss.
The Wildcats, which have been one of the top teams in the Union coverage area all year, were down 27-20 at halftime, and faced as much as a 10-point deficit late in the fourth quarter.
A five-point wave by Isabel Rendon helped Columbus claw back into it. Rendon hit a pair of free throws and then knocked down a 3-pointer with 3:05 remaining in the game.
The Wildcats had two possessions with the ball down five, but couldn’t get a shot off in either. A seven-point game was cut down to four at the buzzer, when Lily Coil nailed her second three-pointer of the game.
“We just weren't as good offensively as we have been,” said Columbus coach Kasey Keltner. “We were just kind of off sorts a little bit.”
The Wildcats were led by Rendon’s 16-piont outing. Frannie Sosa had 14 points. Ariana Vergara finished with eight points, five assists and five steals. Coil finished with six points, and Aracely Garza had five.
The Wildcats finished 18-5, one of the best marks in program history, just three years after a three-win campaign.
“I told them, 'you can be upset, but once you leave here I want you to be proud of what you did,” said Keltner. “You really changed the perception of girls' basketball here at this school.’”
Highland fell to top-seeded Springville 61-17 in the Class 1A Region 7 tournament, getting five points from Katie Herrig and four from Emersyn Shultz in the loss. Mid-Prairie fell 35-16 against top-seeded Williamsburg in the Class 3A Region 4 tournament, getting four points each from Morgyn Bender, Callie Huber and Jeorgia Evans.
