February 22, 2018 By Chris Varney
The 2018 Iowa Girls High School Basketball State Tournament will be crowded with area teams this year. Montezuma beat North Mahaska in the regional finals to make it in Class 1A. South Tama shocked both Roland Story and West Marshall to make the 3A field. And the Grinnell Tigers head back to the Well after roaring past Pella for a return trip in the 4A tournament.
Montezuma makes their first trip to the state tournament since 1994. Back then Janel Burgess was a star player for Monte and the program was making the transition from 6 player dominance to 5 player basketball. Montezuma was a 6-on-6 superpower, getting to the state tournament 10 times between 1966 and 1993 with two state championships in 1969 and 1970. In the first year of 5 on 5, the Bravettes led by then player Burgess made it back to state. Now its Coach Burgess who leads Montezuma to the state tournament this year.
The Bravettes had been to the regional finals the last two seasons only to suffer disappointment. Springville won over Montezuma in 2016 and the Orioles went on to win state. Last year, it was Cascade Western Dubuque who beat them. This year’s team is led by the youth movement with future Iowa Hawkeye Shateah Wetering and Super Freshman Elise Boulton leading the team in scoring. There are vets here, however, like Seniors Breck Goodman, Cassidy Watts, and Hanna Jones that remember the losses and now have an opportunity to play on Iowa high school basketball’s greatest stage. Montezuma overcame two regular season losses to North Mahaska to beat the Warhawks in the regional finals which have eased the playoff memories of the last two seasons.
Up at South Tama, nobody expected the Trojans girls basketball team to be at state. The Trojans even lost 4 of their first 5 games of the season. South Tama, though, had a huge advantage. They are a 3A team playing a 4A schedule. That makes them a very dangerous team in the playoffs. In the WaMaC, the Trojans faced Marion twice and Center Point Urbana twice plus Grinnell early in December and all three teams are in the state tournament. They were all losses for South Tama but Roland Story must have felt like a piece of cake compared to the other teams they have faced. The Trojans beat #6 Roland-Story 56-52 and then withstood West Marshall 38-36 in the Regional Finals.
South Tama is led by Jessica Musgrave who scored nearly 70% of her team’s points in the regional finals. The Junior was hurt early in the season but has gotten healthy and led the entire WaMaC in scoring averaging 22.2 points per game. She also led the conference in rebounding at 8.3 per a game. She also led the conference in steals with 137. And she was 2nd in the conference in assists. Does she drive the bus too? Then she really would do it all. Now, her game will be on the center stage at the Wells Fargo Arena and it will be a great showcase of her talents. South Tama will make their 4th ever state tournament appearance — the last being 2011 with the great Maddie Baier.
For Grinnell, the Tigers expected to be at the state tournament this year. Anything less would have been a disappointment. Grinnell is well prepared after playing a tough schedule. Four of their seven non-conference opponents have made the state tournament this year — Boone and Center Point Urbana in 4A and South Tama and North Polk in 3A. All were blowout victories for the Tigers. Then add in games against Indianola (their only 2 losses, a 5A state tourney team) plus Pella, DCG and the other conference rivals and Grinnell has had a road maybe as tough or even tougher than anybody else.
The Tigers have had to deal with a lot of injuries as well. Becca McCombs was expected to be a major contributor this year, maybe even compete for a starting spot but she tore her ACL for the 2nd time real early in the season. Chelsie Heinselman was developing into a three point specialist off the bench but she tore an ACL in a JV game in December. Lauren Bolte and McKenna McKnight have missed time because of injuries and Kameron Moore is not 100% with an ankle injury.
Grinnell has fought through everything to get back to the Well. Last year was a first round loss to Xavier and the Tigers kind of feel like they have something to prove. The theme on their state t-shirt this year is “Unfinished Business.” It seems the one thing in common with Grinnell, South Tama, and Montezuma is that past failures is driving their success this year.
Good luck to the Tigers, Trojans and Bravettes at state next week. We’ll follow all three teams at the state tournament. Grinnell plays Mason City on Monday, February 26 at 8:30 pm, simulcast on 1410 KGRN and Energy 106.7 FM. South Tama plays Crestwood on Tuesday, February 27 at 11:45 am, coverage on 1410 KGRN. And Montezuma faces Central Decatur on Wednesday, February 28 at 6:45 pm, coverage on Energy 106.7 FM. All games will be on myiowainfo.com.