Siouxland Viewers’ Guide to Day One of the Semi-Finals

SIOUX CITY (KTIV) — After a great quarterfinal filled with entertaining games, the Iowa Girls State Basketball Tournament now enters the semifinals.

With four Siouxland teams battling for a spot in the championship game for their respective classes.

Like in the quarterfinals if you wanna watch and you can’t go to Des Moines just follow this link.

In what might be the most entertaining game of the entire tournament, this semi-final consists of two teams loving up and down the court.

It also includes a coaching battle of two of northwest Iowa’s top basketball minds with Don Martindale and Jay Schuiteman.

But enough about the coaches, let’s talk about the players. After leading the Midgets to a win in their quarter-final match, freshman phenom Haylee Stokes showed she can dominate regardless of the size difference. Estherville will be looking for her to do most of the heavy lifting, but also needs better play from Jaydan Nitchals. And if Kaitlyn Tendal warms up too, ELC could very well end up in the final.

On the Unity Christians side, they will be looking for star player Gracie Schoonhoven to have a big game. But, if the Midget defense slows Schoonhoven, the Knights will seek help from Tyra Schuiteman and Jenna Bouma.

This game features one of the best player matchups with Schoonhoven and Stokes probably arguing the whole time they’re on the pitch. There is a good chance that whoever wins this player match has a chance of winning a state championship.

This two- and three-seeded match includes West Lyon and Ballard.

Now Ballard is perhaps the most balanced team on paper. But also on paper, these two teams have very similar averages across the board, with Ballard having slight advantages in points for and points against per game. But, West Lyon captures more rebounds and blocks per game.

Put simply, this game really comes down to keeping Brooklyn Meyer hot. It’s no secret that the key to the Wildcats’ success has been the South Dakota Commit, especially on the offensive end.

But defensively, the Wildcats play tough and are a scrappy bunch that never say die.

Ballard has two seniors who can kill you in multiple ways in Brooke Loewe and Meg Rietz if West Lyon wants to move on they have to slow down Loewe and Rietz.

The bottom half of the bracket in 4A includes a semi-final with Bishop Heelan and Glenwood. The two teams are fairly even. Glenwood is averaging 64 points per game against Heelans 58. But, Heelan is only giving up 40 per game against Glenwoods 46, giving you an average point differential between those two points of 0.

The Crusaders will once again be looking for Brooklyn Stanley and Kenley Meis to lead the way once again. But anyone who’s seen this Heelan team play, you know anyone on this court can score points and is tough defensively.

Glenwood have two players they rely on for points in Madison Camden and Jenna Hopp, but averaging 19 and 17 points per game is a pretty good plan. Also tenacious defensively, look for Brynlee Arnold to play a big role in this one.

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