Newell-Fonda understands how heartbreak feels.
Last season, the Mustangs advanced to the Class 1A championship game at the Iowa high school girls state basketball tournament, but they lost the title to St. Albert in double overtime.
Three points came between Newell-Fonda and a state title last season, and the Mustangs weren’t going to feel that disappointment in back-to-back seasons. Despite a near comeback by the Golden Bears, Newell-Fonda beat Bishop Garrigan, 64-56, to claim the 1A state title on Saturday, March 7.
“These games are so tough, and we’ve played some really tough competition down here,” said Mustangs coach Dick Jungers. “Our girls kept finding ways to win. …It feels awesome. We’ve survived the test, and we can bring a title home.”
Both teams exchanged scores to start, but it didn’t take long for Newell-Fonda to pull ahead. The Mustangs barely missed the basket in the first quarter – making over 61% of their shots and going three-for-three from beyond the arc – and they scored eight unanswered points to take a 22-12 lead by the end of the frame.
Newell-Fonda’s lead only grew in the second quarter. The Mustangs held Bishop Garrigan to just seven points in those eight minutes, and they piled on 17 points of their own. By the end of the first half, three players had scored in the double digits, and Newell-Fonda headed to the locker room with a 39-19 lead.
Bishop Garrigan spent most of the third quarter chipping away at Newell-Fonda’s lead. The Golden Bears outscored their opponent, 16-10, but the Mustangs never let their advantage dip into the single digits in the third.
But that changed in the final frame.
While the Mustangs struggled to get much going offensively, Garrigan capitalized on some free throws and a pair of 3-pointers from Sacha Alesch and Emmi Bartolo to make it a six-point game. Newell-Fonda found ways to keep its lead intact, but as the minutes ticked off the clock, the gap between the two teams shrank.
Both teams had a key player foul out in the final minutes of the game: Newell-Fonda’s Rylee Hogrefe, who scored 15 points, and Garrigan’s Graclyn Eastman, who netted 16 points, each headed to their respective benches within 22 seconds of one another.
The Golden Bears cut Newell-Fonda’s lead to four points in the final minute of play, but the Mustangs hung on. Ellie Sievers and Quinn Sievers each finished with 15 points, and Jocee Walsh scored 11 for the Mustangs.
Eastman and Alesch each recorded 16 points for Bishop Garrigan in the loss.
The Mustangs are no strangers to the championship game. Newell-Fonda made it to the title matchup in 10 of the previous 12 seasons and took home the trophy in four of those years (2015, 2019, 2020, 2021).
The last time the Mustangs won a state championship, they had to get through Bishop Garrigan to do it – taking down the Golden Bears, 66-52, in 2021. This game was a rematch of the 2023 title game, which Bishop Garrigan won – but which also kicked off a streak of four straight tournaments that featured Newell-Fonda in the championship game.
And after a five-year hiatus without a title, the crown is returning to Newell-Fonda.
“I couldn’t be more proud,” Jungers said about his senior class. “These seniors are going to graduate with nine wins at the state tournament and one title, and I just really hope they can appreciate the journey it took to get to this.
“The last couple of years, we played some really good teams, and they outplayed us that night. Tonight, we were the better team…and got the win.”
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Newell-Fonda girls basketball adds another state championship to trophy case
Reporting by Alyssa Hertel, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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