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Spartans squeeze by Warriors, win 51-40

t-r photo by Ross thede Hailey Wallis (13) drives in for a layup, contested by Meskwaki’s Payton Tahahwah, during the Spartans 51-40 win Monday night.

MESKWAKI SETTLEMENT — A spark from the bench helped the Spartans steady themselves just in time to weather the Warriors’ run.

The Grundy Center girls’ basketball team used an atypical lineup that helped build a double-digit lead and the Spartans survived a scare from the Meskwaki Warriors in Monday’s non-conference tilt, winning 51-40 with a huge NICL West Division showdown on deck.

The Spartans (12-2) got a boost from Sarah Lindeman in the paint in the second half, highlighted by a 16-7 third-quarter advantage, which helped Grundy Center win its ninth-straight game ahead of tonight’s conference clash with league-leading Class 3A No. 7 West Marshall.

Lindeman made four consecutive free throws before back-to-back 3-pointers by Reegan Zinkula and Hailey Wallis helped Grundy Center stretch its lead to as many as 16 points late in the third quarter.

Meskwaki’s comeback, captained by senior Grace Tahahwah, got the game to within five points before the Spartans finished off the victory at the free-throw line.

“Our focus is on the execution end, ours is on the mental part and just doing things the right way,” said Grundy Center coach Matt Lindeman. “Not to take anything away from Meskwaki, but the disappointing part is that we lost that [focus] a little bit.”

The Spartans committed nine second-half turnovers which helped the host Warriors (10-8) linger. Tahahwah banked in a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter, and she scored her team’s next five points to make it 41-33. She generated scoring chances on the attack, sometimes earning free throws that put Grundy Center’s post players in foul trouble. Both Kylie Willis and Brooke Flater ended the night with four personal fouls, but Lindeman spelled the starters admirably and didn’t miss at the charity stripe.

The Spartans performed at the line, going 12-for-13 in the last four minutes of the fourth quarter, to put the game away at the start of a four-game week.

“It’s a busy week so we had to treat this similar to any other game,” Lindeman said. “We’ll have to bring more energy tomorrow night and see what happens.”

Grundy Center, 6-2 in the NICL West, visits unbeaten West Marshall (16-0, 8-0) in hopes of cutting into the Trojans’ lead. On Monday night, a non-conference foe nearly did the same to the Spartans in a way.

t-r photo by ross thede Grace Tahahwah (1) goes up against Grundy Center’s Landry Luhring (24) during the second half of Monday night’s game. Tahahwah led the Warriors with 21 points in the 51-40 loss.

Meskwaki made a game of it early, keeping pace and keeping the Spartans within arm’s reach. Danielle Seymour converted a pair of deft passes across the paint from Tahahwah late in the second period, and a 3-pointer by Delicia Guevara was about as much offense as the Warriors could muster in the third quarter. Tori Lasley got her only bucket with one minute left in the third to cut Grundy Center’s advantage to 14, 39-25, but it was too much of a margin for the Warriors to erase before the final horn.

“We talked about at halftime that good teams, and Grundy Center is a good team, come out of the half focused and they come out with a plan,” said Meskwaki head coach Brian Murphy. “They started running [Wallis] all over trying to get her some looks, and I was proud of how we responded, but offensively we just couldn’t get it going until the end of the third and into the fourth.

“We were looking to get the ball into our posts and [Grundy Center] did a really nice job of taking that away.”

Tahahwah took the reins, finishing with a game-high 21 points to go with five steals (she leads the state in that category) but the Warriors still saw their four-game winning streak snapped.

Guevera made a pair of 3-pointers for six points, while Abigail Iron Shell and Seymour both finished with four points.

Wallis’s 20 points led the Spartans as she made three 3-pointers and went 5-for-6 at the free-throw line. Zinkula also made two triples and finished with eight points, while Lindeman and Flater both scored six points.

Grundy Center 51, Meskwaki 40

At Meskwaki Settlement

GRUNDY CENTER (12-2) — Hailey Wallis 6 5-6 20, Maddie McMartin 1 0-0 2, Sydney Mathews 0 3-4 3, Kylie Willis 1 2-2 4, Brooke Flater 3 0-2 6, Reegan Zinkula 2 2-3 8, Landry Luhring 1 0-2 2, Sarah Lindeman 0 6-6 6. TOTALS 14 18-24 51.

MESKWAKI (10-8) — Grace Tahahwah 7 6-12 21, Payton Tahahwah 1 0-0 2, Delicia Guevara 2 0-0 6, Abigail Iron Shell 0 4-4 4, Tori Lasley 1 0-0 2, Leticia Garcia 0 0-0 0, Alyssa Lincoln 0 1-2 1, Danielle Guevara 2 0-0 4. TOTALS 13 11-18 40.

GRUNDY CTR 11 12 16 12 — 51

MESKWAKI 8 10 7 15 — 40

3-Point Goals–GC 5 (Wallis 3, Zinkula 2), Meskwaki 3 (D. Guevara 2, G. Tahahwah). Total Fouls–GC 15, Meskwaki 19. Fouled Out–None.

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