The East girls withstood a late comeback attempt by the West for a 58-53 victory, and it was some late plays by Trojans Jessica Musgrave and Zoee Buffalo that almost gave their squad the victory.

Musgrave finished with 11 points along with six rebounds and a game-high eight steals, and even though it was just an exhibition game she said she was doing her best to come out with a win.

“I was a little disappointed in myself, I really wanted to go out there and get that win for the West,” Musgrave said, only half kidding. “We came close and it was all fun and games.”

Buffalo also had a good showing with six points, five rebounds and a steal, and while Jaelin Berger didn’t manage to find the bottom of the basket she did haul in two rebounds.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - South Tama County senior Jessica Musgrave, left, shoots at the bucket in front of Mount Vernon’s Sammy Moss during the second half of the WaMaC Conference Senior Shoot Out on Saturday in Van Horne. Musgrave finished with 11 points, eight steals and six rebounds for the West team.

On the boys side, the East dominated throughout the game on their way to a 104-80 victory, but there was one player on the West who couldn’t be contained.

Keith Keahna had a team-high 20 points for the West, and he also pulled down 10 rebounds for a double-double. After the game it caught Keahna by surprise how much of an impact he had.

“I didn’t know I had that many points,” he said. “It was fun, I enjoyed playing with these guys. After playing against them all season, to get the opportunity to come play with them was really fun and something I will remember for a long time.”

AJ Becker from Maquoketa was the leading scorer on the boys side with 27 points for the East, including seven made 3-pointers, and Derek Krogmann from West Delaware had 19 points which mostly came from an array of dunks.

On the girls side Callyn Fox from Class 3A state champs Center Point-Urbana had 23 points for the game high, while Tara Hansel from Dyersville Beckman was the East’s leading scorer with 12 points.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Buffalo, who was locked in some tough battles with Hansel and the other East bigs, said she was happy to get up some shots and contribute to her team.

“I think I did well. I told them I was not doing the five-out, but coach said I didn’t have to if I didn’t want to,” she said. “I just knew I would help the team better if I went in down low, otherwise I wouldn’t do much.”

While Buffalo didn’t fit into the scheme run by Stormin’ Pointer head coach Philip Klett, Musgrave plugged right into the defensive system that led to Center Point-Urbana winning a 3A state title.

“Coach was just like, ‘hey, we are going to do our CPU zone defense,’ and I just thought, ‘I’m down!'” Musgrave said. “We were a little bit down and we had to get back.”

Musgrave was able to take advantage of playing in the press for her eight steals. There were times when all three Buffalo, Musgrave and Berger were on the court together as well, something Berger said she really enjoyed.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“It was really fun, knowing this was my last time playing with Jessica and Zoee, it felt good,” she said. “I definitely was glad I had my teammates going in with me and I wasn’t going in alone.”

There was the added bonus of playing with the other girls from the WaMaC West, which Berger said she wasn’t sure about at first.

“It was kind of weird, the WaMaC is very competitive and not a lot of teams like each other, but it worked about pretty well and everyone was nice, so that was good,” she said with a giggle.

The final opportunity to play with her teammates was what Musgrave said she cherished most in the game.

“It was nice, I love playing with them again and I’m going to miss them,” she said. “It’s weird that this was our last one, it was a little heartbreaking but also definitely nice to be back on the court with them.”

Keahna was the only South Tama boy in attendance, but there was a great crowd there to root him and the rest of the Trojans on, which was something he said will stick with him.

“It was a really awesome crowd to play in front of, the whole conference is here and it was really fun,” Keahna said.

WaMaC Conference Senior Shoot Out

At Van Horne

GIRLS

East 58, West 53

WEST (53) — Jaelin Berger 0 0-0 0, Karly Millikin 3 0-0 7, Taylor Spies 0 0-0 0, Jessica Musgrave 5 1-4 11, Taylor Wendt 0 0-0 0, Rylee Clark 1 0-0 3, Madie Willson 1 1-2 3, Kasi McWhorter 0 0-2 0, Zoee Buffalo 2 2-2 6, Callyn Fox 9 3-5 23. TOTALS 21 7-15 53.

EAST (58) — Ashley Vis 2 0-0 5, Bri Bennis 4 1-2 11, Sydney Arens 1 2-6 4, Sydney Steffen 0 0-0 0, Sammy Moss 3 2-2 8, Emily Swanson 3 0-0 8, Lauren Wisco 4 1-1 10, Tara Hansel 6 0-4 12. TOTALS 23 6-15 58.

Halftime–East 29-24. 3-Point Goals–West 4 (Fox 2, Millikin, Clark), East 6 (Bennis 2, Swanson 2, Vis, Wisco).

BOYS

East 104, West 80

WEST (80) — Isaac Wiley 1 1-2 3, Nolan Schwarting 6 0-0 15, Cam Hasleiet 1 0-0 3, Dylan Spina 2 0-0 6, Noah Haisman 1 0-0 3, Sean Geertsema 5 0-0 12, Cody Westcott 4 0-0 9, Nathan Michels 4 0-0 9, Keith Keahna 8 3-3 20. TOTALS 32 4-5 80.

EAST (104) — Kane Kopp 3 0-0 6, Matthew Brase 1 0-0 3, Macklin Shanahan 5 1-2 14, Seamus O’Connor 4 0-2 12, AJ Becker 9 2-2 27, Trevor Paulsen 3 1-2 8, Derek Krogmann 9 1-5 19, Mason Rahe 2 0-0 5, Sean Deutmeyer 4 2-3 10. TOTALS 40 7-16 104.

Halftime–East 55-38. 3-Point Goals–West 12 (Schwarting 3, Spina 2, Geertsema 2, Hasleiet, Haisman, Westcott, Michels, Keahna), East 17 (Becker 7, O’Connor 4, Shanahan 3, Brase, Paulsen, Rahe).

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