DES MOINES — A solid first half had Grundy Center girls basketball in a good place after 16 minutes of Tuesday’s Class 2A state quarterfinal.

Panorama’s relentless pressure defense and extra chances under the basket eventually unraveled Grundy Center in a 59-49 defeat for the Spartans at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Grundy Center’s season ends at 21-3, making their first state appearance since 2021.

“We didn’t want to go down without a fight, and I think we did that,” Grundy Center senior Laney Dole said. “It sucks, but it was really exciting to get here, and not a lot of teams get to do that.”

Grundy Center led 29-25 at halftime with a balanced scoring senior trio of Dole, Ellery Luhring and Carlie Willis, but Panorama went on a 10-4 run to start the third quarter and never trailed again.

Morgan Crees led Panorama with 19 points and Jaidyn Sellers had 18 points with nine rebounds, eight of them offensive.

“It seemed like in the first half, even when they were on a run, we had an answer for it,” Grundy Center head coach Matt Lindeman said. “We didn’t always have an answer in the second half.”

The second-ranked Panthers (24-1), reaching state for the third year in a row, scored 23 points off 20 Spartan turnovers and scored 25 points on second-chance buckets with 21 offensive rebounds.

But it was Grundy Center that had the strong opening statement, starting on a 12-2 run and leading 15-6 after the first quarter.

“We don’t always get out the best, but that was something that we wanted to focus on this game because we knew they would come out really strong and apply a lot of pressure,” Dole said.

The Panthers eventually had to adjust to hot shooting from Dole, who hit three of her four 3-pointers on Wednesday in the first half.

“We knew instantly we’d have to put our defensive stopper on her,” Panorama head coach Kylee Boettcher said. “And once we could take that away, then our goal from there is just to wear teams down.”

Panorama got within 23-21 in the second quarter before a six-point flurry bookended by buckets from Willis to keep the seventh-seeded Spartans ahead at halftime. Willis finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds and her senior teammates, Ellery Luhring and Dole, finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

“We didn’t feel like the seeding mattered, where it’d be like a blowout,” Willis said. “We felt it was a really, really hard fought battle. … And whether it’s state volleyball or state cross country, everybody’s had a little bit of prior experience on the big stage that helped today.”

Turnovers plagued the Spartans in the third quarter, though, and even when Grundy Center could get set up in the halfcourt offense, points were frustratingly hard to come by even at 6-6 field goal shooting in the quarter.

“They were getting hands on everything in the passing lanes,” Willis said. “We were just trying to be aggressive and driving and kicking.”

After a pair of Willis free throws got Panorama’s lead cut to 51-46 with 4:59 remaining, Crees answered for the Panthers, starting a pivotal 6-0 run aided by two Spartan turnovers in the backcourt that created Panorama’s biggest lead of the game at 57-46.

Dole’s fourth and final 3-pointer got Grundy back within single digits but the Spartans were no closer the rest of the way.

“Unless you know the team well, there’s a lot of little things those senior girls do,” Lindeman said. “The biggest piece with those senior girls is they’re just going to keep going, even when things aren’t going well, they keep playing at that same level.”

After finishing 11-11 last season, the Spartans end this season as 2A state quarterfinalists. It was the final game for seniors Luhring, Dole, Willis, Lucy Lebo and Blessing Edittu.

“I’m proud of how far we’ve come this year,” Dole said. “It shows how much work we really put in, it just didn’t pan out today, but I think our hard work has paid off and it was rewarding.”

The seniors also know what it was like for the underclassmen that stepped onto the Wells Fargo floor for the first time on Wednesday — these seniors were freshmen when Grundy last qualified in 2021.

“They just need to set their goals high, don’t sell yourself short,” Willis said. “We talked about that after our freshman year that our goal was to get back in the next three years. Just know that hard work pays off.”

Iowa Girls High School State Basketball Tournament

At Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines

CLASS 2A

Quarterfinals

Tuesday, Feb. 27

Dike-New Hartford 58, Cascade 28

Sioux Central 52, Eddyville-Blakesburg 48

Wednesday, Feb. 28

Panorama 59, Grundy Center 49

Westwood 35, Central Lyon 32

Semifinals

Friday, March 1

No. 1 Dike-New Hartford (24-2) vs. No. 4 Sioux Central (23-1), 10 a.m.

No. 2 Panorama (24-1) vs. No. 3 Westwood (22-0), 11:45 a.m.

Championship

Saturday, March 2

Semifinal winners, 4:45 p.m.

Panorama 59, Grundy Center 49

GRUNDY CENTER (21-3) — Lucy Lebo 2-12 0-0 4, Kali Aldrich 0-0 0-0 0, Ellery Luhring 5-6 1-1 13, Laney Dole 4-6 0-0 12, Carlie Willis 8-16 2-2 18, Maddy Hendershot 0-1 0-0 0, Blessing Edittu 0-0 0-0 0, Karlee Lynch 1-4 0-0 2, Paige Venenga 0-0 0-0 0, Raelyn Steinmeyer 0-1 0-0 0, Ava Mundt 0-1 0-0 0, Teresa Noble 0-1 0-0 0, Caturella Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Kennedy Scott 0-0 0-0 0, Skylar Reding 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 20-48 3-3 49.

PANORAMA (24-1) — Kaitlin Kent 0-7 0-0 0, Mia Waddle 5-11 2-2 13, Morgan Crees 7-10 4-6 19, Tyme Boettcher 3-15 2-3 8, Jaidyn Sellers 6-15 6-6 18, Lydia Lleshi 0-1 0-0 0, Lindy Nelson 0-1 0-0 0, Nerea Gimeno Perez 0-0 1-2 1. TOTALS 21-60 15-19 59.

GRUNDY CTR. 15 14 13 7 — 49

PANORAMA 6 19 22 12 — 69

3-Point Goals–GC 6 (Dole 4, Luhring 2); Panorama 2 (Waddle, Crees). Rebounds–GC 31 (Willis 10); Panorama 37 (Sellers 9, Crees 9). Assists–GC 13 (Lebo 5); Panorama 5 (Boettcher 3). Blocks–GC 2 (Dole, Willis); Panorama 5 (five with 1). Steals–GC 3 (Lynch 2); Panorama 15 (Waddle 4, Crees 4, Sellers 4). Turnovers–GC 20, Panorama 10. Team Fouls–GC 18, Panorama 8. Fouled Out–Hendershot.