Spartans keep championship dream alive

 DES MOINES -- For the second time in three years, Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton has reached the semifinals of the Girls State Basketball Tournament.
 The 3rd-ranked Spartans did what they needed to do in Monday afternoon’s Class 1-A quarterfinal clash with No. 8 Sidney, playing some of their best basketball in the second and fourth quarters and using a combined 38 points and 20 rebounds from juniors Sophia Peppers and Kealey Nelson to knock out the Cowgirls, 58-43, inside Wells Fargo Arena.
 Exira-EHK put the game away by holding Sidney scoreless for nearly nine minutes after the Cowgirls - making their first-ever state appearance - had rallied within 42-37 with 2:32 left in the third quarter.
 The victory set up a 1-A semifinal on Thursday (11:45 a.m.) between the Spartans (24-1) and 2nd-ranked Turkey Valley (22-3). The winner will face either top-ranked and defending state champion Springville (23-2) or No. 7 Kingsley-Pierson (24-1) in Friday’s 6:00 p.m. 1-A title game.
 Spartan players are hungry for more this year after reaching the semifinals in 2015, when they lost to Springville, and bowing out to Newell-Fonda in last year’s opening round.