Cyclone girls earn regional rematch with Denison

     HARLAN (Feb. 20) -- For the first time since 2016, the Harlan Community girls basketball team is back in a regional final and ready for another shot at Denison-Schleswig.
 The 9th-ranked Cyclones withstood a tough test from Spencer in Saturday’s Class 4A regional semifinal round, overcoming 20 turnovers by shooting 65.7 percent in a 74-61 win over the Tigers.
 HCHS improved to 16-5 and will now travel to Denison Tuesday (Feb. 23) to face the 8th-ranked Monarchs (18-4) in a 7:00 p.m. Region 8 final. The winner earns a trip to next week’s state tournament in Des Moines.
 The Hawkeye Ten rivals have met twice so far this season, with D-S winning 40-32 in Harlan and 61-57 at Denison.
 “We’re going to use our energy from this game and move it on to the next,” said HCHS junior forward Claire Schmitz, who knocked down 12-of-14 free throws and led the team with 24 points and 10 rebounds (five offensive) vs. Spencer.
 “Denison won so we’ll get another shot at them - third time. We’re feeling pretty confident, so hopefully we can (win it).”
 Playing for the first time in 11 days, the Cyclones got all they could handle from an athletic Spencer team, especially early. The lead changed hands six times before HCHS finished the first half on a 16-5 run and took a 32-23 advantage into the locker room.
 The Tigers (15-8) never went away, knocking down seven second-half threes and scoring off their press late, but the Cyclones always maintained at least a four-point edge and led by as many as 15 in the fourth quarter.
 HCHS head coach Zach Klaassen was pleased with the way his team shot the ball from both the field (23-of-35) and the free throw line (23-of-32) to finish off a good opponent. The Cyclones made 11-of-15 foul shots in the fourth quarter alone while the Tigers made only 3-of-10 for the game.
 “We got stops when we needed to,” Klaassen said. “They’d get it down to four or five and then we’d go on about a 5-0 run and get it back up to 10. A big part of that was just finishing at the free throw line.”
 Schmitz led the charge at the charity stripe and was a steady source of offense throughout, scoring second-chance points, drawing contact and running the floor well to score layups off press breaks and turnovers.
 “That’s probably as fast as she’s got up and down [the court] this year and that was good to see,” said Klaassen, noting that Schmitz even had to sit for a short time after picking up two early fouls.
 Schmitz credited her teammates for finding her when she was open.
 “They were just doing a good job getting it in to me and then I was getting fouled quite a few times and I knew I could make them from the free throw line,” she said. “I’ve been struggling a little bit, but I just had to have my head in the game.”
 Senior guard Brecken Van Baale, who made both of her three-pointers and was 5-for-5 from the field, scored 16 points while adding four assists.
 Senior Jocelyn Cheek helped trigger the 16-5 run before half with a pair of treys and had a nice sequence in the fourth quarter as well, hitting a three on one trip, then shot-faking moments later and driving to the hoop for a left-handed runner. She finished with 13 points and three steals.
 Ashley Hall (six rebounds, six assists) and Macie Leinen (eight rebounds, four blocks) both added seven points for HCHS, Caitlyn Leinen scored a pair of timely baskets late in the third and Raegen Wicks had three points.
 Spencer, meanwhile, was led by its big three of Alexa Johnson (20 points), Allison Piercy (18) and point guard Jada Piercy (13). They combined to hit 10 three-pointers on the night, including seven in the second half as HCHS searched for the right defense.
 The Tigers were one of the top skip-passing teams the Cyclones have faced.
 “They’ve got athletes,” Klaassen said. “Great point guard... very quick, gets to the rim, finishes, can shoot the three really well. We knew they had three really good shooters, but tonight it was... just catch and release from 22-23 feet and it was just automatic.
 “Part of that was on us too. We were just flat-footed in that zone once in a while and they’d skip it and we would start closing out once they caught it. We’ve got to close out and shade that way before that ball is even passed and just read eyes a little bit better. We just got sucked in.”
 HCHS started the game in a 1-2-2 matchup zone, went to a 2-3 zone following early foul trouble and played anything from box-and-one to triangle-and-two to a “three-and-two” look in the second half. Three defenders locked up the Tigers’ best players while the other two girls played a zone.
 “We were going to let the other two girls try to beat us,” Klaassen said of the late-game strategy.
 “We had a lot of defenses in our arsenal and we pulled quite a few of them out.”
 Spencer primarily stuck with man-to-man defense and rushed the Cyclones into 20 turnovers with some full court pressure as the tempo stayed fast for much of the night. Klaassen said that getting to halftime with a nine-point lead allowed his team to take a much-needed deep breath and relax a bit.
 “We just came out so tight and we couldn’t turn it over fast enough. We were just forcing passes,” he said. “We wanted to push tempo... but push tempo and take advantage of open people, not try to sneak one in there. We tried to throw a lot of 50-50 (passes), plus trying to dribble between two people at halfcourt cost us a few layups... and we’ve got to get better at that.”
 Still, Harlan’s ability to break pressure at times, plus scoring off its own steals, likely gave them an advantage in points vs. pressure.
 “We’ve just got to clean a few things up,” Klaassen said. “I was pretty happy with converting on those steals... I’d like to see how many points we had off of turnovers. When we got a turnover, it seemed like we got a bucket.”
Monarch rematch:
 Denison survived a fourth-quarter rally by Boone Saturday night and advanced to the regional final with a 52-45 victory.
 The Monarchs are led by the potent senior duo of Paige Andersen (17.4 points, 7.6 rebounds per game) and Hannah Neemann (16.2 ppg., 8.8 rpg.) while senior Ellie Magnuson averages 9.8 ppg.
 The Cyclones have played right with Denison in this year’s two regular season matchups and another close game is expected Tuesday.
 “Last time I thought we did a pretty good job of taking their two best players away, but then Magnuson kind of exposed us with a couple of 12-to-15 foot jump shots,” said Klaassen. “We’ve just got to keep her on the right side of the floor and don’t let her go left at all, and then be very physical and rebound well.”
 Winning the tempo battle should also be key as the Cyclones want to play fast and get Denison in a rush.
 “I would like to see us get up and down and really push the tempo like we did (Saturday) and see if they want to get out and run,” Klaassen added. “We’ve just got to take care of the ball and find the open shooters and knock them down.”
 Schmitz says that playing as a team and having confidence in each other will go a long ways toward a win. She also feels like the Cyclones haven’t quite hit their peak yet.
 “I still think we can play a little better,” she said. “In the beginning [Saturday], we were playing a little scared. I think we’ve just got to give it our all and know it could be our last... and bring that energy every quarter, (all) 32 minutes.
 “We know we can do it. We’ve just got to have confidence in ourselves.”