Spartans take away Rockets fuel in victory

The Exira-EHK girls varsity basketball team prevented the Ar-We-Va Rockets from blasting off at home Tuesday night, cruising to a 56-20 first round tournament victory. This was the first game for the Spartans in a week due to the formatting of the tournament schedule.

“Seven days is a long time,” said Spartans Head Coach Tom Petersen. “Obviously, it gives you a lot of time to prep. We needed a game. The girls came out and one of the things we talked about was trying to get off to an extremely strong start and I thought our girls came out ready to do that.”

Senior Shay Burmeister opened the scoring on the night by hitting a shot from 3-point range and it became contagious with three of her teammates, Freshman Brylie Anderson, Senior Quinn Grubbs and Junior Hannah Nelson, all dropping 3-pointers giving the Spartans a 12-0 run to start the game.

“If you’re open, I always encourage them all to shoot,” Petersen said. “Fortunately, we had some fall early on which I thought opened up some driving lanes for the girls right after that.”

The Rockets scored their first point when Senior Samantha Hinners made a free throw after being fouled approaching the end of the quarter. A few more Spartan 3-pointers were made with Burmeister dropping her second of the night and Sophomore Mayne Jorgensen hitting one right before the buzzer.

Grubbs continued that dominance by opening up the second quarter with another 3-pointer. Rockets head coach Jeremy Smith called a timeout with just under five minutes until halftime. When play resumed, Grubbs made another 3-pointer.

A few more buckets were added before halftime. The Spartans held a 36-7 lead heading into the locker room with Grubbs leading the way with 14 points.

“Defense leads into offense and that’s why we were up by that much,” Grubbs said. “We’re going to change it up and we’re going to really focus and get down on that.”

The Spartans continued their dominance to open the third quarter with Freshman Jaelynn Petersen scoring the first points, putting her team up 38-7. A few plays later, Senior Makenzie Riley collected the offensive rebound and added the bucket. Smith called another timeout.

When play resumed, Grubbs made a bounce pass to Burmeister who made a layup that got the student section roaring with applause. The Rockets called their final timeout with three minutes remaining and soon after, the Spartans celebrated their victory.

The Rockets season came to an end with an 8-13 record. Grubbs congratulated them on a great season.

“They had a good season,” she said. “They have a few really good seniors and I hope the best for them going forward.”

The Spartans will face a familiar foe in the 16-7 Coon Rapids-Bayard Crusaders Friday night in the Class 1A – Region 4 Semifinal game. The Spartans won 46-34 against the Crusaders Jan. 24 on the road. The Crusaders have won five consecutive games and are led by Junior Breeley Clayburg with 323 points and 229 rebounds on the year.

“You can only control defense and rebounding,” Petersen said. “I’ve encouraged that to my kids for years and years and nothing has ever changed. For us to be successful on Friday night, it’s going to have to be the same.”