Undersized underdogs played with giant hearts
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I got a text message shortly after the conclusion of Mount Ayr's 57-55 loss to Exira in the Class 1A championship game last Friday at the Girls State Basketball Tournament.
It was from one of my seventh-grade players from this winter, my first foray into the world of girls basketball.
The message noted what a great game it was, and that Mount Ayr fought hard. She had been at the game in Wells Fargo Arena.
My immediate thought was, wow, the way Mount Ayr played was EXACTLY what I was trying to talk about to them all season. I hope several members of the team watched it on TV if they weren't at the game.
Mount Ayr, under coaches Thad Streit and Mark Bucach, is the definition of a team that just outworks their opponents. The starters averaged 14.9, 10.4, 10.3, 8.6 and 6.8 points per game. So, not one player carried the offensive load, although several were capable.
Junior guards Bailey Myer and Becca Pennington made the all-tournament team. Myer scored 22 points in a semifinal win over No. 1-rated Martensdale-St. Marys, and Pennington followed with a 19-point effort in the championship game.
In the championship game, all five starters took between eight and 17 shots. That's vastly different from the approach of Exira, who relied heavily on 6-foot-3 senior Hallie Christofferson, who is headed to play for Bill Fennelly at Iowa State. Christofferson, averaging 27 points a game, took nearly half of her team's 34 shots, finishing with 27 points thanks to an 11-of-13 night at the free throw line.
"They've got a stud player. We've got a stud team," said an emotional Streit moments after the game. "The Christofferson girl is pretty special, but I thought we made her earn her points. We weren't supposed to be here, let alone win this game. All season long our girls played with a lot of heart."
More than once I thought Mount Ayr might be buried. The Raiderettes went through an 0-5 stretch from the field while falling behind 11-5 in the first quarter. Exira guards Maddy Peppers and Ann Walker were off to a good start to complement the ever-present threat of a 6-3 girl in the middle.
But the chink in Exira's armor was an inability to take care of the ball. Fifteen turnovers in the first half allowed Mount Ayr to seize the momentum with a four-point lead.
This group of Raiderettes did not have any Division I talent on the floor like Exira. In fact, individually, they don't strike you as players you would fear going against. But there's something about how they work together and keep coming at you.
With a starting unit averaging 5-7, they had to play team defense to be successful. They crashed the boards on the offensive glass and hustled after loose balls, so they ended up with 26 more attempts from the field than the Vikettes.
It's a swarming defense that can wear you down mentally. Each of the five starters had at least one steal, and junior Megan Doubleday came off the bench for some good backcourt defense in spots.
When I started working with girls, I said the biggest thing they had to overcome was the tendency to not instinctively play with aggression, like boys raging with testosterone seem to do. The other thing was to develop the mental toughness it takes to continue playing fundamentally sound when you're tired, when your mind tells you to take shortcuts.
There were so many examples of how I witnessed Mount Ayr's mental toughness last Friday night, I can't list them all.
For one, starting guard Jensen Stewart was not having a stellar night shooting the ball, and that's one of her assets. Yet, she didn't cave to the pressure of the moment.
Stewart, who did not sit down one minute during the entire three games at Wells Fargo, hit a 3-pointer to give Mount Ayr a 37-35 lead in the second half. Then, with Exira holding the momentum with a 48-43 lead and only 4:34 remaining, Jensen hit a big bucket to make it 48-45.
Mount Ayr missed the front end of two one-and-one opportunities, and fell behind 52-47 with only 1:10 to play. That's when Pennington showed me she is a flat-out competitor.
Completely fearless about Christofferson's presence inside, Pennington snared an offensive rebound and dropped in a shot in the lane.
My youngest son was home from college watching the game on TV with his mother, who knew a thing or two about tough defense back in the six-player days.
"That Pennington girl plays with an attitude," Keith said, admiring the tenacity.
After an Exira turnover, Clarie Andresen scored to close it to 52-51 with :34 left. Two Exira free throws stretched it to 54-51. Eight seconds later Christofferson's free throw made it 55-51 left with only :22 remaining.
But, Mount Ayr kept fighting. Pennington went on the attack again and dropped in two free throws after being fouled. Now it was just a two-point game with 15 seconds left.
Exira passed the ball inbounds to Christofferson, who was swarmed. Pennington came up with the ball, missed the driving layup, and Tiffany Wimer, the lone senior on the team, sank the tying basket at the :04.5 mark to send the Raiderette fan section into a frenzy.
Sitting behind the Mount Ayr basket, I just turned to Kyle Wilson and said, "Wow."
No matter what happened from that point, the Raiderettes had convinced me they were made of something special.
On this night, Mount Ayr graded out to an A+ for effort, A- for execution, and a D for capturing good luck. First, Exira was a 65-percent free-throw shooting team coming in, and they dropped in 18 of 21 on this night for 86 percent.
And the final four seconds turned out to be an agonizing turn of fortune.
While Exira was launching a long pass downcourt toward the reach of Christofferson, Myer was staying right with Walker, stride-for-stride at halfcourt.
But, just as Wimer got up to tip the pass, Myer stopped for moment, looking to come up with the carom. Perhaps the Raiderettes could secure the ball and get off a last-second shot. Meanwhile, Walker kept running toward her basket.
Exira's Chelsea Nelson came up with the ball in the scramble, heaved it to Walker down by the basket, and Myer raced desperately toward her to disrupt the shot. The high shot off the glass bounced around the rim as the red lights on the backboard signaled the end of the game, and then the ball fell through the net for the winning two points.
Overtime had slipped through the Raiderettes' grasp. Exira's final game ever before a whole-grade sharing agreement was a dramatic state championship, and Mount Ayr was awarded the silver runner-up trophy.
"Man, I know how that feels," Keith said, watching the stunned Mount Ayr girls. He was on the floor when Harlan took a one-point state semifinal victory over the Panthers four years ago.
Myer, Pennington and Wimer all faced the music afterward in the interview room with poise and maturity, considering the circumstances. And, determination. You could hear it in Myer's voice.
"I'm looking forward to next year," she said. "I plan on being here again and exceeding this."
I wouldn't count them out.
