Cyclone Girls’ BKB Survives Scare from Denison-Schleswig, 48-32

Harlan Community's Kensley Bruck (2-18-26)

Photo provided by Matt Gubbels

Cyclone Girls’ BKB Survives Scare from Denison-Schleswig, 48-32 -

(2-18-26) – It wasn’t a pretty start, but they got the outcome they wanted in the end.

That’s how it went for the Harlan Community girls’ basketball team as they trailed heading into halftime and were sluggish to start the 3rd qtr before going on a 24-2 run to runaway with a 48-32 win over Denison-Schleswig in the Class 4A – Region 1 quarterfinals Wednesday.

Coach Zach Klaassen didn’t mince words with his team at halftime.

“At halftime, we had a conversation. I was pretty honest. It's embarrassing what we did that first half and we're a better team than that.”

Kensley Bruck got the Cyclones offense going in the 2nd half, where she scored 13 of her 19 pts. Bruck, who also grabbed 12 rebounds, said patience helped her team refocus.

“Obviously, our shots inside weren't really falling, so just calming down and just taking our time and putting our shots in. Our defense was good. We were getting stops, getting blocks, but just silly turnovers and not finishing inside. But we made it work in the second half.”

The opportunities were there for Harlan Community in the first half, but shots weren’t falling. The shot selection was good, but a lack of focus saw them miss several short shots while failing to secure the rebounds for 2nd chance looks. It allowed Denison-Schleswig to stay in it, despite committing ten 1st half turnovers.

Being sound defensively helped the Cyclones eventually turn the tables and get the offense going.

“We amped the pressure up a little bit on the defensive end, created some turnovers, a little bit of chaos and that energy there transferred to the offensive end as well. And next thing you know, the ball started going through the hoop.”

VanBaale had 11pts for Harlan Community while Avery Manz had 7pts. Kate Koesters and Addi Wicks combined for 13 rebounds as the Cyclones outrebounded the Monarchs 20 to 6 on the offensive boards, the majority of those in 2nd half.

Van Baale and Avery Manz combined for 11 of the Cyclones 17 steals. Bruck said the team was motivated to keep their season alive.

“We were just so motivated to move on to the next round and we've beat them twice already. It's hard to beat a team three times, but we knew how to beat them and we knew what we needed to do to beat them and so we just executed to get to the next round.”

Denison-Schleswig got 9 pts from Isabelle Blume off the bench while senior Sara Mun finished her Monarchs career with 8 pts. Denison-Schleswig ends their season 2-21.

Harlan Community will play No. 1 ranked Bishop Heelan in Sioux City on Saturday in the 4A Region 1 Semifinals.

View past scores by visiting the Iowa High School Athletic Association's website, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union website,
or Iowa Quik Stats