Saintes March Back to State, Defeat Riverside in Regional Final, 47-40

St. Albert's Avah Underwood (2-26-25)

St. Albert's Molly Wise (2-26-25)

Saintes March Back to State, Defeat Riverside in Regional Final, 47-40 –

(2-26-25) – They’re back and more determined than ever.

Avah Underwood had 18 pts and 7 rebounds to lead St. Albert to a 47-40 victory over Riverside in Class 1A-Region 1 Championship game, giving them back-to-back trips to the 1A State Tournament.

Underwood said the process to build back into a winner was a tough one.

“Basically, we had the building team up the ground. We lost a huge chunk of our team last year and we never have a lot of grit. But, our team, we've done a great job. Everybody works really hard in practice each day and everybody contributes. It's great to be on a team like this.”

The Saintes built up a 13-pt lead early in the 2nd quarter only to see it evaporate as the Bulldogs ended the half on a 12-0 run to cut their deficit to one. St. Albert’s Molly Wise, who had 7 pts, talked about the mentality of her team coming out of the halftime locker room.

“We really knew we just couldn't panic and just play our game and not let them rush us and I say like we came out with some fire and I really set the tone for the second-half.

Saintes Coach Dick Wettengel told his team at the half they needed to take better shots.

“We were doing too much, one-on-one at the end of that half and just throwing up ridiculous shots. You know, I call them ‘impossible shots.’ You know, this isn't figure skating. You don’t get points the harder it is, right? So, it’s either two points or three points, why are we making it difficult?”

The game would go back and forth in the 2nd half with Riverside taking the lead a couple of times, but unable to extend to more than a one-possession lead. A 10-0 run from St. Albert in 4th qtr would give them the lead for good.

Maura Ryan had 8 pts while Eleanor Coughlin led St. Albert with 7 of the team’s 16 steals.

Riverside got 11 pts for Sophia Fenner. The Bulldogs were playing in their first ever regional championship game and had their first ever 20-win season in school history, finishing their year at 20-4.

St. Albert is the Number 1 seed in the 1A State Tournament and will face Dunkerton on Wednesday at 1:30pm at Well Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

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