St. Albert Girls’ BKB Reaches State Semis w/ Win over Exira-EHK, 45-37

St. Albert's Maeve Ryan (3-4-26)

St. Albert's Avah Underwood (3-4-26)

St. Albert's Eleanor Coughlin (3-4-26)

St. Albert Coach Dick Wettengel (3-4-26)

St. Albert Girls’ BKB Reaches State Semis w/ Win over Exira-EHK, 45-37 -

(3-4-26) – It wasn’t their best game… but it was enough and their chase for a championship continues.

St. Albert used a 10-2 run to end the game and hang on for a 45-37 win over Exira-EHK in the Class 1A State Quarterfinals at the Casey’s Center in Des Moines Wednesday.

Saintes Coach Dick Wettengel felt the Spartans were a mirror image of themselves.

“If you looked at the numbers, you know, of the matchup before the game, offensively and defensively, the numbers were really similar between the two teams. So, you figured it was going to be a good close game.”

That’s why it was no surprise that even after falling behind by 14 pts in the 1st qtr, Exira-EHK would battle back with a 9-2 run just before the half to cut their deficit to 22-20.

But as the 2nd half started, so did Avah Underwood. The senior Wayne State commit took over, scoring 10 of her 11 pts during that timeframe while grabbing 17 rebounds for her 4th consecutive double-double at the state tournament. Underwood said 2nd half adjustments were key.

“It takes some in-game adjustments. We knew we were going to get thrown into, but obviously, the game changes. So, I think we did a really good job of adjusting mid-game offensively and defensively to kind of secure that.

Freshman Maeve Ryan had 8pts and 3 boards with none bigger than off an Eleanor Coughlin missed 3-ptr with :46 left that forced the Spartans to start fouling. Ryan talked about the importance of rebounding at this stage of the season.

“Just make sure we box out and crash the boards well to get the rebounds so we have another opportunity to score again.”

St. Albert outrebounded Exira-EHK, 51 to 25, including 25 to 5 on the offensive boards.

Coughlin led the way with 5 steals and her defense late helped shut down Exira-EHK.

“I was just reading what our defense was showing and what they were showing,” said Coughlin, who also had 8pts, “We worked really hard on our press and our aggression within the full court and that was just something that kind of came natural.”

“Eleanor is such a great competitor, and I wasn't surprised at all by what she came up with,” said Wettengel. “Late in the game, we switched her (to) guarding Taryn Petersen, and I thought that was key too. She’s just, she's such a good defender and she anticipates so well. Just a real key player for us.”

For Ryan, she’s enjoying this opportunity for the first time and doesn’t want it to end anytime soon.

“It's a really cool experience. I love playing with them and yeah, they're a really great team. We have a good culture and excited to play with them again.”

St. Albert will have a rematch of last year’s 1A State Championship Game against Newell-Fonda in the semifinals on Friday.

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