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Bears make No. 8 Cascade sweat it out
by Gregory R. Norfleet · Sports · December 21, 2017


Coming in with a 6-1 record, Nov. 8 Cascade’s girls basketball coach expressed relief to walk out of West Branch with a 73-68 win after the Bears led well into the second half on Dec. 12.


The Cougars trailed by up to 11 points late in the second quarter, but chipped away at the gap and caught up with less than two minutes left in the third for what turned into a thriller until the final minute.

“(At halftime) I asked them point-blank: Anybody have any ideas how to stop the Koenig girls?” Cascade Head Coach Mike Sconsa said. “But it wasn’t just them tonight. It was their whole team playing outstanding basketball. Trying to find a way to limit (the Koenigs) is just borderline impossible. This may sound stupid, but when you play West Branch, you have to outscore them. We do a lot defensively, but they score as well as any basketball team and the Koenigs are talented.”

West Branch senior Tatum Koenig and freshman Sasha Koenig combined for 22 of the team’s 32 points in the first half, 24 of 36 in the second half and 46 of 68 overall, or 67.6 percent of West Branch scoring.

Cascade held opponents to 36.4 points per game before coming to West Branch and only allowed 50 points at the top end. The unranked Bears scored nearly double that average.

Bears Head Coach Jarod Tylee said he told his players Cascade “is very well-coached and they’re tough and scrappy.”

“We needed to be tougher and scrappier tonight to compete with them,” he said. “I think for the most part, we were.”

West Branch led by five at the end of the first quarter and increased that to 11 with 1:45 left in the half before the Cougars caught a break, outscoring the home team 8-2 after that.

“Good teams are going to make runs. They made a run and got back into it,” Tylee said. “One of the differences in the game was the last minute of that first half where we had a 10-point lead and they come down and we give one of their best shooters a wide-open look. Then we go down, throw the ball away and they get two free throws and it’s suddenly five points. That’s a big turnaround in this kind of a game.”

The Bears’ offense remained relatively stable for four quarters, shooting 17, 15, 17 and 19 points against Cascade’s defense. The Cougars’ offense improved as the night went on, scoring 12, 15, 21 then 25 to catch up and take the lead.

Sconsa, who had been shouting at his first-half team to “slow down,” said the halftime talk was more of the same.

“We told them to relax a little bit,” he said. “That round at the end of the second quarter wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. (West Branch) played outstanding. It was a great high school basketball game. … That was awesome tonight. Absolutely awesome.”

The Cougars’ suffered under West Branch’s defense in the first two quarters, he said.

“A lot of that was because of West Branch’s pressure,” Sconsa said. “They defend really well and … we didn’t execute that well. We relied on the outside shot too much.”

He said his Cascade team also benefitted from the free-throw line, scoring 35 percent of their points – 26 – off of West Branch fouls.

Tylee said that half the time West Branch fouled someone, that player sank fewer than 50 percent from the line.

“Honestly, for the most part, about half of those free-throws were coming from people on their team who we want shooting free-throws, shooting less than 50 percent coming in,” he said. “They shot good percentages tonight, so we tried to play the odds and the odds were in their favor tonight.”

Cascade’s poker-faced senior Abbie Ruggeberg led the visitors with 24 points, more than that of the next top two players combined.

“She shot well. The thing with her that I like is that she can go inside and outside. And whatever happens, she really doesn’t change much, whether it’s a tight game or whether she’s meeting Tatum Koenig,” Sconsa said of the four-year varsity player. “And she got her A game on the second half.”

Cascade won the jump ball and scored a three-pointer to get the game going, which West Branch’s S. Koenig answered right away.

The Cougars benefitted with two free-throws and a basket to take a 7-3 lead, but back-to-back treys by the Koenigs put West Branch up 9-7. T. Koenig sank a layup that drew a foul, and rose to a 12-7 lead.

Another Bear foul led to two more for the visitors, then West Branch sophomore Mackenzie Heise put in a layup, followed by teammate and senior Bridget Buol. Buol also drew a foul and sank the free-throw. Ruggeberg answered with her first points of the game from beyond the three-point arc to close the first quarter 17-12, West Branch.

Ruggeberg put in two free-throws to get scoring started in the second period, answered by a T. Koenig layup, followed by a Cougar basket and then a three-pointer from S. Koenig. A Cascade foul on another S. Koenig basket added three more points to give West Branch a 25-16 lead when the visitors called time-out.

Ruggeberg scored a long, two-point jumper near the arc, and West Branch sophomore Kaiya Luneckas dropped in two free-throws. T. Koenig sank a three-pointer and Cascade put in one of two from the line. West Branch led 30-19 and called time-out with 1:45 left to the half.

The Cougars put in the first of a one-and-one and followed with a field goal. T. Koenig sank two from the line, then Ruggeberg dropped in another trey. Cascade shot two more free-throws to finish an 8-2 run and close out the half by cutting their deficit to 32-27.

Returning to the court, Bear freshman Taya Young opened with a three-pointer, which Ruggeberg answered in kind. Cascade put in two more free-throws, and T. Koenig earned a three-point play with the help of a Cougar foul. Score 38-32, home team.

Cascade put in six more points while S. Koenig zig-zagged in for a layup and added a three-pointer and a field goal for a 45-38 Bear lead.

Young made the back end of two free throws, then Cascade sank five points in two baskets before calling time-out with the score at 46-42, West Branch.

The Cougars made three baskets in a row to tie the game and then take a one-basket lead. Bear sophomore Taylor Thein put her first points on the board with a three-pointer to give the lead back to West Branch, 49-48, as the third quarter closed.

Returning for the final eight minutes, Ruggeberg put in two free-throws to give a one-point edge to the visitors. A three-pointer by Young, a steal-turned-layup by T. Koenig and a pass-fake-to-basket also by T. Koenig put West Branch up 56-45. Another trey by Cascade closed the gap to 56-53 and the visitors took another time-out.

T. Koenig capitalized on a Cascade foul for another three-point play, followed by three free-throws and a basket by the Cougars. This time, the Bears called time-out with a 59-58 lead.

Cascade added four points with two free-throws and a basket and a trey in the same two minutes where Young and T. Koenig both sank baskets. When West Branch called for a time-out, they trailed by a basket, 65-63 with 2:36 left on the clock.

Cascade’s next six points came off one basket and four-of-six at the line. T. Koenig added another basket for the Bears.

With 10.1 seconds left, the visitors had extended its lead to 71-65 and the home team called time-out.

West Branch dished the ball to junior Riley Vaughan, who dropped in a three-pointer for a 71-68 score and 5.5 seconds left on the clock.

West Branch fouled Cascade right away to put them back to the free-throw line, and both went in for a 73-68 lead. With 4.6 seconds left, the Bears could not get off another basket before the clock ran out.

1 2 3 4 T

WB 17 15 17 19 68

Cas 12 15 21 25 73

West Branch stats: Abbey Fryauf 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 foul; Riley Vaughan 1 0-0 3, 1 3-pointer, 1 assist; Kaiya Luneckas 0 2-2 2, 11 rebounds, 3 fouls; Tatum Koenig 10 5-5 27, 2 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, 5 fouls, 6 assists, 2 steals; Bridget Buol 1 1-1 3, 1 rebound, 2 fouls, 1 steal; Taylor Thein 1 0-0 3, 1 3-pointer, 1 rebound, 2 assists; Taya Young 3 1-2 9, 2 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, 2 fouls1 block, 2 steals; Sasha Koenig 7 1-1 19, 4 3-pointers, 1 rebound, 5 fouls, 6 assists, 3 steals; Mackenzie Heise 1 0-0 2, 2 rebounds, 2 fouls. Team totals: 24 10-11 68, 10 3-pointers, 24 rebounds, 16 assists, 1 block, 8 steals, 20 fouls.

Cascade stats: Nicole McDermott 0 9-10 9, 5 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 3 fouls; Skylar Dolphin 2 0-2 4; Zoe Ryan 2 0-0 5, 1 3-pointer, 1 rebound, 1 assist; Anne Ryan 3 0-0 8, 2 3-pointers, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 steals, 4 fouls; Jordan Simon 2 6-8 11, 1 3-pointer, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 3 fouls; Rachel Trumm 4 4-6 12, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal; Abbie Ruggeberg 7 7-8 24, 3 3-pointers, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 3 fouls; Abby Welter 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 foul. Team totals: 20 26-34 73, 7 3-pointers, 28 rebounds, 17 assists, 10 steals, 4 blocks, 14 fouls.



West Branch 36,

Regina 53

West Branch hosted No. 6 Regina on Friday, falling to the Regals 53-36.

1 2 3 4 T

WB 16 8 7 5 36

Reg 12 15 15 11 53

West Branch stats: Abbey Fryauf 3 rebounds, 1 foul; Riley Vaughan 1 steal; Kaiya Luneckas 4 rebounds, 1 assist; Tatum Koenig 7 2-2 18, 2 3-pointers, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 4 fouls; Bridget Buol 1 steal; Taylor Thein 1 0-0 3, 1 3-pointer, 1 rebound, 1 block; Taya Young 4 0-0 9, 1 3-pointer, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 fouls; Sasha Koenig 1 1-2 4, 1 3-pointer, 2 rebounds, 2 asissts, 1 steal, 3 fouls; Mackenzie Heise 1 0-0 2, 1 rebound. Team totals: 14 3-4 36, 5 3-pointers, 19 rebounds, 7 assists, 7 steals, 1 block, 10 fouls

Regina stats: Alexa Lehman 4 0-0 9, 1 3-pointer, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 foul; Lauren Gaarde 1 0-0 2, 2 rebounds, 5 assist, 3 steals, 2 fouls; Greyson Dumont 3 1-1 9, 2 3-pointers, 4 rebounds, 3 assist, 2 steals, 3 fouls; Kennedy Wallace 5 0-0 13, 3 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 foul; Maeve Dunne 1 0-0 3, 1 3-pointer, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 1 foul; Anna Martin 1 0-4 2, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 foul; Alex Wiese 7 1-2 15, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 fouls; Katie Dunn 1 rebound; Unknown 1 rebound. Team totals: 22 2-7 53, 7 3-pointers, 29 rebounds, 13 assists, 10 steals, 1 block, 12 fouls



West Branch 65

West Liberty 31

West Branch visited West Liberty Saturday and defeated the Comets 65-31.

The Bears shot more than 43 percent from the field and 50 percent from the free-throw line.

West Branch stats: Abbey Fryauf 0 1-4 1, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 block; Lexie Peak 1 rebound, 1 steal; Riley Vaughan 2 rebounds, 1 foul; Kaiya Luneckas 1 1-4 3, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 5 steals, 2 fouls; Tatum Koenig 8 2-2 20, 2 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 steals, 1 foul; Bridget Buol 3 0-0 6, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal; Maddi Luneckas 1 block; Taylor Thein 2 2-2 6, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 3 fouls; Taya Young 6 1-2 14, 1 3-pointer, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block; Sasha Koenig 6 0-0 15 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 foul; Rylan Druecker 1 rebound, 1 steal, 1 foul; Maddie Hatfield 1 rebound; Mackenzie Heise 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 4 fouls. Team totals: 26 7-14 65, 6 3-pointers, 36 rebounds, 17 assists, 15 steals, 7 blocks, 13 fouls

West Liberty stats: Haylee Lehman 0 0-2 0, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 foul; Madison McIntosh 1 0-0 3, 1 3-pointer, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 fouls; Macy Akers 4 4-6 13, 1 3-pointer, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 fouls; Isabel Morrison 2 2-6 6, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 fouls; Martha Pace 1 0-0 2, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 foul; Janey Gingerich 3 0-0 7, 1 3-pointer, 4 rebounds, 1 assit, 3 steals, 1 foul. Unknown: 4 rebounds. Team totals: 11 6-14 31, 3 3-pointers, 26 rebounds, 3 assists, 11 blocks, 11 fouls