03-03-2025
Estherville-Lincoln Central and Spirit Lake girls basketball talk excitement ahead of IGHSAU State Tournament
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) – Only a select few of our IGHSAU basketball teams remain in the mix for a state title, including a pair of class 3A teams looking to leave Des Moines with a championship.
Last season's runner up boasts an experienced group under head coach Don Martindale, led by our reigning SportsZone Player of the Year and Minnesota State commit Haylee Stokes, Class 3A's scoring leader at 23.9 PPG.
But don't count out the rest of the E-LC squad. Rylee Yager and Hilary Ruschy have stepped up in big moments throughout their time in E-LC threads, and it's the experience and familiarity at State the team feels is an advantage coming in.
'it's going to come down to what team plays the best down here for three games, and we're just going to come down here and as usual, you know, go play, try and do our best and and play for each other,' Martindale mentioned.
'It definitely helps our team since we've been there. This is our fourth year and we've all had a lot of experience on the court as a team,' Stokes said.
'This experience will definitely help us. By going down there and being familiar with the court and the crowd will really help us to just keep going,' E-LC guard Cara Schiltz added.
ELC is not the only Lakes Conference team to make it to State in Class 3A. Cherokee booked its ticket along with Spirit Lake.
As a team, Spirit Lake shooting north of 40% from the field paced by Claire Turner, her 20.5 points per game is third in 3A.
The goal for Spirit Lake was to make a return to the well, but the team has its sights set on bigger accomplishments.
'It's a goal we work towards every year and you know we just fell short the past couple of years. But this year we made it and I'm super proud of everyone. We were great as a team and we got the job done, but we're not done yet. Our goal is to win that championship game,' Spirit Lake guard Claire Turned highlighted.
'They're right back and rolling again. We're peaking at the right time. And that's I mean, they're just working extremely hard right now,' Spirit Lake head coach Todd Rogers said.
'For us seniors, it's bittersweet. So it's something that we aim for every year to get to that state tournament. So it's just awesome to get to do our last year,' Spirit Lake guard Faith DeWild highlighted.
#5 E-LC opens up state play in the quarterfinals against #4 Cherokee on Monday at 6:45 p.m., while #7 Spirit Lake draws the two-seed Wahlert Catholic on Monday at 8:30 p.m.
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