Disappointment in Denison

DENISON - There would be no come back on this night in Denison for Glenwood.
But it wasn’t without trying.

A mere 12 days after rallying from a 10-point deficit with three minutes remaining in an overtime victory over Denison, the Rams founds themselves down as many as 18 points to the same Monarchs in the Class 4A, Region 2 finals Wednesday.

Coach Brian Rasmussen’s bunch turned up the heat, started hitting shots and cut that lead to just six with under three minutes to but could get no closer in a 73-63 loss that ended the Rams’ season and sends the Monarchs to the state tournament.

“Not one of these kids gave up or didn’t believe we weren’t going to come back,” Rasmussen said after the game. “That is what’s been instilled. They thought we were going to do it. And gosh darn it, we almost did.”

After a first half of basketball that saw the Rams struggle to hit shots and get down by as many as 15 points, the Monarchs appeared headed to a blow out win in front of their home crowd.

Denison first used their superior size to punch the ball inside on the smaller Rams. Ten of their first 11 field goals of the game were layups.

A 31-21 halftime lead quickly swelled to 48-30 thanks to the Monarchs’ outside shooting in the third quarter.

Sophomore forward  Hannah Neeman hit 3-of-3 three-pointers and scored 11 of her game-high 23 in the frame and Denison held a commanding 50-34 lead heading in the fourth quarter.

“They’ve got a lot of kids that can play but Hannah Neemann…talk about stepping up in a big moment for a sophomore,” Rasmussen said. “I’ve coached her before and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her drill a three let alone three in a quarter with that much confidence. She was catch and shoot. She played a heck of a game but their whole team did a nice job and hit shots.”

But the Rams just wouldn’t go away.

A pair of three-pointers each by Madison Camden and Elle Scarborough in a span of 2:30 chipped the Monarchs’ lead to 60-50 with 3:45 to go in the game.

Back-to-back turnovers by Denison sent the Rams’ Brielle Smith and Brooklyn Taylor to the foul line where the seniors went 4-of-4 to make it 60-54 with 2:45 to go.

Following a timeout, the Monarchs, however, would hold the Rams off there. A Sarah Heilesen layup and a pair of Alex Mohr free throws sandwiched around a Ram turnover pushed the lead back to 64-54 with 1:55 to go.

Denison, with Mohr hitting 6-of-8 free throws of her how own, would connect on 9-of-12 at the line over the final 1:38 to secure the win.

Rasmussen said his team finally started hitting shots in the fourth quarter and that picked up their defense and nearly pulled off the comeback.

“We hit some big shots after being cold most of the first half,” Rasmussen said. “We struggled to get buckets where we thought we could get buckets. I felt like we had a good game plan going in. Defensively we were too soft in the paint. They ate us up on the boards and in the paint. I thought we did a little better job in the second half but we were getting beat up.”

After starting the game 3-of-18 from behind the arc, the Rams hit six of their last 11 three-pointers in the final quarter and a half. Camden finished 5-of-10 from behind the arc for 23 points. Scarborough added 13 points and eight rebounds.

Neeman led four Monarchs in double-figures with 23. Mohr added 19, Heilesen 14 and Paige Andersen 13.

The Rams close their season with a record of 18-5. The 18 wins is the second most in school history and a 10-game improvement on last season’s 8-15 record.

Rasmussen, in his first-year as the Rams’ coach, said the team that started the year with a lot of questions and then finished by winning nine of 10 games feels like “two completely different teams.”

“We didn’t know what our identity was or who we had or what the chemistry was going to be like with our mix of youth and upperclassmen,” Rasmussen said. “It took about a half a season to really know where we we’re at. We had some big wins in the first half of the season but we couldn’t duplicate it, we didn’t know what the mix was.

“The second half of the season was a different story. The girls talked about after the game that the chemistry they started to have and the trust and confidence they had in one another was amazing. This is a great group of kids.”

The Rams lose four seniors from this year’s team but will return a deep and talented roster that includes the two scorers in Scarborough, a sophomore, and Camden, a freshman.

The future certainly looks promising for Glenwood girls basketball.

“The leadership that we lose with the seniors that we have is tremendous but they have built a culture that’s going to carry on with this younger group,” Rasmussen said. “I don’t know if we’d be the same team next year or the future years’ success without this senior class we had this year. It’s a bright future, there’s a lot of underclassmen that are not only stepping here this year but are waiting in the wings in the sub-varsity level. This is an exciting time.”

The Monarchs (20-2) will face North Scott (19-3) in the state quarterfinals at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines on Thursday.