The #11 (3A) Hampton-Dumont-CAL and Iowa Falls-Alden girls basketball teams will look to punch their ticket to a regional final as the programs meet for the third time this season in a Class 3A Region 6 semifinal on Wednesday, on 99 The Wave. The Bulldogs swept the regular season series.
H-D-CAL will look to reach its first regional final since 2016. IFA will look to reach its first regional final since 2019.
H-D-CAL (20-2) rallied back for a 46-41 win over Clear Lake in a regional quarterfinal on Saturday to advance. The Bulldogs defensive play has kept opponents on edge, allowing an average of 35 points per game with 13 steals per game.
Class 3A Northeast District Co-Coach of the Year Miranda Stafford on how scoring and pressure work hand in hand for the Bulldogs.
“It is a full team effort from our coaching staff, to our kids on our bench, to the crowd, to everybody to get wins in the postseason,” says Stafford. “We are the best when we can score, cause then we an set up our pressure and that was a change in the fourth quarter. We saw the ball go in, we were able to pressure them a little bit. We just had to continue to put on the pressure a little bit and cause them to make mistakes. The way we rebounded, they got very few second chance opportunities.”
Class 3A Northeast District first-team honoree Jordan Valley leads the team with 11 points per game. Lily Hambly averages a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds per game.
Iowa Falls-Alden (10-12) won a tightly contested overtime battle 46-45 over Osage in a regional quarterfinal on Saturday to advance. The Cadets earn bonus possessions with 10.6 steals per game.
Cadets Head Coach Michael Collison on living in the moment in the postseason.
“It’s living possession by possession. It can be real easy in the postseason to have a couple bad possessions and you start to think about the end of the game already. You gotta live in the moment, you can’t control anything about that last possession, you got to control the next possession,” says Collison. “I think too, as coaches, we can help our kids by giving them a good plan and teaching them how we need to execute it to win the game. Then it’s up to the players on the court to do that. I think our kids are ready for that challenge.”
Elody England leads with 11.9 points per game and Addison Dennis adds 9.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.
Coverage on 99 The Wave will begin at 6:40 p.m. followed by the opening tip at 7:00 p.m. in Hampton.
