The Aplington-Parkersburg girls basketball team stayed in the hunt with #7 (2A) Denver through three quarters, before the Cyclones pulled away in the fourth quarter to win 52-32 in a Class 2A Region 8 semifinal, as aired on 99 The Wave on Friday.
Denver opened the game with a 12-8 first quarter lead. In the second, Denver established its inside-out game, to open the quarter with a 9-2 run to go up 21-10. The Cyclones held the Falcons to eight points in the quarter, to extend their lead to 28-16 at the half. The Cyclones led 36-24 at the start of the fourth quarter. The Falcons got back with single digits at a 37-28 deficit, inside the first two minutes. The Cyclones denied the Falcons from clawing back any closer, by crashing the boards, to build up their lead to as many as 20 points, to advance.
A-P Head Coach Brady Driscol on the strong rebounding of Denver and takeaways from this year’s Falcon team.
“They just crush you on the boards and get second and third opportunities. They’re all good enough basketball players where they’ll capitalize on those second and third opportunities. I thought we did a pretty good job for the most part on defending the first shot pretty well. It’s just those second, third opportunities add up and more possessions for them and they’ll make you pay,” says Driscol. “I think they had a successful season in their eyes. I think in my eyes they grew as basketball players from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. They grew as leaders from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. I think every night, nobody could question their effort on the court. They all played extremely, extremely hard when their number was called. That will carry over to everything they do from high school, college to when they’re out of school and in a job. They’re all extremely hard workers and extremely good kids to be around.”
Peyton Klooster and Kolbie Wangsness each had nine points apiece to lead the Falcons.
A-P concluded its season at 15-8.
