Home Sports Remsen St. Mary’s Girls Hang On to Beat Kingsley-Pierson in a Classic

Remsen St. Mary’s Girls Hang On to Beat Kingsley-Pierson in a Classic

Kingsley-Pierson and Remsen St. Mary’s went at it in a postseason girls basketball game for the record books on Friday night in Remsen. The Hawks came away with the home win by the narrow margin of 39-37.

Defense was the name of the game for both teams who held each other well below their scoring averages in the game. Kingsley-Pierson head coach Nicole Goodwin says they tried and succeeded many times in taking away the Hawks’ driving lanes.

Remsen St. Mary’s had the tall task of trying to figure out a way to stop Kingsley-Pierson’s Sydney Doeschot. She came into the game ranked tenth in the state in scoring for the season in all classes. Remsen St. Mary’s head coach Scott Willman put Halle Galles on her, and she thrived in the opportunity to take on a strong scorer.

Once these two did get offense going, it came from their inside games. Claire Schroeder scored 12 points for the Hawks as a result of posting up inside and getting to the free throw line. Coach Willman says they did a better job finding angles to her to get her the ball.

Kingsley-Pierson got things done when it came to rebounding the basketball in the contest. Coach Goodwin says that just shows the heart and the hustle that her team has played with all season.

The Hawks finished with their top scorers putting up just nine points and fouling out of the game. Coach Willman says it took bench players like Gracyn Schroeder to step up and give them good minutes off the bench.

In the end, Remsen St. Mary’s hit enough free throws and dodged enough bullets to win the game and advance to the regional final. It ends a Kingsley-Pierson season that was not expected to be this good from people on the outside. Coach Goodwin says her team knew they could be this good, and that is why a loss like this is so painful.

The Panthers will return a group of underclassmen next year that will be leaders without any seniors on the roster next season. They will be led on the court by Sydney Doeschot who also broke Kingsley-Pierson’s single-season scoring record with her 15 points on the night. Coach Goodwin says all the athletes coming back will need to step up into some big roles.

As for Remsen St. Mary’s, the Hawks are on to their second regional final in a row. Last year, the Hawks lost to a perennial state tournament team in Newell-Fonda to finish a game short of Des Moines. This year, they will face off with Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton who has been to six of the last eight state tournaments. Coach Willman knows the Spartans will bring a battle, but he says his team is ready for the challenge.

Remsen St. Mary’s will take a 22-1 record into the contest. Kingsley-Pierson’s season ends with a record of 18-5. They graduate a group of five seniors that includes Allison Reinking, MaKenna Bowman, Avery Schroeder, Hannah Koch, and Gabby Boustead.