Sigourney girls season ends at hands of Danville

For the Lady Savages and their fans, this seemed like the season they could make it to the State tournament at Wells Fargo Arena. They were well on their way as they began the season by winning 10 of their first 11 games, and then only dropped two more losses to ranked opponents. The girls reeled off eight more wins, and then saw the season come to an “early” end when they hosted and lost 43-48 to Danville on February 13 in the second round of Districts.

    Sigourney got off on the right foot, as they kept things close early on. Despite the fact they were playing behind for much of the quarter, the defense held Danville in check for much of the opening quarter. The Lady Savages implemented a different looking offense, as they played for more height in their starting lineup. The hosts found themselves trailing by a mere two points, 12-14 after the first.

    “I thought that we matched their toughness, Danville was by far the most aggressive team we faced all year by playing big and physical,” Lady Savages coach Zach Tremmel said. “We had lineups on the floor that we hadn’t had all year, so that made it a little more difficult, but they responded and played with a lot of heart.”

    Sigourney followed that up with an even better second quarter, as the offense remained in attack mode, while the defense was able to get some big stops along the way. All season long, one of the calling cards of the Sigourney girls team was defense, using active hands and putting pressure on the ball. The girls went into the half up 23-20, but then things started to head south.

    The third quarter provided the main difference in the final score, as Danville was about to nearly double Sigourney’s output and put the pressure on them going forward. Sigourney was held to single digits, a rare occurrence for anyone wearing black and gold to see. Sigourney trailed 31-35 but were easily still in the game with a quarter remaining.

    “We struggled in the third quarter, and I thought that was the difference,” Tremmel said. “We made some defensive mistakes on matchups that really came back to haunt us.”

    The ladies made it a game late, as they were within a possession most of the way in the fourth but couldn’t quite mount enough of a comeback. Some free throws in the last handful of seconds sealed the deal for the visitors, while the Lady Savages walked off in a somber mood. For some, it was their final game playing on the Sigourney court, including Autum Barthelman and Leah Carter.

    Autum continued to lead Sigourney in scoring, posting 15 points, while Magill was right behind her with 13 on five of seven shooting. Autum also included four steals, four assists and two rebounds in her stat line, while Magill tacked on four rebounds. Megan Stuhr had nine points while shooting 50 percent from the field and grabbed four rebounds, two steals and assisted on two buckets. Carter had five points in her final game and Summer Barthelman rounded out the scoring with three points.

    “The senior class was a great group, they had an excellent four year run and won a lot of games along the way,” Tremmel said. “They leave their mark on the program and showed the younger girls how to play hard all the time. It’ll be tough to replace them. It was a joy to coach girls that ‘knew they were going to win’ every time they stepped out on the floor.”


 

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