North-Linn punches ticket to state

ARLINGTON - The past four years have been wildly successful for a special group of nine North-Linn girls' basketball seniors.

With over 20 wins in all four years, including a trip to the state tournament semifinals last season, it seemed all but certain the Lynx and their seniors would be back in Des Moines.

Senior Nicole Miller poured in 33 points and No. 3 North-Linn (23-1) scored the last 18 points of the first quarter to rout Sumner-Fredericksburg, 80-42, in a Class 2A regional final last night at Starmont High School.

'I've never had this good of a feeling before,” Miller said. 'I think it's because it's our senior year, our last time. Just getting to state means the world to me and all of my team. It's just really important and we wanted it really bad.”

North-Linn (23-1) will face No. 9 Des Moines Christian (20-4) in a state quarterfinal Monday, March 2 at 8:30 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

It was a spectacular night for Miller. In addition to her scoring outburst, the Drake signee led the Lynx with four assists, four rebounds and seven steals. Her thievery routinely turned the game into her own personal layup drill. After uneven offensive performances in its first two regional wins, the message last night was to use defense to spark offense.

'Our defense was huge,” Miller said. 'We just worked off that, getting some easy layups. Defense keeps our offense going.”

Miller – second in the state with 26.4 points per game and 2,124 for her career - rang up 21 by halftime as the Lynx lead ballooned to 40-14. She finished the game 16 of 19 from the free throw line. Senior Maddie Boer added 16 points for North-Linn. Juniors Katie Kurt and Morgan Boer also pulled down four rebounds.

'They came out ready to go tonight,” North-Linn Coach Brian Wheatley said. 'We've got a lot of seniors, a lot of leadership, and they were determined not to let their season end tonight.”

Gabbie Mohs had 14 points for Sumner-Fredericksburg, which ends its season at 18-6.

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com