‘We wanted this a lot; everybody knows why:’ Regina snaps back at Cascade, 57-37

IOWA CITY — Toss coach-speak aside. Mary Rogers spoke from the heart.

“We wanted this matchup a lot,” the Iowa City Regina girls’ basketball coach said. “Everybody knows why.”

Morgan Miller scored 11 of her game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter, and second-ranked Regina pulled away from Cascade, 57-37, in a Class 2A regional semifinal Friday night at Regina High School.

“People asked if we were excited when we saw them in our region,” Miller said, nodding with affirmation. “(Cascade) is a good team.”

Regina is better, though, and the Regals (22-1) had extra incentive after Cascade upset them in last year’s regional final.

There’s still one more step between the Regals and the state tournament; they’ll face Danville (15-8) in Wednesday’s 2A regional final at Muscatine High School.

This game, though, was the one that felt like the stakes were super high.

“It definitely felt like a regional final,” Rogers said. “But we don’t want to overlook anybody. We’ve got one more to go.”

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Cascade (16-8) was in a decent spot through three quarters, trailing just 37-31.

“I told them, hang around, hang around, no matter what,” Cascade Coach Mike Sconsa said.

“Regina is a better basketball team than we are. They’re easily a team that could make a deep run. It’s a hard loss for us. It was a hard draw for us.”

Heading into the fourth quarter, the Regals were a chilly 4-for-20 from 3-point distance.

Then, they heated up.

At 39-31, Miller struck from deep. Ella McLaughlin did the same. Then it was Miller again. Then Addie McLaughlin. Then Miller again.

Five in a row. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

With that, 39-31 became 54-32.

“I like to shoot the ball,” said Miller, who also registered nine rebounds and five steals. “When I’m not shooting good, I don’t get too frazzled.”

Despite the cold start from deep, Regina led the whole way. A 19-6 advantage in turnovers helped. And so did the handy work of Adalee Klein inside.

Klein finished with 11 points.

“The team was looking for me,” she said. “I wanted to finish through contact and be a big presence inside.”

Miller said, “I told (Klein) afterward, I was so proud of her. We see that all the time in practice.”

Molly Roling paced Cascade with 16 points, 12 in the first half.

Iowa City Regina 57, Cascade 37

Class 2A Regional Semifinal, at Iowa City Regina

CASCADE (37): Addison Frake 3-7 0-2 6, Brooklyn Trumm 0-3 0-0 0, Molly Roling 6-16 2-5 16, Harper Sconsa 1-5 2-2 5, Josie Manternach 1-6 1-2 3, Ella Nauman 0-0 0-0 0, Shelby McDermott 1-4 0-0 2, Lydiah Rolwes 2-3 0-0 4, Kate Green 0-0 0-0 0, Adelyn Topping 0-1 1-2 1, Miley Trumm 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-45 6-13 37.

IOWA CITY REGINA (57): Morgan Miller 6-14 3-4 19, Caitlin Martin 1-9 2-2 4, Ella McLaughlin 2-11 0-0 6, Addie McLaughlin 4-10 0-0 10, Adalee Klein 5-10 1-3 11, Ella Keune 2-2 0-0 6, Maggie Sueppel 0-0 1-2 1, Nora Wade 0-1 0-0 0, Maddie Squiers 0-0 0-0 0, Anna Trenkamp 0-0 0-0 0, Mel Kirk 0-0 0-0 0, Sophie Wiltgen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-58 7-11 57.

Cascade 12 12 7 6 — 37

Iowa City Regina 14 14 9 20 — 57

3-point goals: Cascade 3-16 (Frake 0-1, B. Trumm 0-1, Roling 2-6, Sconsa 1-3, Manternach 0-3, McDermott 0-1, Topping 0-1), Regina 10-31 (Miller 4-10, Martin 0-2, E. McLaughlin 2-10, A. McLaughlin 2-6, Keune 2-2, Wade 0-1). Team fouls: Cascade 7, Regina 11. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Cascade 40 (Frake 10), Regina 33 (Miller 9). Assists: Cascade 3 (three with 1), Regina 14 (Martin 5). Steals: Cascade 3 (Roling 2), Regina 11 (Miller 5). Turnovers: Cascade 19, Regina 6.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com