No. 1 Dike-New Hartford presses its way back to girls’ state basketball

CENTER POINT — Morgan Weber called Dike-New Hartford's active defense a 'read-and-react' outfit.

Read and react. Rock and roll.

The top-ranked Wolverines forced Monticello into 25 turnovers and jolted the Panthers with a 17-1 third-quarter run, winning Saturday's Class 3A girls' basketball regional final, 54-38, at Center Point-Urbana High School.

'We try to get a hand on everythng we can,' Weber said. 'If we can't get a hand on it, we at least want to slow the other team down a little.'

Dike-New Hartford (22-1) advances to the state tournament for the third straight year. The Wolverines were 2A quarterfinalists in 2018 and 2019, and will be the top seed in the 3A bracket.

They'll play in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. Monday, March 2, against North Iowa Cedar League rival Jesup (20-4) at Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines.

Monticello retired at 18-6. The Panthers scored the first four points of the second half to tie the game at 22-22, but the Wolverines responded with that back-breaking run that opened a 39-23 advantage.

Tori McDonald's 3-pointer brought the Panthers within 42-32 with 6:55 left, but that was as close as they got.

'We didn't do a very good job taking care of the ball,' Panthers Coach Donnie Kremer said. 'Good teams will do that to us.'

Ellie Foster, who was 2 of 11 in the first half, drove the train in that run with 12 points. That was sort of indicative for the Wolverines, who shot 28 percent (10 of 36) before halftime, then made half of their 22 shots afterward.

'It seemed like there was a lid on the basket in the first half,' Weber said. 'We couldn't hit anything.'

Weber led all scorers with 22 points. Foster added 17 points, four assists and five of DNH's 18 steals.

Gabrielle Guilford paced Monticello with 10 points. Jordan Kuper added nine points and 10 rebounds.

DIKE-NEW HARTFORD 54, MONTICELLO 38

3A Regional Final, at Center Point

MONTICELLO (38): Gabrielle Steiner 2-6 0-0 4, Tori McDonald 1-6 2-2 5, Gabrielle Guilford 2-8 6-10 10, Karli Recker 2-7 0-0 6, Jordan Kuper 4-8 1-2 9, Lydia Recker 0-3 0-1 0, Carly Hayen 1-3 2-2 4, Emily Schlarmann 0-0 0-2 0, Delainy Fellinger 0-0 0-0 0, Bronwyn Hodge 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-41 11-19 38.

DIKE-NEW HARTFORD (54): Ellie Foster 7-20 1-2 17, Morgan Weber 9-12 3-3 22, Katie Knock 3-9 0-0 7, Sophia Hoffmann 1-9 0-0 2, Jill Eilderts 0-3 0-0 0, Ellary Knock 0-4 4-6 4, Taylor Kvale 1-1 0-1 2, Abby Sohn 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor Hoehns 0-0 0-0 0, Chloe Schipper 0-0 0-0 0, Alli Fobian 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-58 8-12 54.

Halftime: DNH 22, Monticello 18. 3-point goals: Monticello 3-17 (Steiner 0-1, McDonald 1-6, Guilford 0-2, K. Recker 2-6, Kuper 0-1, L. Recker 0-1), DNH 4-14 (Foster 2-9, Weber 1-2, K. Knock 1-2, E. Knock 0-1). Team fouls: Monticello 11, DNH 16. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Monticello 39 (Kuper 10), DNH 32 (K. Knock 8). Assists: Monticello 9 (Steiner 5), DNH 11 (Foster 4). Steals: Monticello 7 (Guilford 2), DNH 18 (Foster 5). Turnovers: Monticello 25, DNH 12.

Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com