Notre Dame spoils Lansing Kee’s state debut with 15-0 4th-quarter run

DES MOINES - The math didn't add up.

A Burlington Notre Dame team averaging 71.2 points per game had just 16 points at the half on 5-for-20 shooting.

'That's not like them,” Lansing Kee coach Danny Love said.

The Nikes knew it, too, and corrected themselves in time for a 56-44 Class 1A state quarterfinal victory Monday at Wells Fargo Arena.

'When you leave them open, they're going to make shots,” Love said.

Guard Riley Kilbride scored 24 of her 25 points in the second half. She hit three 3-pointers during a decisive 15-0 fourth-quarter run that turned a 41-37 deficit into an 11-point advantage.

'I came out really sluggish in the first half. I honestly don't even know where I was,” said Kilbride, who missed a handful of layups as Kee built a 25-16 lead. 'I couldn't give up. I'm a senior. I didn't want that to be my last game. I just continued to work hard.”

The Hawks (22-3) would have liked a third chance at Upper Iowa Conference foe Turkey Valley – the source of their only regular-season losses – in the semifinals, but were out-scored 40-19 in the second half.

Instead, Notre Dame (24-1) takes on the No. 1-ranked Trojans on Thursday.

'We knew they were going to score a lot and they'd be tough to shut down,” said Kee's Mikayla Gavin, who had a team-high 13 points and 13 rebounds. 'We tried our best, but the second half we couldn't get it done.”

After an 11-for-26 first half, Kee slumped to 6-for-25 shooting in the second. The Hawks made only one of their seven 3-point tries.

'We tried to get them as prepared as we could for the intensity and the big floor, how much gas it's going to take,” Love said.

Kee hopes to be a fixture at Wells Fargo in the future after bringing a young core here this season. Gavin is one of two seniors, along with Ellie Cooper. Freshman Makayla Walleser had 11 points, sophomore Ashley Schwartzoff nine.

'We made history making it once,” Love said. '(Hopefully we) make history the second and third times, get a couple wins down here as well.”

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