Springville, North Linn take their Tri-Rivers rivalry to girls’ state basketball tournament

DES MOINES — The celebration didn’t end in Manchester.

The customary pictures with the state-qualifying banner had been shot. Hugs with parents and grandparents and classmates had been shared.

The party was just beginning. A school-night slumber party? Why not?

“That’s a tradition,” North Linn senior basketball player Chloe Van Etten said. “We had pizza, we recounted the game and we got to sleep around 1 a.m.”

Qualify for the state tournament on a regular basis, and traditions take shape. Here’s one from Springville:

“One night between regionals and state, the rotation players make a meal for the scout team,” Morgan Nachazel said. “We’re the chefs. That’s something we do.”

March pilgrimages to Wells Fargo Arena, that’s something they do, too. Springville has ended up in Des Moines nine times in the past 15 years. Four times, the Orioles brought a Class 1A championship trophy home with them.

North Linn has been to state seven times in the last nine years, highlighted by a 2A title in 2020.

In 2015, Springville played for the 1A championship and North Linn battled for the 2A crown in back-to-back games. Many of the North Linn students arrived two hours early, in time to join their Springville counterparts in their student section.

It was all for one, one for all that night between the Tri-Rivers Conference rivals.

Not this time.

North Linn dropped a class this year, and that changes the dynamic of the relationship. The sixth-ranked Lynx (22-2) and the third-rated Orioles (23-1) square off in a 1A state quarterfinal at 6:45 Wednesday night at Wells Fargo.

“When the final rankings came out, we knew this could happen,” North Linn Coach Brian Wheatley said. “We didn’t want to look too far ahead. But sure enough, here we are.”

The teams split their regular-season encounters, both winning on the road. They shared the Tri-Rivers West Division championship.

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“I think both teams have a lot of respect for each other,” Nachazel said. “They have great chemistry, like we do. You can tell. They have multiple weapons, just like we do.”

They couldn’t be more evenly matched. Springville averages 68.4 points per game and allows 39.2. For North Linn, it’s 68.6 and 39.4.

Both programs began their ascent about 15 years ago, and haven’t dropped a bit.

Springville’s story is a three-chapter masterpiece.

Brian O’Donnell took the Orioles to state in 2008 (they won it) and 2009 (they lost a championship game heartbreaker to Ackley AGWSR) with pieces like Katie Eiben, Sarah Davidson, Callie Kloubec and Carly Martin.

Springville 2.0 was piloted by Nate Sanderson. That squad featured Rylee Menster and Mikayla Nachazel (both at Division II Minnesota State now), along with Alyssa Jaeger and the Wagaman sisters.

Jaeger hit two free throws in the dying seconds to give the Orioles the 2016 title, then they won it again in 2017.

Sanderson departed after the 2017 season and was succeeded by former assistant Christina Zaruba, a 1998 Springville grad. She coached the Orioles to their third straight title in 2018, and it was assumed the program would take a drop after graduation hit.

Wrong.

Enter a new freshman class, headlined by Lauren Wilson, and a new era, Springville 3.0.

“I remember when Davidson and Martin and that team won it in 2008, I was in the stands, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever,” Morgan Nachazel said. “When Mikayla and Rylee were winning titles, I was on the bench (as a manager).”

“Now with us making it, living it ... it’s a dream come true.”

The Orioles qualified in 2019 and 2021, falling in the quarterfinals.

“These kids are honed,” Zaruba said. “They want to get past Round 1. That’s been the nemesis for this group. They want it, and they want it bad.”

North Linn has been a successful, steady burn for quite some time. The Lynx have won 20 games or more for 12 straight seasons; no other program in the state can say the same.

“Basketball is important to people here,” said Lynx Coach Brian Wheatley, a native of Estherville. “It’s not a deal in which the season ends and the kids aren’t going to pick up a ball again until next winter.”

It took a while for North Linn to break through and make it to state. It qualified in 2014, then earned 2A runner-up honors the following year behind Nicole Miller, who was named Miss Iowa Basketball 2015.

“Being able to grow up here, in the culture of Nicole and the Boer sisters, there’s a lot of tradition here,” Van Etten said.

Miller departed and was followed by the Flanagan twins, who led the Lynx to the 2A championship in 2020. They graduated, and the beat goes on.

“It’s not a given that we’re going to qualify every year,” Van Etten said. “We have to work to keep it going.”

The common thread for the Lynx and the Orioles is the girls start young. Teams from North Linn and Springville sprout up around third grade, maybe earlier.

“The kids see it growing up, and think, ‘I want to do that,’” Zaruba said. “With the little kids, we want to make it as fun as possible.

“The more you play together, the better the chemistry is going to be. If you wait to start playing until you’re a freshman in high school, you’ve waited way too long.”

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Part of that first chapter of Springville glory (she’s a 2009 alum), Martin returned to the area after graduating from Iowa State. She coaches one of the youth teams at a young age, then stays with that team through middle school, then starts with a new team.

Martin said she has no aspirations to coach at the high school level, preferring to teach the young kids fundamentals.

North Linn’s students, K-12, are housed in the same building. That enables the younger kids to interact with their heroes. Wheatley teaches in the middle school, and his bulletin board is full of pictures of state tournament teams.

That makes an impression.

“I saw a lot of kids in the stands (Wednesday) night (in the regional final win over East Buchanan),” he said.

In the teams’ first game, four Lynx scored in double figures and they cruised, 63-51, Jan. 7 at Springville.

The Orioles got even Feb. 1 at Troy Mills, 63-57, behind 26 points and 17 rebounds from Wilson, the school’s all-time leading scorer, who has signed with NCAA Division II Concordia St. Paul.

“They’re a tough matchup, and it starts with Wilson,” Wheatley said. “She presents lots of problems. She has the ability to go outside and shoot. She has great footwork and touch around the basket.”

North Linn is perimeter-oriented behind sophomores Kamryn Kurt and Macy Boge.

“You need to run them off the 3-point line, because they’re all good shooters,” Zaruba said. “But they don’t like to shoot it off the dribble.”

The rubber match is Wednesday. And it’s an absolute tossup.

“Who is going to handle the atmosphere better?” Wheatley said. “It sounds simple, but who will do the little things better?

“Whoever does will win.”

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com