Friday’s state-tournament capsules

DES MOINES - Friday's games at the girls' state basketball tournament at Wells Fargo Arena:

CLASS 5A SEMIFINAL

No. 5 IOWA CITY WEST (22-2) vs. No. 1 WEST DES MOINES VALLEY (22-2)

* Time: Noon.

* How they got here: West rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat No. 6 Southeast Polk, 43-40, in the quarterfinals. Valley dumped Mason City, 65-42.

* Coaches: B.J. Mayer is 140-51 in eight seasons at West, 267-133 in 17 years overall. Josef Sigrist is 58-12 in three years at Valley, 91-37 in five seasons overall.

* Key players: UNI recruit Mikaela Morgan (5-11, sr.) leads West at 13.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Dani Craig (5-8, sr., Cal State-Fullerton signee), who hit the go-ahead 3-pointer against Southeast Polk, adds 11.4 ppg. Missouri State signee Grace Vander Weide (6-0, sr.) paces Valley at 18.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game. Hannah Fuller (5-9, soph.) adds 11.1 points per contest.

* BC Moore computer projection: Valley by 2.

CLASS 1A CHAMPIONSHIP

No. 11 SPRINGVILLE (23-3) vs. No. 7 NEWELL-FONDA (22-4)

* Time: 6 p.m.

* How they got here: Springville outlasted No. 4 Fremont-Mills, 53-50, in the quarterfinals, then beat No. 2 Exira-EHK, 68-57, in the semifinals. Newell-Fonda breezed past No. 6 Colo-Nesco, 70-42, in Round 1, then upset No. 1 Burlington Notre Dame, 63-56, in the semis.

* Coaches: Nate Sanderson is 61-55 in five years at Springville, 130-151 in 13 seasons overall. Dick Jungers is 272-57 in 13 seasons at Newell-Fonda. His teams have reached four 1A state finals, with an 0-3 record so far.

* Key players: Springville has four girls averaging at least 8.5 points per game. Mikayla Nachazel (5-10, fr.) leads the way at 12.0 points per game, followed by Sarah Matus (5-0, sr., 11.8 ppg) and Rylee Menster (5-3, fr., 11.4 ppg). Brianna Wells (5-6, sr.) is Newell-Fonda's only double-figuure scorer at 12.8 points per game, but each of the other starters average at least 6.8 ppg.

* BC Moore computer projection: Newell-Fonda by 9.

CLASS 2A CHAMPIONSHIP

No. 3 NORTH-LINN (25-1) vs. No. 1 UNITY CHRISTIAN (26-0)

* Time: 8 p.m.

* How they got here: North-Linn defeated No. 9 Des Moines Christian, then took down No. 2 Western Christian (the three-time defending champion), 73-71 in overtime. Unity rolled past No. 13 Cascade and No. 6 South Central Calhoun by verdicts of 53-34 and 58-42.

* Coaches: Brian Wheatley is 191-69 in 11 years, all at North-Linn. He has coached the Lynx to 20-plus wins, five straight seasons. Jay Schuiteman has posted a 175-102 mark in 12 years at Unity Christian.

* Key players: Nicole Miller (5-8, sr.), a Drake recruit, paces North-Linn at 26.4 points per game. Maddie Boer (5-6, sr.) adds 12.6 points per game, Morgan Boer (5-11, jr.) 10.9. Unity is led by Anna Kiel (6-0, sr.) at 15.3 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. Kassidy DeJong (5-11, sr.) adds 14.6 points per game, Chanda Zomermaand (5-7, jr.) 13.4.

* BC Moore computer projection: Unity Christian by 10.

OTHER GAMES

* Class 5A semifinal: No. 2 Waukee (22-2) vs. No. 3 West Des Moines Dowling (21-3), 1:45 p.m.

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