Springville girls’ basketball takes a step toward another deep postseason run

NORTH LIBERTY - Springville isn't done yet.

Looking to continue a strong string of success in the girls' state basketball tournament, the 10th-ranked Orioles toppled Iowa Valley, 62-33, Tuesday night to advance to the Class 1A regional semifinals, where they will face Sigourney on Friday at Iowa City High.

'We (showed we) can pretty much run how we want to run, and we're going to play our game,” Springville head coach Christina Zaruba said. 'We don't change what we do, because what we do has worked the past six years. We're going to continue to do what we do.”

Springville (19-4) didn't wait to show what it does.

The Orioles led 16-4 after one quarter and started the second on a 15-3 run to take a 37-11 lead into the break.

That quarter is when Springville sophomore Lauren Wilson made her mark.

After scoring three points in the first, Wilson dropped 12 in the next eight minutes as her team took its commanding lead.

Wilson finished with a game-high 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting.

Paired with Grace Matus and Morgan Nachazel - who both scored 10 points - the Oriole attack proved to be too much for Iowa Valley's defense.

'(Wilson) is a very good player - she's aggressive,” Iowa Valley head coach Janet Behrens said. 'She cuts to get the ball back, and they all do. Their team is very good at it. They cut expecting to get the ball back, and if you don't jump to the ball, it's hard to take that away.”

Iowa Valley (15-8) found itself with an opportunity to make a run when Springville turned the ball over four times in the first three minutes of the second half.

But the Orioles' experience helped them keep their poise. Wilson responded by converting an and-one before Matus knocked down a triple less than a minute later. Problem solved.

While Springville certainly remembers the three state championships it won from 2016-18, this is a new team.

'As we said last year, tradition never graduates,” Zaruba said. 'This team has been part of it growing up and seeing what it looks like, and they also want that same thing.”