State Tournament Report: Day 3 - Morning Movers

It's Day 3 of the Girls Iowa State Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa. To start off the day, we had a pair of two 2A contests taking place. The first was between #2 - Regina vs #7 - Maquoketa Valley and the second was between #6 - Rock Valley vs #3 - Hinton. Both contests had their moments but in the end, Regina and Hinton ran off with the win so they will now face each other in the Semi's of the 2A bracket with a chance to go to the State Championship on the line.   In this piece below we cover a handful of prospects that did well in their State contest on Wednesday morning.   Thanks for tuning in and enjoy!    Ella McLaughlin made the most of her opportunities on Wednesday morning during Regina's first State game of the week. McLaughlin, a 5'8 SG, really played a major difference early on in this contest. To kick things off, she got to the charity stripe frequently in the first half while her team couldn't really get anything else going. She then ended up making multiple shots from behind the three point line off the catch when her teammates would create off the dribble into the middle of the defense. When the final buzzer sounded, Regina secured the victory to move onto the next round and McLaughlin played a crucial role in that with 14 points (5-11) and 1 rebound.     The most impactful senior guard leader that MV possesses is [player_tooltip player_id='582827' first='Bianka' last='Ronnebaum'] and she did a thorough job of making her presence known in her ball game. Ronnebaum started things off slowly, trying to attack the rim off of the dribble on multiple possessions in the first quarter. Following this, she slowly started to expand her range, eventually making it out to the three point line for some attempts as well. Ronnebaum really showed a three level scoring ability in this battle and the willingness to take some tough shots. She ended the game with a team high 17 points on 6-14 shooting, including going 2-5 from deep. Defensively, this was also someone that was flying all over the floor throughout the whole game. She was always one of the first on the court for a loose ball, speaking to her willingness to hustle and get dirty for the sake of her team. In the end, MV came up short but B.R. should be proud of the performance and overall season she put together.     The young talent for the Wildcats, that is here to stay for the next three years is PG - [player_tooltip player_id='1044928' first='Audra' last='Burbridge']. Burbridge is a mixture of a pass first PG and a PG that needs to score the ball at a constant rate. I think depending on her circumstances, she could do either of those jobs, always yielding positive results. Today she kept getting to the basket and finishing in some crafty ways. At one point, she made a nice spin move out of a baseline drive into a reverse finish to tie the game in the 4th. Her mixture of quick hands, fast instincts, and knowledge of what is happening around her is pretty impressive for someone that is only a freshman. She demonstrated a ton of promise and ability today. Now it's all about what she can do to build on that moving forward.     When you look at [player_tooltip player_id='1190186' first='Raelyn' last='Kempema'] as a freshman recruit, you see a lot of promise. Kempema is someone that comes in as a freshman at 6'1 and she controls the paint. To start off her morning contest, she was sitting with her back to the basket on the block, dominating her smaller matchup with a pound dribble and a strong finish through contact. Hinton did a great job at times of getting Kempema the ball in favorable positions, where she had to do very little work other than to use her size and that is another main reason for some of her success in her first career State game. I do not want to under play the fact that she is a skilled post though. If she catches with her back to the basket and some time, she is usually going to score and that's really nice to have on any team.     Being efficient is one of the most important parts of the game of Basketball. If you can shoot it at a high, effective rate, there is a college program out there for you somewhere. Someone that has always been known as a shooter her whole life, but she still did a really nice job today was [player_tooltip player_id='592200' first='Hudsyn' last='Ranschau']. Ranschau shot the ball well off the catch and the dribble from deep. In the first half she went 5-7 from the field and that never seemed to slow down from there. In the second, she stayed aggressive offensively at all three levels and that helped her crew put together a competitive game. Which is really all you can ask for.     The feel for the game that [player_tooltip player_id='524262' first='Sydney' last='Doeschot'] possesses is second-to-none out on the floor. If you want a player that plays with poise, ambition, coordination, balanced, smarts, a soft touch, and most importantly - confidence, look no further than this one right here. When Doeschot goes, Hinton goes. That's just how it works. She is the life force for her team in several ways and that's pretty obvious. In her contest earlier today, Doeschot did a good job of keeping a balanced attack. Half the time she would score herself, half the time she would create for others while getting down hill, ending the possession in a crispy assist of some sort. All in all, this is a respectable day for a future D2 committed player.     The inside presence for the Rockets all season long has been [player_tooltip player_id='996531' first='Miylie' last='Zomer'] at the SF position and she did a great job of bruising down low against the Blackhawks. Zomer stands at 5'11 and she is somewhat versatile in what she can do. She is more of a post player that sits on the block to do her work but once she catches there, she has options. She can use her natural size to bully the defense with physicality, she can score over the top off of a pivot going either direction, or she can pump fake and step through in some specific situations. All of this was on full display in her team's contest today when she received the ball and that was refreshing to see as it played a major role in their "team" success.     I'm not sure if this is [player_tooltip player_id='311364' first='Addyson' last='Pigott']'s best game of her career to this point but it is going to be one that she remembers for a long time. Going into the 4th quarter, Hinton was down by 4. With a battle back and forth, every possession mattered and Pigott recorded two HUGE steals with under 2 minutes to help seal the victory for the Blackhawks. The first came off of a made basket in the full court and it turned into a layup for Pigott to take a 3 point lead. Then a few possessions later, Pigott gets another steal from behind to get the ball back for her squad, basically ending the game. There were a lot of impactful momentum swings in this contest but this was the biggest by far.

It's Day 3 of the Girls Iowa State Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa. To start off the day, we had a pair of two 2A contests taking place. The first was between #2 - Regina vs #7 - Maquoketa Valley and the second was between #6 - Rock Valley vs #3 - Hinton. Both contests had their moments but in the end, Regina and Hinton ran off with the win so they will now face each other in the Semi's of the 2A bracket with a chance to go to the State Championship on the line.