Hawks headed back to state after 64-51 win over Nikes

Make it three times as nice for the Lynnville-Sully girls basketball team.

Behind one of their most balanced outputs of the season, the Hawks punched their third-straight ticket to the Class 1A State Tournament Monday night with a 64-51 win over Burlington Notre Dame in a regional final at Ottumwa.

All five Lynnville-Sully starters scored in double figures as the Hawks led by six at halftime, opened the third quarter on a 6-0 run and maintained a lead the rest of the way before pulling away with free throws down the stretch.

“It’s an awesome feeling,” said Lynnville-Sully coach Jerry Hulsing, who now has led nine Hawk teams to state in his 20 years at the helm. “It’s a wonderful thing. It’s a lot of fun and the kids are excited. All the hard work in the summer, the open gyms and all the practice time — this makes it all worth it.”

Fourth-ranked Lynnville-Sully (23-2) will play No. 5 West Sioux (24-1) in the state quarterfinals at 1:30 p.m. on Monday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

The Hawks had a great shooting night at 46 percent, going 18-for-39 from the field while holding the Nikes to 33 percent at 21-of-63. Lynnville-Sully was also hot from beyond the arc, making six-of-11 three-point attempts. It was its third-straight game with at least five made three-pointers.

“The kids played awesome,” Hulsing said. “We didn’t let Burlington Notre Dame do anything they wanted to do, offensively. They wanted to penetrate and we kept them in front. We forced them to be a jump-shooting team.”

But the game’s real difference came from the free-throw line, where Lynnville-Sully made 22-of-36 and BND made only 4-of-8 as the Nkes committed 26 fouls, compared to the Hawks’ 13. Lynnville-Sully outscored BND 26-20 in the fourth quarter, with all of the Hawks points in the games’ final three minutes coming from free throws.

Senior Brianna James led L-S with 14 points and nine rebounds, while senior Abby Van Wyk also had 14 points. Senior Aimee Rolffs had 12 points, while senior Brittany Bryan and sophomore Lyndsey Terpstra each added 10. Bryan added six rebounds and three assists, Terpstra had five assists and Rolffs had three blocks.