DES MOINES -- First-game jitters and a speedy opponent created cause for concern, but the calming influence of a freshman's play off the bench helped turn the tide for IKM-Manning Monday night in the opening round of the Girls State Basketball Tournament.
After falling behind 11-4 in the first six and a half minutes, the Wolves stormed back behind a 15-2 run - keyed by eight points from reserve Tember Schechinger - and pulled away from Tipton in the fourth quarter for a 55-34 win inside Wells Fargo Arena.
The Class 2-A state quarterfinal victory advanced the third-ranked Wolves (24-2) into Thursday's 12:00 p.m. semifinal round against No. 2 Manson-NW Webster (26-0). The Cougars survived a big upset scare from Roland-Story on Monday night, 55-53.
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"It looked like we were nervous and it showed a lot. We started out a little slow," Rasmussen noted. "Now that the first-game jitters are over, we're ready to settle down and come out and just play. It's just basketball, (so) just play."
On the bright side, though, "I thought we had a lot of people step up and really contribute to the team win," Rasmussen said.
Seemingly immune from a case of the nerves was Tember Schechinger, a 5-foot-9 freshman who entered the game averaging 6.5 points per game. Schechinger scored on a drive, two putbacks and a fastbreak basket during the Wolves' key second-quarter spurt.
"Before the game, I could tell that she was really excited and upbeat and positive," Rasmussen said. "She did an excellent job, especially for being a freshman. She played well."
Tember's strong play wasn't limited to just one quarter, either. The younger sister of former IKM state tourney veterans, Cody and Bailey Schechinger, and a cousin to Wolves' senior Katie Schechinger, finished with 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocked shots.
"Tember's a real confident girl," said Katie Schechinger, a Drake University recruit playing in her third state tournament. "She's a great player, not easy to shake. She's pretty mellow and level-headed."
Seventh-ranked Tipton, featuring a small, but quick, lineup around 6-foot-2 Nicole Royer, made an 8-1 run to take the lead one final time late in the first half, 21-20. The Wolves scored twice in the final 39 seconds, however, on a Bailey Huls basket and a steal and layup by Ashley Hagedorn as Tipton was trying to play for one final shot.
Making a concentrated effort to work the ball inside to senior post Bailey Halbur, IKM-M then scored 11 of the first 13 points in the third quarter to open up a 35-23 advantage. The fiesty Tigers clawed back within 36-30 on a coast-to-coast drive by Alicia Goetz late in the quarter, but were outscored 19-4 the rest of the way.
Halbur and Katie Schechinger, who combined for just seven points on 2-of-12 shooting in the first half, finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Schechinger grabbed eight rebounds and Halbur had seven.
"I think the first-game jitters kind of got to us, but the third quarter I thought we came out better and relaxed and played our game," Schechinger said. "Hopefully the Thursday game we come out a little more relaxed and not so jittery."
Offensively, the Wolves rushed several shots in the first half and committed some sloppy turnovers, but as the game progressed they ran better halfcourt sets and took care of the basketball. IKM-M had two assists and 11 turnovers in the first half; eight assists to six turnovers in the second half.
"We just needed to pass it around a little more on offense," Halbur said. "Before we were just one pass and shoot, and we just needed to calm down and look for a better shot every time.
"We'll feel a lot more comfortable the next time we step on the floor."
Defensively, IKM-M's focus was on limiting the dribble penetration of Goetz, who used her quickness to get to the basket numerous times but had trouble finishing shots over the Wolves' formidable front line. Goetz made just 2-of-15 field goals and 2-of-9 free throws while committing eight of Tipton's 26 turnovers.
Hagedorn, who swiped a game-high six steals, noted that "moving our feet" and just relaxing a little led to better defense in the second half. "Take a deep breath," she said, and "realize that we're here and there's really nothing to be worried about.
"Once that second half came, we were back to our game."
Two long scoring droughts hampered the Tigers as they went five and a half minutes without a point in the second quarter and nearly five scoreless minutes to start the fourth.
"Defensively, once we did get settled down I thought we did a good job doing the things that we wanted to do and keeping (Goetz) out of the lane," Rasmussen said. "They're fast, and the Goetz girl is really a very good ball player. She's very quick. I knew that we'd have to control her to be successful."
Tipton, which finished 24-2 overall, was playing without its best player in 5-8 senior Missy Miller. The University of Iowa track and field recruit averaged 22.7 points and six rebounds before an ACL injury sidelined her midway through the season.
Royer led the Tigers Monday night with 10 points, 12 rebounds, six blocks and three steals, but the team shot just 30.4 percent from the field and 5-of-16 at the line. Tipton led 13-6 after one quarter, but scored only 21 points in the last 24 minutes.
"We just really couldn't get anything going," said Tipton head coach Chad Rezac. "They stepped up their defensive pressure a little bit and we just seemed like we couldn't ever get into a flow.
"On our side defensively, we just had trouble stopping the Halbur girl inside . . . We came in knowing that we were going to have to control their inside game a little bit, and we did a pretty good job the first half of neutralizing that. But then in the second half, (Halbur) was really going a good job of stepping in front of our girl. When she got the ball down that deep, it was really tough for Nicole to stop her."
The Tigers' 11 missed free throws prevented them from taking a bigger lead early and from possibly pulling closer in the second half.
"You really need those free throws with the clock stopped," Rezac added. "We've been shooting pretty good free throws in the (postseason) - between 60 and 70 percent - but tonight they just didn't fall for us."
Making 10-of-21 field goals in the second half, IKM-Manning finished at 40 percent for the game and hit 15-of-20 free throws.
Tipton: 13, 8, 9, 4 -- 34
IKM-Manning: 6, 18, 14, 17 -- 55
IKM-Manning Boxscore
Player FGs 3's FTs Pts. Rebs. Fouls Assts. TO's Blks. Stls.
Ashley Hagedorn* 2-5 0-1 0-0 4 3 4 1 2 1 6
Caitlin Axland* 2-4 0-1 1-2 5 0 1 1 3 0 0
Katie Schechinger* 3-9 0-0 6-8 12 8 3 1 3 1 1
McKaylie Croghan* 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 1 0 1 2
Bailey Halbur* 5-14 0-0 3-4 13 7 2 1 3 1 2
Tember Schechinger 4-7 0-0 4-4 12 8 1 4 4 2 3
Kara Stadtlander 2-4 0-1 0-0 4 2 2 0 1 0 0
Andie Reischl 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 1 0 0 1
Bailey Huls 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0
Miranda Irlmeier 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Theresa Luensmann 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
* Starters
Tipton 14-46 1-5 5-16 34 37 18 6 26 7 10
IKM-Manning 20-50 0-4 15-20 55 33 18 10 17 6 15
Tipton Points: Nicole Royer 10, Katelyn DeWulf 7, Alicia Goetz 6, Maggie Stueland 4, Vanessa Shipley 4, Mattea Meixner 2, Carissa Chamney 1. Rebounds: Royer 12, Shipley 7, Chamney 5, Goetz 4. Assists: Stueland 2, Goetz 2. Blocks: Royer 6. Steals: Royer 3, Stueland 2, Goetz 2.
Team Totals
Total FG Shooting: IKM-M 40.0%, Tipton 30.4%. 3-Point Shooting: IKM-M 0.0%, Tipton 20.0%. Free Throw Shooting: IKM-M 75.0%, Tipton 31.3%. Points in the Paint: IKM-M 32, Tipton 16. Points off Turnovers: IKM-M 22, Tipton 13. 2nd Chance Points: IKM-M 12, Tipton 5. Fast break Points: IKM-M 10, Tipton 2. Bench Points: IKM-M 20, Tipton 8.
Season Win-Loss Records
IKM-Manning (24-2 overall), Tipton (24-2, final).
