IKM-MANNING 50, CASCADE 31

It didn't take long for the IKM-Manning combination to produce a champion.

IKM-Manning jumped to an early lead and stayed in control the rest of the way Friday night in beating Cascade 50-31 to win the Class 2A state championship.

This is the first year of the IKM and Manning consolidation and it produced a near-perfect season in girls basketball. The third-ranked Wolves finished 26-2, losing only two a pair of bigger schools, Sioux City North and Ballard.

North is in Saturday night's Class 4A championship and Ballard is in the 3A title contest.

Before going in with Manning, IKM won the Class 1A title in 2006 and finished second in 2007.

The inside duo of Bailey Halbur and Katie Schechinger led IKM-Manning with 16 points each, with Halbur grabbing nine rebounds and Schechinger eight. Caitlin Axland added nine points for the Wolves, who won their three state tournament games by an average of 17.7 points.

Cascade finished 24-4 with a team that had only one senior, forward Chanda Goedken. Amber Meyer led the Cougars with 12 points, while Holly Hosch had six points and nine rebounds. Both are juniors.

IKM-Manning's Ashley Hagedorn started the game by hitting a 3-pointer, giving the Wolves a lead they'd never relinquish. They led 12-2 after one quarter, then got seven points from Schechinger in the second quarter to open a 21-10 halftime lead.

Cascade made one threat, drawing to 28-19 on a 3-pointer by Haylee Hoffman that capped a 9-2 run. But Halbur answered by banking in a turnaround shot from the left baseline and the Wolves went on to score the next eight points to put it out of reach.

Halbur was named captain of the all-tournament team and was joined by Schechinger, Meyer, Goedken, Mackenzie Small of Hinton and Kelsey Sukovaty of Manson-Northwest Webster.

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