2011 Iowa Girls State Basketball Tournament

Class 4A First Round

Southeast Polk 49, Mason City 35

Coach Todd Borrison is still working his state tournament magic.

Borrison has guided Preston and Davenport Assumption to state championships and he's now in his first season at Southeast Polk, which beat Mason City 49-35 to reach the Class 4A semifinals.

In matchup of two very young teams, fifth-ranked Southeast Polk went on a 12-4 run spanning halftime to open a 29-19 lead and that proved to be enough of a cushion to keep No. 13 Mason City at bay.

Southeast Polk starts three sophomores, a freshman and a junior. One of the sophomores, guard Caitlin Ingle, led all scorers with 17 points. She also handed out four assists. Junior Whitney Van Wyk and sophomore Megan Bianchi each scored nine points for the Rams, who improved to 23-2.

Mason City, playing at state for the first time, started a freshman, two sophomores, a junior and a senior. Autumn Alitz, a Northern Iowa volleyball recruit, led the Mohawks with 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Sophomore Cortni Rush scored seven to go with nine rebounds and another promising sophomore guard, Jadda Buckley, added six.

Mason City drew to 29-23 when Buckley drove into the lane for a basket late in the third quarter. But Southeast Polk answered with another run, this one 15-7, to build a 44-30 lead, freshman Annie Penquite capping the burst with a 3-pointer from the left corner.

Southeast Polk is in the tournament for the first time since reaching the six-player finals in 1988. The Rams play again at 1:45 p.m. Friday.

Mason City, which looks to have a bright future, finishes 19-6. Three of the Mohawks' regular-season losses were to state qualifiers -- two to Waukee and one to Des Moines East.