A
group of youngsters came through at the end for Harlan and helped put the
Cyclones in the Class 4A championship game.
Liz Riessen, the only senior
on the floor for Harlan at the time, hit a tie-breaking
3-pointer on a pass from sophomore Taylor Wagner and the eighth-ranked Cyclones
went on to upset No. 2 Waverly-Shell Rock 41-36.
Wagner drove into the lane, found Riessen
in the right corner and the 5-foot-10 senior buried
the shot to give Harlan a 37-34 lead with 1:26 left. Wagner then made four of
seven free throws in the final 45.9 seconds, enough for the Cyclones to hold
on.
Harlan is the state tournament for the 10th time but
has never won the championship. The Cyclones, now 23-2, will get their chance
at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Wagner led Harlan with 13 points, six rebounds and
five assists. Josie Esser and Jordyn
Moser each scored seven points and Moser, a 5-foot-5 freshman
point guard, hustled for six rebounds.
During the closing minutes, with a trip to the state championship game
on the line, Harlan coach Zach Klaassen trusted his
team's fortunes to Moser, Wagner, Riessen and
sophomores Elle Kloewer and Jess Schaben.
Schaben, a 6-foot-1 post
player, gave the Cyclones a nice lift with seven rebounds and four blocks.
Aftin Phyfe led Waverly-Shell
Rock with 11 points. Morgan Neuendorf added nine
points for the Go-Hawks and Noami Phillips scored
eight to go with 11 rebounds. Waverly-Shell Rock reached the state tournament
for the first time in the five-player era and finished 21-3.
Harlan led by as many as 10 points in the first half
and was up 24-17 at the break. Waverly-Shell Rock then began chipping away but
got the lead only once, at 31-30 on Neuendorf's
pull-up jumper in the lane at the start of the fourth quarter. Harlan regained
the lead on freshman Taylor Frederick's turnaround jumper.