Alexis Conaway's state tournament scoring record
has produced an all-Orange City championship game Class 3A.
Conaway scored 46 points, two more than the
previous five-player record, as top-ranked MOC-Floyd Valley beat No. 4
Mediapolis 64-51 to complete the semifinal round.
The
Lady Dutch improved to 25-1 and will play No. 6 Orange City Unity Christian in the
title game at 4 p.m. Saturday, a matchup of two schools a little more than a
mile apart in the northwest Iowa city.
Conaway,
who'll play volleyball at Iowa State next season, had 28 points by halftime and
broke the single-game tournament record when she drove the length of a floor
for a layup with 1:17 left. She finished 17 of 25 from the field and sank 12 of
13 free throws. She also grabbed 13 rebounds, made four steals and blocked two
shots.
Conaway
got most of her points on drives to the basket, often using her long strides
and athleticism to get into the clear.
The
old record was 44 points by Montezuma's Janel Grimm
against Rockwell City-Lytton in 1994. Grimm went on to play at Iowa State.
Katie
Landhuis and Emily McDonald each scored seven points
for MOC-Floyd Valley, which came up with 11 steals and outscored Mediapolis
32-6 in points off turnovers.
Mediapolis
finishes 24-2 after a season in which the school's basketball tradition was
revived. This was the 22nd state tournament appearance for the Bullettes and the first since they made the six-player
field in 1987.
Darby
Massner led Mediapolis with 16 points, Andrea Larson
scored nine and grabbed eight rebounds, while Heidi Hillyard
had eight points, seven rebounds and four assists.