Wolverines upset in Corner tourney opener

COUNCIL BLUFFS - No field goals, four points and six turnovers.

That would be the statistical line for the East Mills girls in its Corner Conference tournament opener against South Page.

South Page 35, East Mills 32.

That would be the statistical result as the No. 6 seeded Rebels took advantage of the No. 3 seeded Wolverines’ offensive struggles and out-scored them 12-4 in the final frame to advance to the conference semifinals.

East Mills coach Blair Holman said his team played three solid quarters of good basketball before falling apart in the fourth quarter.

“We felt like it never should have came down to this point,” a dejected Holman said after a nearly 15 minute talk with his team in the locker room after the game. “We got ourselves early and weren’t playing well. We have to get better at our decision-making and our effort throughout the course of the game.

“When we showed great effort, we were fine. We have to execute our offense to make sure we know what we’re doing and right now we’re doing that. We have a long week ahead of us to get better.”

After getting down 11-8 at the end of the first quarter, the Wolverines (5-7 overall, 4-4 in the conference) seemed to find their rhythm, out-scoring the Rebels (4-8 overall, 1-7 in the conference) 14-7 in the second quarter to take a 22-15 lead into halftime.

But the Rebels, and their pesky match-up 2-3 zone wouldn’t go away in the second half.

After taking a 28-23 lead into the fourth quarter, the Rebels went to work on their comeback.

A three-pointer by Jessalee Neihart tied the game at 30-30 with 4:02 to go and then Sarah Stimson’s free throw gave the Rebels their first lead since early in the second quarter at 31-30 with 3:06 to go.

The Wolverines’ had offensive difficulties from the start in the fourth, turning the ball over on four of five possessions at one time and going nearly five minutes without a point. Their only points in the frame came from Gracee Meyer at the free throw line. The senior hit 4-of-4 at the charity stripe in the quarter for all four of the Wolverines points and matched Shellby Moore with a team-high 14 points for the game.

Meyer’s two free throws to put Wolverines up 32-31 with 2:31 to go would be their last points of the game.

South Page’s Bailey Drennen would hit all four of her finals over the final two minutes to secure the win.

East Mills had its chances. Rachel Schafer, the Wolverines’ leading three-point shooter, had two good looks in the final minute but both rimmed out.

Holman said his team’s shooting woes and ball security, which he said plagued them all night, made it hard to create momentum or get into an offensive flow. For the game, East Mills shot just 26 percent (13-of-50)

“We talked in timeouts all night about when we have the ball, we have to take care of it,” he said. “We wanted to get them out of the zone into man-to-man and we kept throwing the ball out of bounds. The same things that’s been costing us all year cost us tonight.”