Sioux City Bishop Heelan showed off an impressive freshman, quick hands and aggressive defense in rolling into the Class 4A semifinals.
Junior Abby Lee scored 21 points, freshman Melina Snoozy added 20 and the third-seeded Crusaders forced 28 turnovers in beating Lewis Central 70-40 to complete quarterfinal action in 4A. Bishop Heelan took control with an 18-0 run spanning halftime and continued to pull away from there.
Brooklyn Stanley contributed 12 points and Maddie Demke 10 for Bishop Heelan, which came up with 22 steals and outscored the Titans 36-9 in points off turnovers. Stanley had eight of those steals to set a Class 3A record in a five-class tournament. The overall record is 11 by another Bishop Heelan player, IGHSAU Hall of Famer Carli Tritz.
Lee made 8-of-14 shots and complemented her scoring with five rebounds, five assists, four blocks and two steals. Snoozy, who came in averaging 18.1 points a game, shot 8-for-12 with three 3-pointers and had five steals. Stanley also handed out seven assists and pulled down six rebounds.
The Crusaders finished with 22 assists on 27 field goals, many on passes that led to layups after they swiped the ball.
Brooke Larsen delivered 24 points and 14 rebounds for Lewis Central, which had been much more competitive in a 47-33 loss to Bishop Heelan in its season opener. Anna Strohmeier and Sydney Thien each scored six for the Titans and Thien pulled down five rebounds.
The game certainly didn’t shape up as a rout early. Heelan led 19-14 early in the second quarter, but Lewis Central appeared to be changing the momentum with an 8-2 run that lifted the Titans into a 22-21 lead midway through the quarter.
But it would be more than 8 ½ minutes of game time before the Titans scored again and Bishop Heelan capitalized. The Crusaders scored the final 11 points of the half to take a 32-22 lead into the break, then ran off six more for a 39-22 lead.
Thien broke the Lewis Central drought with a short jumper in the lane, but it was just a temporary reprieve. The Crusaders answered with an 11-2 run that included Snoozy’s 3-pointer and her nifty pass to Lee for a jump shot in the lane and led 50-30 going into the final quarter.
Lewis Central drew to 50-35 when when Larsen followed up her own miss, but a 13-2 Bishop Heelan run put it out of reach. Stanley keyed that burst with seven straight points in just 61 seconds – two free throws, a layup after stealing the ensuing inbounds pass and a 3-pointer.
Bishop Heelan improved its impressive state tournament record to 19-10 and is 23-1 for the season heading into a semifinal matchup with second-seeded Waverly-Shell Rock at 6:45 p.m. Thursday. Sixth-seeded Lewis Central, which lost for just the second time since the calendar flipped to January, finished 19-5.