Cissna Park surges in second half for second straight sectional title

VARNA − For the second year in a row, the Cissna Park girls basketball team has won a sectional championship.

The Timberwolves beat Roanoke-Benson 49-39 Thursday in the title game of the IHSA Class 1A Varna Midland Sectional, pulling away throughout the third quarter and staving off a late push from the Rockets to earn the 10-point win. They improved to 29-5 on the season withtheir 10th in a row, and will meet St. Teresa in Monday’s Blue Ridge Supersectional at 6 p.m.

The score was tied 12-12 late in the second quarter, but Cissna Park bridged the second and third with a 15-3 run to go up by 12 points midway through the third. The lead hovered around double figures for most of the remainder of the game, although Roanoke-Benson did cut it to 43-37 with about two minutes left in the game. But the Timberwolves managed to finish strong.

“It’s a special group, no doubt about it,” Cissna Park head coach Anthony Videka said. “I don’t think I’m the world’s best coach, but they make me look a lot better than I probably am. I think they do a really, really great job executing our stuff. I think they do a good job of just being competitors. They’re just a competitive group and that’s what it really boils down to.”

Ava Henrichs broke the 12-12 tie in the second, giving Cissna Park the lead for good, and Julia Edelman kept the momentum heading into halftime by scoring at the buzzer on a fast-break layup.

Roanoke-Benson’s Avery Alford opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer, but Cissna Park’s Lauryn Hamrick scored the next five points. Addison Lucht and Josie Neukomm hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Timberwolves up 27-15 and give them plenty of breathing room. The lead held around double figures from there, except for the brief time the Rockets got within six points.

“At this point of the year, winning by one is good enough,” Videka said. “We won by 10, thankfully, and we kind of had a moment there in the fourth quarter where it got a little closer than maybe it needed to be, but we relied on our upperclassmen to get the job done.”

Hamrick led the team with 17 points in the game. Lucht also was in double figures with 14 while Neukomm and Sophie Duis had six points apiece.

It was electric in the packed gym at Midland High School, even with a large student section for Roanoke-Benson, making the half hour trip north to Varna, being temporarily quieted by the Cissna Park run.

Although the Timberwolves and their supporters had to travel about four times farther for Thursday’s game, Cissna Park students, parents and fans filled their half of the gym, as well.

Lucht said that having the amount of support they did helped to give the team a boost, especially considering how far the Cissna Park faithful traveled to make it to Midland.

“I’m really proud of our fans,” Lucht said. “We had great support, too, that came the whole two hours and I think that really helped us.”

The Timberwolves look ahead to Monday’s supersectionals, a year removed from a 52-44 loss to Altamont in that round. Videka said that the team can make a run if they play like they did Thursday.

“If we come out with energy, I think we can match up with just about anybody,” he said. “Whoever that may be, we’re going to do our homework on them and be ready for them.”