Above: Danville's Carson Ourth (42) blocks a shot but also fouls West Burlington's Jace Figuereo in Friday's varsity boys basketball game at Danville High School. West Burlington, ranked No. 12 in Class 2A, held off the upset-minded Bears 49-38 in a South Division game. Photo/Chris Faulkner
By Chris Faulkner
The state-ranked West Burlington High School basketball teams swept Danville Friday night, but the host Danville teams took them down to the wire.
The No. 12 (Class 2A) West Burlington girls basketball team escaped the Bears 57-50. The Falcons are 8-1 overall and 6-1 in the South.
A 3-pointer by Danville's Taylor Moore with :25.7 seconds left in the game cut the lead to 55-50. But Abbey Bence for the Falcons hit a pair of free throws with nine seconds left to seal the victory.
In the boys game, No. 4 (2A) West Burlington made key free throws in the closing minute to win 49-38.
The Falcons had a 16-point halftime lead over the Bears, 28-12. But the Bears stormed back and a 9-2 run in the fourth cut the lead to 43-38 on a a Caiden Gourley field goal with :33.6 left.
With the shot clock off, the Bears were forced to foul, and Parker Lau made four free throws for West Burlington, and Mason Watkins added two more at :13.8 to keep the Falcons undefeated at 9-0 (7-0 in the South Division).
Danville's girls (5-6, 3-4) and boys (7-3, 4-3) play Tuesday at Holy Trinity Catholic, and West Burlington's teams travel a couple of miles over to Burlington Notre Dame Tuesday for a showdown for both the girls and the boys.
Above: West Burlington's Taryn Havener (14) puts up a shot in the lane against Danville's Kenna Furnald (24) and Gracianna Walker (12) in Friday's varsity girls basketball game at the Bears' gym. The 12th-ranked (Class 2A) Falcons held off Danville 57-50. Photo/Chris Faulkner
In the girls' game:
While Abbey Bence ended up with 15 points — three shy of the 1,000-point milestone — it was Taryn Havener's offense early on that got the Falcons off to a good start.
With the score 2-2, Havener scored eight points in a 16-1 scoring spree for the Falcons. Havener finished with 13.
But Danville stayed in the game, buoyed by an 11-4 run in the second quarter. Gracianna Walker hit a 2-pointer, and Kenna Furnald made a 3 to cut the lead to 30-27 to start the third.
West Burlington, however, made another big run, finishing the quarter with a 16-7 spurt.
The lead got up to 16, 52-36, but Danville made one last rally. The Bears made a few big steals in the closing minutes, with Moore's 3 bringing it to 55-50. Danville then had a chance to cut the lead to 2, but West Burlington rebounded the Bears' missed 3-pointer, and Bence made the final two free thows.
McKenna Marlow had a solid game, leading West Burlington with 18 points, 12 rebounds and three steals. Havener had five rebounds and three steals. Kennedy Ritter had nine rebounds and three steals to go with six points.
Isabella Blaufuss added four points and four steals, and Kyra Garr added a free throw.
Danville's Jaeda Molle scored nine of her 13 points in the second half and her scrappy play led to four steals, and the guard hustled her way to six defensive rebounds.
Walker had 11 points, nine rebounds, and five steals. Rylee Morris had eight points and eight rebounds. Moore finished with two 3-pointers, Furnald scored five ad grabbed five rebounds. Alexis Dietsch added three points and six rebounds, and Alaina Gou8rley and Reagan Henkelvig added two points each.
West Burlington coach John Vandenberg said he knew Danville was going to try to force the tempo against his team of just nine players.
“Matt has a good team,” Vandenberg said. “They play good pressure defense. They want to run, and we do too.
“Luckily we went off on enough runs and held them on theirs.”
Vandenberg praised the work of Havener early on, “Taryn did a great job. At the beginning of the game, she got that jump-out lead for us.” He said he's been looking for her to step up and improve her scoring and she did.
Danville coach Matt Morris said, “I was proud that our kids didn't quit. That's a positive sign.
“We let them get away, but we fought back.”
Morris said with Falcons state-tournament tested, “You've got to do a lot of things correct on both ends of the court, play after play after play.”
Danville missed some uncontested shots down the stretch, but Morris said if his team can work on consistency in the other areas of the games, “I'd like to think eventually the ball will go through the hoop.”
In the boys' game:
Both teams had their cold shooting stretches, including a 3 of 13 third quarter for West Burlington. Danville went 7 of 11 in the third and cut the lead to six, 35-29, going into the third.
The Bears kept battling and despite a four-minute scoring drought to start the fourth — the Falcons just had two 3-pointers in that stretch – they cut the lead to 41-36.
Braden Martin of the Falcons, however, made a steal and went coast-to-coast for a layup. Gourley followed with a field goal but then made several fouls to get West Burlington to the free-throw line with the bonus. Lau and Watkins made all six of their combined attempts.
Lau led all scorers with 18 points, including 6 of 7 from the free-throw line. Martin had eight points, six rebounds, and two steals. Watkins and Jace Figuereo had seven points each, with Figuereo adding seven rebounds, two steals, and a blocked shot.
Aiden Figuereo added five points and five rebounds, and Hayden Vandenberg made good on two first-quarter field goals for four points.
For Danville, Gourley led his team with 17 points. Titus Svoboda scored eight points. Spencer Nelson was held to five points but hauled down a game-high 14 rebounds and blocked a shot.
Carson Ourth and Brody Christensen had three points each, and Carter Buck added a field goal.