The girls state high school basketball tournament opened on Monday. in Des Moines. The opening day of action started with Class 1-A where a new champion will be crowned this season after Lynnville Sully claimed the last three titles. Unranked Manning was thinking upset at halftime trailing top ranked Preston 25-21. The Trojans, however blew the game open with their full court press in the second half enroute to a 71-34 victory. Preston coach Todd Borrison says his team was bothered by tournament jitters in the first half. For the game, Preston forced 41 Manning turnovers and will take a 26-0 record into the semifinal round. The troojans will take on tournament veteran and eigth ranked Treynor in the semifinal round. The Cardinals used a 13-2 run to open the fourth quarter in a 52-42 victory over fourth ranked Wayne. Second ranked Newell-Fonda used a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 60-46 victory over 5th ranked Hubbard-Radcliffe. Senior forward Janelle Seagren had 21-points to lead the Mustangs. Seagren finished 7 of 11 from the floor while teamatte trish miller chipped in with 13-points on six of nine shooting.In the class 4-A quarterfinals last night Hannah Stolba had 17-points as 4th ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier downed 7th ranked Ames 60-47. Stolba says the Saints pressure defense helped set the tempo.Stolba says defense has been the key all season.Ames ends the season 22-3. Little Cyclones coach Bruce Vertanen says their goal was to win the championship and they didn’t play well when they needed to.Vertanen says a run by Xavier to end the first half was a big factor.Top ranked West Des Moines Dowling jumped out to a big lead early in the game and cruised past defending champion Ankeny 55-38. Dowling coach Bob Hansen says getting the early lead was critical for his team.
