Des Moines Roosevelt is a victory away from its first state championship in girls basketball. The Roughriders got 18 points from Charmaine Bell and made 11 free throws in the final quarter in a 54-47 win over Cedar Rapids Jefferson in the class 4A semifinals. Leading 41-40 to open the fourth, Roosevelt went into a spread offense.
Bell says they weren’t tyring to stall, they were just trying to work for a layup. Bell is excited to be part of the first Roosevelt team to play in the title game. She says it’s always been a dream as she would come to the state tournament even when Roosevelt wasn’t in.
It may have appeared to be a gamble when Roosevelt coach Tig Johnson went to the spread offense but it did not surprise J-Hawks coach Larry Niemeyer. He says “that’s just common sense”, we just couldn’t come down and score. Niemeyer says he didn’t think they jammed the lane as good as they could have, but he says it’s easy to sit on the sideline and not be the players seeing people going by. Jefferson ends the season 21-6.