Jessie Pauley scored 33 points, including seven-of-seven from three point range, as top ranked Odelbolt-Arthur/Battle Creek-Ida Grove advanced to the Class 2A championship with a 67-44 win over Monticello. Her seven three pointers tied a state tournament record, which Pauley says she didn’t even know, but said it was “kinda cool.”
Pauley finished 12 of 15 from the field and also had 15 rebounds and six blocked shots. She says the shots were just falling after an off game in the first game. As a team, OA-BCIG hit 49% from the field and coach Pat Miller says his team has still not shot the ball well in the tournament. Miller says they haven’t gotten the good shooting from some of the other players, and hopefully they will start shooting well too.
Monticello coach Donnie Kremer says his team had no answer for Pauley as they change a little defensively, but he says that’s what good players do. Kelsie Etten led Monticello with 14 points and 12 rebounds as the Panthers end the season with a record of 25-2.
Kremer says “no one in their right mind even figured we would be where we’re at” and says he didn’t think they would get this far at the start of the season. He says the team just keeps playing hard. The Falcons will try to complete an unbeaten season by winning Friday night’s class 2A championship game. They are 25-0.