Buzzer beater featured in first day of Girls’ Basketball Tourney

A buzzer-beater highlighted the opening day at the girls’ state basketball tournament. Katie Jensen hit a three pointer as time expired as top ranked English Valleys erased a seven point deficit in the final minute and 40 seconds in a 49-46 victory over Fort Madison Aquinas in the class 1A quarterfinals.Jensen says the shot felt good as she let it go. She says it’s something you dream about, but you never know if it’s going to actually happen.In class 2A, top ranked and defending champion Underwood jumped out to a 20-5 lead at the end of one and cruised past PCM Monroe 76-39.Forward Jamie Boyd who led Underwood with 22 points says they just came out and played hard. They will play fifth ranked Maquoketa Valley in the semifinal round. The Wildcats jumped out to a 16 point halftime lead and cruised past Garner-Hayfield 67-51 to set up a rematch of last year’s title game.Maquoketa Valley coach Tom Pestka says they were well prepared and everything they worked on paid off. Garner-Hayfield coach Jim Haag says his team got into too deep a hole. He says the atmosphere caught them a little bit, but he says the kids showed a lot of heart to fight back in the second half.