Annawan, Wethersfield to meet in LTC title game Saturday
ALEDO –– The stage is all set for Saturday night. Annawan will battle Wethersfield for the Lincoln Trail Conference Tournament championship. The teams met last week, with Annawan pulling out a 65-56 victory.
Princeville and Mercer County will meet for third place Saturday night.
Annawan 65, Mercer County 29
The Bravettes will try for its 8th straight LTC tournament championship Saturday night, after dismantling Mercer County Thursday night.
Annawan forced 10 Golden Eagle turnovers in the opening quarter and grabbed a 24-11 lead. They caused another dozen turnovers in the second quarter and expanded the gap to 43-15 at the intermission.
The Bravettes pushed the lead to 38 after three quarters and won by a landslide.
Jayde VanHyfte scored 10 points in the third quarter and finished the game with 18. She had a strong supporting cast led by Keagan Rico’s 13 points. Reese Randall followed with 10 points, while Kendall Gripp and Jordyn Sierens each scored nine.
Mercer County finished the game with 31 turnovers.
The Bravettes knocked down 20 of 25 from the free throw line. The Golden Eagles shot just two free throws.
Emma Coulter led Mercer County with eight points.
Annawan is now 23-0 on the season, and have won 44 straight games dating back to last season.
Wethersfield 58, Princeville 57
Taylor Lay drilled a corner triple in the final seconds to propel Wethersfield to the LTC tournament title game. The Lady Geese avenged a pair of earlier season losses to Princeville with the win at the buzzer.
Wethersfield led for a majority of the game, but Princeville regained the lead in the final minutes of regulation.
The Lady Princes led 57-55 in the final minutes, but missed the front end of a one and one. Wethersfield came down and misfired on a three, but grabbed the offensive rebound setting up Lay’s heroics.
Princeville jumped out to a 9-3 edge midway through the opening frame. The Lady Geese bounced back quickly to knot the game at 15 after the first eight minutes.
Despite a significant disadvantage on the glass, Wethersfield claimed a 34-32 halftime advantage.
Princeville outrebounded the Lady Geese 25-11 in the half, but the hot shooting of Brittney Litton kept Wethersfield in the game. The junior guard buried five treys and scored 23 of her game-high 25 points in the opening half.
The teams battled back and forth in the third quarter, and Wethersfield held a 48-44 lead heading to the final eight minutes.
Lexi Nichols and Tess Anderson added 10 each for the Lady Geese. Tori Rashid chipped in with eight.
Lucy Waid led Princeville with 22 points. Marisa Horton-Meza finished with 16 in a losing effort.
Stark County 54, West Central 23
Kelsey Berchtold scored 16 points to lead Stark County over West Central. Abby Stotler added eight points and Olivia Hopp scored seven.
Galva 39, United 28
Darrah Schilling made 10 of 13 from the free throw line and finished with 16 points, as Galva knocked off United. Josie Williams added 12 for the Cats.
Final pool play standings
- Annawan 4-0
- Wethersfield 4-0
- Princeville 3-1
- Mercer County 3-1
- Ridgewood 2-2
- Stark County 2-2
- West Central 1-3
- Galva 1-3
- United 0-4
- ROWVA 0-4
Saturday’s schedule
9th place game –– ROWVA vs United, 1 p.m.
7th place game –– Galva vs West Central, 2:30 p.m.
5th place game ––Ridgewood vs Stark County, 4 p.m.
3rd place game –– Mercer County vs Princeville, 5:30 p.m.
Championship game –– Annawan vs Wethersfield, 7 p.m.