ROCHESTER — Long after the final whistle sounded and the grandstands cleared, La Center players, coaches and fans filled one side of the court to watch the Wildcats—from the athletic director, to the entirety of the roster, including the managers—cut down the Rochester High School net.
Head coach Herm VanWeerdhuizen opted out. He’s cut down the net plenty of times before in his more than 30 years of coaching. Watching the girls individually ascend the ladder for the third year in a row was plenty enough for him.
“I’m not worried about (cutting down the net),” VanWeerdhuizen said.
It’s the result that matters most to VanWeerduizen. And on Wednesday night, the final scoreboard read 54-50 in La Center’s favor, capping a 1A district championship win over Elma that went down to the last play, and tested the Wildcats in a way they had not been tested this season.
“This is the level of team we’re going to be playing now,” La Center guard Taylor Stephens said, pointing toward the 1A state tournament. “To say that we didn’t play very good, and we still beat them shows where we stand.”
The Wildcats let a 13-point lead going into the fourth quarter slowly evaporate until Elma’s Molly Johnston drilled a 3-pointer to bring them within one point with 3:15 left in the game.
“We stopped boxing out, then we figured it out, started to work hard again and realized we wanted this,” Mills said.
Then La Center, which has not played in a game decided by single digits since a Dec. 27 win over Meridian, kicked in game management mode.
After the 3-pointer went in, which bookended a 14-2 Elma run and sent its supporters into a cheering frenzy, Stephens received the inbound pass and called a timeout. She didn’t consult the VanWeerdhuizen—the junior guard wanted the damage to stop.
“I got yelled at for it,” Stephens said. “I didn’t care. I was like, ‘we will lose if we don’t call this timeout and figure something out,’ and we did. Got our energy back, stopped their momentum, and stalled a bit.”
Still up one, the Wildcats got the ball with 56 seconds left and plotted to stall until 10 seconds remained on the shot clock. When that happened, Beth Whitten dribbled around a pick, and placed a turn-around pass perfect in Taylor Mills’ hands as she was rolling. Mills then scored a layup—and was fouled.
The play went smoother than most times the Wildcats run it in practice, Whitten said.
“When (the shot clock read) 10 seconds and I had the ball, I was like ‘oh no,’ ” Whitten said, “but luckily she set a good roll and we executed well which doesn’t always happen … It was really nice.”
The Wildcats led by three after that possession, and shot free throws for the remainder. Elma’s multiple attempts to tie fell short.
Stephens led all scored with 19 points and Mills added 16.
For many of the Wildcats who hoisted the district trophy moments after the game, it’s the third consecutive time doing so. La Center returned all five starters from last year’s team, which they hope will serve them well in the state tournament.
They feel that winning the district championship game over a team with an identical record (20-1), and ranked one spot above the Wildcats in the RPI (La Center was 7th going into the game, Elma was 6th), sets them on the right path.
“We’re still not in stride yet, but we’re still here,” VanWeerdhuizen said. “They can’t take that away from us. All year long they’ve kept pushing it and pushing it. Now we got to the big dance, see what happens.”
As he watched the gamut of Wildcats take pieces of the net down, the veteran coach lent one final observation.
“Good ball game,” VanWeerdhuizen said. “A little too much for the old ticker on the old guy.”
LA CENTER 54, ELMA 50
LA CENTER—Alyssa McKnight 3, Whitley Seter 4, Molly Edwards 9, Bethany Whitten 3, Taylor Mills 16, Taylor Stephens 19. 22 (7) 3-9 54.
ELMA—Jalyn Sackrider 11, Jillian Bieker 7, Brooke Sutherby 2, Kassedy Olson 2, Kayli Johnson 3, Quin Mikel 4, Molly Johnston 11, Kali Rambo 10. 21 (4) 4-10 50.
La Center 18 13 18 5—54
Elma 15 13 8 11—50
