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North Union ousts Emmetsburg in Iowa regional

ARMSTRONG — North Union junior sharpshooter Samantha Hagedorn displayed her all-around basketball skills during Tuesday night’s postseason clash against Emmetsburg.

Hagedorn produced a team-best 15 points and distributed a game-high five assists to power the Warriors to a 47-32 victory over the E-Hawks during Iowa Class 2A, Region 1 quarterfinal playoff action in Armstrong.

North Union (18-3) advances to face No. 4-ranked Hull, Western Christian (20-2) in the regional semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday night in Hull, Iowa. The Wolfpack coasted by Unity Christian, 75-47, to advance to the next round of the postseason.

Emmetsburg ended its season with a 7-16 record.

“We were able to jump out to an 11-point lead off of the opening tip and then kept a double-figure cushion for the rest of the first half,” said North Union head coach Merle Tigges.

Hagedorn drilled a game-opening 3-pointer off an assist from Breanna Anderson after the Warriors controlled the playoff contest’s opening tip.

Hagedorn then demonstrated her deft passing touch by firing a cross-lane delivery to freshman center Chloe Lofstrom for a low-post lay-in to force Emmetsburg to call timeout with 6:37 remaining in the opening quarter.

Hagedorn continued her playmaking ways by penetrating traffic and feeding Hallie Reese for a baseline jumper. The Warriors’ top scorer then banked home a runner in the lane before Kate Anderson drove the paint for a layup for an 11-0 edge with 4:20 remaining in the initial frame.

Point guard Raven Brown finally ended the E-Hawks’ offensive drought — an 0-for-5 field-goal shooting performance — by countering with a driving runner only 10 seconds later.

Reese, who contributed nine points and seven boards to the Warriors’ winning ways, reeled off her team’s next five points by working the low post before the Andersons combined for a late 3-pointer. Kate Anderson spotted Breanna Anderson for a trey from the left wing with 10 seconds left to stake North Union to a 20-4 first-quarter lead.

Hagedorn opened the second frame with a left-wing 3-pointer off an assist from Maddie Rolling before Lofstrom banked in two of her 10 points off a perfect lob entry pass from Hagedorn.

Bailey Naig, who topped all scorers with 18 points to complement four steals and three assists, triggered Emmetsburg’s ensuing 10-2 run.

Naig converted a traditional 3-point play before spotting Molly Schany for a low-post basket. Schany missed converting a traditional ‘and-1′ play, but teammate Kayla Joyce pulled down one of her game-best nine rebounds and fed Naig for a baseline lay-in. Brown’s 3-pointer later sliced the E-Hawks’ deficit to 27-16.

Tigges then opted to rotate defensive schemes during the third quarter and the strategy paid dividends as the Warriors opened a 21-point lead before the fourth frame started.

“We kept switching defenses on them in the second half and it worked. Our man-to-man proved solid, and when we went to a zone, it was much more aggressive than we normally play,” said Tigges.

Kate Anderson split E-Hawk defenders for a runner to trigger the Warriors’ 12-0 run that nearly spanned the entire 8-minute period.

Reese fed Lofstrom off a high-low post play, Hagedorn drained a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws, Lofstrom hit a solo charity toss and then assisted Kate Anderson’s post-up basket.

Naig delivered eight of Emmetsburg’s 11 fourth-quarter points, but it was too little, too late.

Lofstrom netted 10 points and six rebounds for North Union, Kate Anderson contributed six points and seven boards.

E’burg 4-13-4-11–32

NU 20-10-12-5–47

NO. UNION (47)

Hallie Reese 2-5 5-8 9, Kate Anderson 3-7 0-0 6, Chloe Lofstrom 4-4 2-5 10, Samantha Hagedorn 5-11 2-2 15, Breanna Anderson 1-7 2-4 5, Rory McClellan 1-2 0-0 2, Maddie Rolling 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-37 11-19 47.

E’BURG (32)

Bailey Naig 6-13 6-9 18, Molly Schany 1-5 0-1 2, Kayla Joyce 2-8 0-0 4, Gretchen Hofstad 0-6 0-0 0, Raven Brown 2-6 0-0 5, Jordan Hoyman 0-1 0-0 0, Lindsay Carter 1-6 0-0 3, Parker Traub 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 12-47 6-10 32.

3-pointers: North Union 4-10 (Hagedorn 3-5, B. Anderson 1-3, Rolling 0-1, Reese 0-1); Emmetsburg 2-15 (Brown 1-1, Carter 1-6, Hofstad 0-4, Naig 0-3, Traub 0-1). Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Emmetsburg 35 (Joyce 9, Schany 8); North Union 26 (Reese and K. Anderson 7 each, Loftstrom 6). Assists: North Union 12 (Hagedorn 5); Emmetsburg 5 (Naig 3). Steals: Emmetsburg 6 (Naig 4); North Union 5.

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