What we learned from Ballard's heartbreaking 33-32 loss to DCG in the 4A girls state semifinals
The Ballard girls basketball came very close to making its third state championship in a row last Thursday at the girls state basketball tournament.
The Bombers, winners of the 4A championship in 2021 and runner-up in 3A last year, fell to eventual state champion Dallas Center-Grimes by a single point, 33-32, during the 4A semifinals at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
"We just weren't ready to end it," Ballard senior guard Lily Beall said. "Sadly we had to, but we were not going down without a fight."
Ballard rallied from an early 12-point deficit to tie the game in the final 15 seconds, only to see leading Mustang scorer Emma Miner get fouled and awarded two free throws with 1.5 seconds left in regulation. Miner missed the first free throw, but she made the second to win the game and send her team to the finals, where it defeated North Polk in overtime, 57-50, to claim the 4A state championship.
Miner ended the game with five points and four rebounds. Venessa Bickford had 7 points, 11 rebounds and four assists and Josie Lampe and Sydney Miller 6 points apiece for DCG.
Ballard girls basketball shows some moxie
Ballard trailed the entire game until the final 13 seconds.
The No. 4 Bombers didn't score in the first quarter. They fell behind 12-0 and spent the rest of the afternoon gradually clawing their way back.
"I told the girls before it's like we're playing our sister," said DCG coach Adam Jones. "They defend like crazy, and they're very fundamentally sound."
Ballard was down 30-18 late in the third quarter and then they went on a 14-2 run to tie the game with 13 seconds left.
"We didn't start out our best offensively, but that's what we do best ― claw our way back into it," said Beall. "I'm so proud of all of us."
Kiley Calvert hit two free throws, Beall and fellow senior guard Lily Hillebrand each hit clutch 3-pointers and Hillebrand also scored off a drive to get Ballard within 2 with 1:54 left. Neither team could do anything against the other's stout defense for the next minute. Then the Bombers got possession on a jump ball.
After running some clock, leading Bomber scorer Alliyah Thompson drove the line and missed a shot, but she instinctively followed it up and the ball went through the net to tie the score.
"We really focus on getting those second shots on the offensive end," Thompson said. "We really focus on getting those rebounds and it just kind of happened that way."
Thompson, Hillebrand and Calvert each scored 8 points and Beall finished with 6. Thompson also had nine rebounds and two assists and two blocks, Hillebrand four assists and Beall posted six rebounds.
"I'm really proud that we were able to fight back and make it a close game and fight to the end," Hillebrand said. "At the beginning of the season, a lot of people didn't think we were going to make it this far. I was really proud that we were able to show what we had. It's a misfortunate end to the season, but I'm really proud of these girls and how hard they fought."
Ballard ended the season with a 19-4 record.
Alliyah Thompson named to the 4A girls all-tournament team
Thompson turned in two strong all-around games for the Ballard girls at the state tournament.
Thompson went for 12 points, eight rebounds, seven blocks and four assists in the win over Decorah. She had 8 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks against DCG.
The rest of the 4A all-tournament team was made up of Miner, Bickford, North Polk's Liza Schaffer and MaKayla Boatman and Bishop Heelan's Brooklyn Stanley. Bickford was named the 4A all-tournament captain.
Miner was named the Iowa Pork Producers Top Producer of the Game for the 4A title game after putting up 23 points and 12 rebounds against North Polk.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ballard girls drop 33-32 heartbreaker to DCG in 4A state semifinals
