PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Three decisive passes up the court got the GMG girls’ basketball team through Meskwaki’s problematic zone press and resulted in a layup near the end of the first quarter.

Turns out the Warriors didn’t need to press the length of the court, because their defense was plenty disruptive on only half of it.

The Meskwaki girls’ basketball team defeated the Wolverines for the third time this season, eliminating GMG from postseason play with a 48-28 setback in Thursday’s Class 1A Region 5 opener between Tama County neighbors and Iowa Star Conference rivals.

Wakinyela Bear scored a game-high 16 points and Geanna Bear added 12 more as the Warriors (18-4) advanced through to a second-round game they will host on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Waterloo Christian (13-8) defeated Dunkerton to earn a rematch of a 47-40 loss to Meskwaki on Feb. 4.

It’s an opportunity the Warriors earned by relying on their suffocating defense and willingness to share on offense.

PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

“I thought we played hard on the defensive end so I was pretty happy with that,” said Meskwaki head coach Emmett Whalen. “We gave them a couple easy buckets but we made them fight, we made them work for most of their buckets and that’s kind of what our goal is on the defensive end.”

After Kalayna White’s transition layup gave the Warriors a 7-2 lead with 2 minutes, 11 seconds left in the first quarter, they jumped into a 1-2-1-1 full-court zone press in hopes of hurrying GMG (7-15) into some turnovers. A few possessions later, the visiting Wolverines snapped three sharp passes up the court as a Marriah Stonewall layup chased the Warriors out of their press.

Confined to the half court, Meskwaki’s defense applied pressure to GMG’s guards and got going offensively by turning up the heat. And when one of GMG’s 20 turnovers didn’t directly result in a fast-break layup opportunity, the host Warriors were crashing the offensive glass and convering some of their second chances.

“They got on the offensive boards a lot more than they have in the past,” said GMG head coach Justin Hornberg. “Coming in I think that was one of our big points that we should dominate them on the glass. We have in the past, but for some reason tonight we just didn’t do the things we’ve been doing.

“We didn’t make shots, we didn’t box out and we didn’t take care of the basketball.”

PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

GMG’s half-court offense struggled to make the shot attempts it earned, so it still wasn’t enough to hold Meskwaki five points below its season scoring average.

“They run good stuff and they run good actions, it’s just that they missed some shots tonight so it’s tough to score,” Whalen said of the Wolverines.

Adelyn Sienknecht scored eight points to lead GMG, making two 3-pointers along the way. Reese Dieleman and Dylan Mathern chipped in five points each, while Jenna Yilek and Stonewall scored four points apiece in the team’s fourth-straight loss to close out the season.

The Wolverines were held to fewer than 30 points for the eighth time this winter.

“When you (your offense) gets pushed out as far as we do, you knew the Bear girls were going to feast on that out front,” Hornberg added. “We weren’t closing out on passes and coming down the hill to grab the ball, we were letting each of them undercut us. If you let Meskwaki get into a running game it’s going to be a long damn night because that’s one of their bread and butters.”

White finished with eight points and Summer Youngbear added six points, while Sia Bear and Irene Keahna both knocked down a 3-pointer for the Warriors, who won their sixth straight.

Meskwaki 48, GMG 28

GMG (7-15) — Jocee Mason 1 0-0 2, Jenna Yilek 2 0-0 4, Reese Dieleman 2 1-1 5, Adelyn Sienknecht 2 2-2 8, Marriah Stonewall 2 0-0 4, Lana Carter 0 0-0 0, Colby Miller 0 0-0 , Emilie Claussen 0 0-0 0, Alice Hunt 0 0-0 0, Dylan Mathern 0 5-6 5, Maecyn Lewis 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 9 8-11 28.

MESKWAKI (18-4) — Wakinyela Bear 7 1-2 16, Geanna Bear 5 1-4 12, Sia Bear 1 0-0 3, Kalayna White 2 4-4 8, Summer Youngbear 3 0-2 6, Shye Johnson 0 0-0 0, Irene Keahna 1 0-3 3, Sitara Xaivong 0 0-0 0, Sophie Balderas 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 19 6-15 48.

GMG 6 5 6 11 — 28

MESKWAKI 9 14 12 13 — 48

3-Point Goals-GMG 2 (Sienknecht 2), Meskwaki 4 (W.Bear, G.Bear, S.Bear, Keahna). Team Fouls-GMG 12, Meskwaki 8. Fouled Out-Stonewall.