Walnut Grove girls, boys heading to Class 1 Final Four

Saturday was a great day to be a member of the Walnut Grove community.

Both of its boys’ and girls’ high school basketball teams dominated in a quarterfinal doubleheader against Drexel.

Fans will travel to Columbia next week to support the athletes during their Final Four performances.

For the girls, the trip to the semifinals will be their fifth-straight.

The boys, on the other hand, redeemed themselves Saturday from a narrow loss in last year’s quarterfinal round.

GIRLS – CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS

The Walnut Grove girls are looking for their fourth state title in a row, and they’re on the right track with Saturday’s cruise to a 53-28 victory.

Both the Lady Tigers and Drexel team started off slowly, but became more aggressive in the second half.

Four Walnut Grove girls combined for 18 points in the third quarter for an 18-point lead going into the final frame.  

And with Drexel never scoring more than 10 points per quarter, Walnut Grove quickly sealed their Final Four position.

Bayley Harman led all scorers with a total of 25 points.

“I’m amazed,” head coach Rory Henry said. “I’m absolutely amazed at what these kids have accomplished. We’re so young and weren’t expected to be back where we are. The way they’ve improved from day No. 1 to now… I’m just so happy with them.”

The girls are set to hit the road Thursday to play Naylor (22-7), the team they beat last year for the state title.

The good part about it is we’ve been here before and we know what to expect,” Henry said. “They’re (Naylor is) a really good team and it’s going to be a battle. They’re a lot like us in a lot of ways.”

Walnut Grove: Bayley Harman 25, Grace McPhail 9, Taylor Dodson 8, Raylie Hejna 7, Grace Miller 2, Myranda McVay 2

Drexel: Jacy Bolton 10, Alicia Lagatta 6, Kendall Hadley 6, Jenna Eastwood 2, Tayler Lancaster
 

BOYS – CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS

The Walnut Grove boys found themselves in familiar territory on Saturday.

A year ago they were playing at the same gymnasium in the same tournament round, but the ending wasn’t a happy one.

In the final seconds, their opponent sunk a couple of free throws to secure a slim 65-63 win.

It also didn’t help that basketball standout Dallas Hawk was on the bench with a broken arm.

The loss was not taken lightly.

Walnut Grove head coach Darin Meinders said, “We’ve had this day penciled since last year when we got beat by two. We really felt like we should have gone last year.”

This time around, they sought and got redemption.

Walnut Grove trailed 10-8 after the first quarter, but they were just getting warmed up.

Seven Tigers combined for 22 points in the second quarter to grab an eight-point lead by halftime.  

Meinders said, “I thought the first half defensively, we played well, but we couldn’t throw it in the ocean offensively. In the second half we relaxed, loosened up and started hitting shots, and got the game in our tempo.”

Walnut Grove had a total of 27 points in the third quarter, including a three-point shot each from Hunter Gilkey and Dallas Meinders. Logan Thomazin had two.

Up by 37 points going into the final frame, the Tigers cruised to the 76-44 victory.

Drexel never scored more than 12 points per quarter.

Thomazin led the way with 21 points. Also scoring in double numbers was Gilkey and Meinders with 18 points each.

Dallas and his teammate and brother, Dawson, are the sons of coach Meinders, who is all smiles about getting to go to the Final Four with them.    

“I’m proud to be able to coach my two boys and go to the Final Four,” he said. “It’s once in a lifetime thing, and that’s what I told them. I said, ‘I’ve been there before, but it is unbelievable this year.’”

The Tigers are set to play Gideon (26-4) on Thursday at Hearnes Center in Columbia.

Meinders expects it won’t just be the team heading north next week.

“You see how our crowd travels,” he said. “There’s orange everywhere. I’m guessing that the last person leaving Walnut Grove next week will turn the lights out and we’ll all be in Columbia.”

Walnut Grove: Logan Thomazin 21, Hunter Gilkey 18, Dallas Meinders 18, Jaron Dishman 7, Dawson Meinders 3, Dakota Morlen 3, Cole Melton 3, Cory Countryman 3

Drexel: Wyatt Deel 19, Joey Jacobs 8, Trevor Gunnels 6, Daniel Shipps 3, Ty Woltkamp 3, Keegan Nichols 2, Kyle Jones 2, Coal Naunkart 1