Quiet for most of the game, Macy Meyer showed up just in time to help her Dallas Center-Grimes team extend its season.
Meyer’s two late baskets gave the sixth-seeded Mustangs a five-point lead and they held on for a 49-44 victory over third-seeded Maquoketa that wrapped up the opening round in Class 4A.
Now it’s on to the semifinals for DCG and a familiar foe will be waiting. The Mustangs (20-4) will play North Polk at 6:45 p.m. Thursday, the third straight year the two have met at state. Dallas Center-Grimes beat the Comets in the 2023 championship game and North Polk turned back the Mustangs in the quarterfinals last year.
Dallas Center-Grime moved on with balance on offense and enough defense to keep Maquoketa (21-3) at bay in the final minute. Ava Smid led with 13 points and 11 rebounds and Tessa Jones scored 12 to go with five rebounds, two assists and three steals.
Meyer, a sophomore and the younger sister of former Mason City stars Makenzie and Megan Meyer, finished with nine points on 4-for-8 shooting. She came in as the team’s leading scorer with a 16.2 average. Leach Brauch added eight points, three assists and two steals for the Mustangs.
Aubrey Kroymann’s 13 points led Maquoketa (21-3), which set a school record for victories in reaching the state tournament for the first time. Cora Widel added 12 points for the Cardinals, whose two other losses came to 5A schools Iowa City Liberty, a state tournament qualifier, and Iowa City High, a regional finalist.
Dallas Center-Grimes threatened to the turn the game into a runaway early on, racing to a 17-3 lead less than 6 minutes into the game. The Mustangs stretched the lead to 26-10 with a 6-0 run and led 31-21 at halftime.
Maquoketa threatened constantly through the second half but never got the lead, the Mustangs always coming up with an answer when the Cardinals tied it or got to within a point. It happened for the final time when Maquoketa drew to 43-42 on Kroymann’s layup with 1:53 left.
After a DCG timeout, Meyer got the ball near the top of the key, drove down the lane and scored on a runner with 1:19 remaining – her first basket since midway through the first quarter. Meyer then got free for a layup after Brauch’s steal, hiking the lead to 47-42 with 52 seconds to play.
That was enough of a cushion for the Mustangs to survive the final frantic seconds. Maelyn Kluever’s layup cut the lead to 47-44, but Maquoketa missed 3-point shots on its next three possessions and Jones wrapped it up for the Mustangs with two free throws.
