DES MOINES, Iowa — We’ve seen this before. Newell-Fonda will play Algona Bishop Garrigan for the Class 1A state championship.
Newell-Fonda completed that pairing with a big comeback in a 50-45 victory over defending champion Council Bluffs St. Albert, which beat the Mustangs in last year’s title game.
Bishop Garrigan advanced with a 49-38 victory over Dunkerton. The two rivals will meet for the state crown at 7 o’clock Saturday night in the final game of the high school season.
This will be their fourth meeting in the championship game in the last eight years. Newell-Fonda beat Garrigan in 2020 and 202, while Garrigan won in 2023.
Newell-Fonda’s win over St. Albert was the quintessential game of streaks. St. Albert bolted to a 12-0 lead, Newell-Fonda answered with 17 straight points and then St. Albert pulled back ahead 26-19 en route to a 30-26 lead at halftime.
With both teams scrapping and getting after it defensively, they went back and forth through the final half. The lead changed hands six times before Newell-Fonda’s Quinn Sievers, a 5-foot-4 freshman, hit a 3-pointer that put the Mustangs ahead to stay at 46-44 with 1:49 left.
Maeve Ryan’s free throw for St. Albert sliced the lead to one and teammate Avah Underwood got the rebound after Ryan missed her second shot. Underwood misfired on a good shot in the lane and Sievers somehow came away with the rebound. And she wasn’t finished with her work on the boards.
She claimed another rebound after Ellie Sievers missed a layup, got fouled and sank two free throws to make it 48-45 with 34.6 seconds left. St. Albert had plenty of time to work for a shot, but the Mustangs played 30 seconds of solid defense, denying the Saintes any kind of look at the basket, and eventually forced a turnover with 2.5 seconds remaining.
Newell-Fonda’s Rylee Hogrefe sank two final free throws and it was over. The Mustangs were in the championship game for the fourth straight season and 11th time in the last 14 years. They have won four state championships in that stretch and own an impressive 36-22 state tournament record, which matches West Des Moines Dowling Catholic for second place all-time. Ankeny is the lead with 44 state tournament wins.
Sievers led Newell-Fonda (24-2) with 18 points and eight rebounds. Ellie Sievers scored 11 and made five steals. The Mustangs won it despite shooting just 30 percent and going 6-for-22 on 3-point shots.
Underwood led St. Albert (22-4) with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Saintes, who lost to Newell-Fonda 51-47 during the regular season, shot only 22 percent in the second half and 31.6 percent for the game. They took 17 3-point shots and made only one.
