The Norwalk girls basketball team continues their state tournament journey today at Wells Fargo Arena, taking on Cedar Rapids Xavier in a Class 4A semifinal at 5:00 p.m. The game can be heard live on 94.3 KNIA as well as kniakrls.com (KNIA3).
It will be hard to top the excitement of the Warriors’ 56-54 state quarterfinal win over Central DeWitt on Tuesday. Norwalk senior Bailey Birmingham banked in a 40-foot three-point shot to end the third quarter and junior Pearl Brown won the game with a buzzer-beating putback. The fourth-seeded Warriors improved to 23-1 on the season.
Norwalk coach Joe Sigrist tells KNIA/KRLS Sports that Brown was the “right girl in the right spot at the right time,” adding that he was proud of the entire team for finding a way to advance. “That whole locker room just has purple hearts. They just bleed that purple and find a way to win when we face some adversity,” he said. “They’re just an awesome group of young ladies, and I want the ride to continue.”
Xavier, now 20-4 overall, is the No. 8 seed in the 4A bracket but seemingly always a title contender. The Saints knocked off top-ranked Sioux City Bishop Heelan with relative ease on Tuesday, 71-57, as senior star Libby Fandel went off for 37 points and 25 rebounds. Fandel will play college basketball at Kansas University.
Coach Sigrist says that the Warriors must play a much cleaner game against Xavier after turning the ball over 18 times and missing eight free throws against Central DeWitt. He is confident in his team and his coaching staff, however, and looks forward to seeing another sea of Norwalk purple in the stands.
“We’re going to put a great game plan together for those kids because that’s what they deserve and they’ve earned,” Sigrist said. “We’ll have a little practice, walk-through, game plan strategy session (Wednesday) and I’m confident that they’ll go out there and execute it on Thursday.”
Today’s other 4A semifinal will match No. 2 seed North Polk against No. 6 seed Dallas Center-Grimes at 6:45. The 4A championship game is set for Saturday at 2:30.