Girls Championship = Hiawatha 38, Nemaha Central 36

In last second thrilling fashion, the Hiawatha girls won their home basketball tournament for the first time since 1980, upsetting top seeded Nemaha Central, who they had lost to by 20 points earlier this season.  In a tightly contested game from start to finish, Redhawk senior, Emily Gartner hit an amazing with 12 seconds left and got fouled.  Although Hiawatha had gone 0-5 in the fourth period at the charity stripe, Gartner converted the and-one and then blocked a Nemaha put back shot attempt at the buzzer on the other end of the floor to preserve the championship trophy.  Gartner finished with 18 of her 23 points in the second half to earn Citizen State Bank and Trust Company of Hiawatha "Player to Bank On" honors.  

Nemaha started the game on a 6-0 run before Hiawatha finally scored with 3:35 left in the first period.  The Hawks led 7-6 at the end of one quarter and continued the 10-0 spurt into the second quarter to post their biggest lead of the game at 10-6.  Nemaha finished the second stanza strong and led 18-13 at intermission with 11 forced turnovers against the Redhawks.  Hiawatha tied the score at 26 but still trailed 28-26 entering the final frame.  

The Redhawks quickly took their first lead since early in the second quarter at 33-32 on the only points of the game, a trey by Cariann Kunkel.  Kaley Dalinghaus would answer for Nemaha, before Hiawatha got a basket from Emily Gartner to go back ahead 35-34 with 2:20 remaining.  After both teams missed one-and-one free throw opportunities, Dalinghaus hit another baseline shot with :30 left to give the Thunder a 36-35 lead and she scored all 8 points for Nemaha in the final quarter while ending the game with 14.

The final two possessions belonged to Gartner as Hiawatha won their fifth straight game and improved to 9-3 on the season.  Hiawatha only had two turnovers in the second half and overcame 3 of 11 free throw accuracy to win the HIT for just the fourth time (1978, 1979, 1980).  Nemaha Central, coming off their season high 69-point effort in the semifinals, struggled mightily on the offensive end Saturday and fell to 10-2 on the season.  The two teams will play again at the Roundhouse on February 9th and perhaps in the 3A Hiawatha Sub State in March.  

Marysville won the 3rd Place game 68-39 over Lansing JV as Clair Cudney scored 19 points.  
Horton took 5th Place honors with a 53-49 triumph against Falls City as Daspin Brunning scored 22.
Benton JV won the 7th Place game 40-28 over Jackson Heights.  

Maddie Peters of Benton won the Three-Point Contest while Alyssa Keehn of Jackson Heights was the Tournament Free Throw Shooting Contest victor.