By Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports 

WEST BRANCH – After having her freshman season cut short by a knee injury, Alex Wiese has enjoyed a strong bounce back season this winter.

Wiese’s bounce back season got its breakthrough performance on Tuesday.

Wiese scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as top-ranked Regina remained unbeaten with a 68-39 win over West Branch in a River Valley South Division contest in West Branch.

“I’ve kind of been waiting for a game like this,” Wiese said. “I’d been in a little slump but I worked hard and my teammates just worked the ball into me today and that’s how it went tonight.”

Wiese has been solid in her return from offseason knee surgery this season averaging 13.3 points and leading Regina in rebounding.

On Tuesday, Wiese was dominant.

The 6-foot-0 sophomore scored 21 points in the second and third quarters as Regina outscored West Branch 34-18 to break open an eight-point game.

“She was unbelievable and we see that every day in practice,” Regina coach Jeff Wallace said. “We felt like we had an advantage with Sarah and her inside and we went to that and we tried to utilize her skills.”

Wiese scored 12 of her game-high 31 points in the second quarter as Regina turned an eight-point lead into a 43-27 halftime bulge.

The 6-foot-0 sophomore had seven offensive rebounds among her 15 boards as Regina held a 34 to 20 edge on the glass.

“That was a butt whooping,” West Branch coach Jarod Tylee said. “Alex Wiese absolutely killed us on the glass, she did whatever she wanted to, she was tough.”

Wiese was only getting started.

She scored nine points during an 11-3 run to open the third quarter as Regina took a 54-30 lead.

Wiese made eight consecutive field goals during the second and third quarters and finished 11-of-17 from the floor as Regina shot 48 percent as a team.

“We kept trying to pound the ball inside and my teammates were finding me,” Wiese said. “Getting the first couple baskets is important and then I just kind of got rolling.”

Mary Crompton added 12 points for Regina which improved to 19-0 and 16-0 in RVC play.

West Branch got 19 points from Tatum Koenig and 10 from Haley Mullinnix but shot just 37 percent from the floor, including 25 percent in the second half and committed 14 turnovers while dropping to 11-8 and 10-7 in RVC games.  

“Against a good team like that you can’t miss easy shots you have to capitalize,” Tylee said. “You can’t have silly turnovers against a team like that, they are a great basketball team and great basketball teams make you pay for your mistakes and they did a really good job of that tonight.”

West Branch  14  13    5   7  – 39  

Regina            22  21  13  12 – 68

West Branch (39) – Abbey Fryauf 0-1 0-0 0, Paige Miller 2-3 0-0 4, Abby Knoop 1-5 0-2 2, Tatum Koenig 6-13 5-7 19, Haley Mullinnix 3-13 2-2 10, Morgan Heise 2-3 0-0 4, Team 14-38 8-11 39.

Regina (68) – Mary Crompton 4-9 4-4 12, Alexa Lehman 1-4 0-0 2, Lauren Gaarde 2-2 0-0 5, Sarah Lehman 3-12 3-3 9, Greyson Dumont 1-2 0-0 2, Kennedy Wallace 3-9 0-0 7, Alex Wiese 13-17 5-8 31, Katie Dunn 0-1 0-0 0, Team 27-56 12-15 68.

3-point field goals – ICR 2-14 (Crompton 0-3, A. Lehman 0-1, S. Lehman 0-2, Gaarde 1-1, Wallace 1-6, Dunn 0-1), WB 3-9 (Koenig 1-3, Mullinnix 2-6). Rebounds – ICR 34 (Wiese 15), WB 20 (Fryauf 4). Turnovers – ICR 11, WB 14. Total fouls – ICR 17, WB 13. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.