Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – West Branch got off to a dream start in its return to the Class 2A state tournament on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, the quarterfinal matchup with Osage also came with a nightmarish ending for the Bears.

Fifth-ranked Osage battled back from a 10-0 deficit in the opening minutes then outscored West Branch 16-5 in the fourth quarter to rally for a 50-43 win in a back-and-forth opening-round matchup at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“I thought for some reason it was the opposite of the first quarter and we got discombobulated in the fourth quarter and we lost their shooters and they made shots,” West Branch coach Jarod Tylee said. “They stepped up and made big shots at key times and that’s a credit to them. They stepped up when they needed to and got buckets when they needed to.”

The strong fourth quarter sent Osage (23-2) to the 2A semifinals where it will face another River Valley Conference divisional champion when it takes on top-ranked Cascade (26-0) on Friday at 10 a.m.

Sixth-ranked West Branch had an eight-game winning streak snapped with the loss and closed the season 21-4 with its third loss to a top-four ranked team in Class 2A.

“An ending like this hurts so much but we can only use it for next year to be motivated because I know we want more,” West Branch junior Sasha Koenig said. “We came into this game thinking it wasn’t going to be our last game so I think this is going to push us for next year.”

The good for West Branch came early.

West Branch scored the first 10 points of the game in a little more than two minutes.

Rylan Druecker scored the first five points, Koenig scored on a steal and layup and senior Taylor Thein capped the 10-0 burst with a 3-pointer from the corner with 5:51 left in the opening quarter.

“We were very energetic from the get go,” Druecker said. “Our press was very effective at the beginning of the game and we were hitting shots.”

West Branch led 13-5 after the opening quarter but Osage climbed to within 24-21 at halftime thanks to a 22-14 rebounding edge that included 10 offensive rebounds that led to eight second chance points.

“At halftime they had 10 offensive rebounds and that kept us from building our lead in the first half,” Tylee said. “They outworked us on the boards tonight.”

Each team used runs to take leads in the third quarter with West Branch closing the quarter on an 8-0 spurt that put the Bears up 37-35 heading to the fourth quarter.

The final eight minutes belonged to the Green Devils.

Osage opened the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run as West Branch missed its first 10 shots of the fourth quarter while going 6:30 minutes without a point.

“Our shots weren’t falling and they really made that hurt,” Koenig said. “Our shots were falling and they took away driving lanes and they had two or three big girls inside that made it hard to get up shots, it was tough to get a basket.”

Osage senior Sidney Brandau had seven points during the 9-0 run including a 3-pointer from the top of the key that put the Green Devils up five with 4:10 left.

Brandau finished with a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds and also blocked five shots.

“We really haven’t seen that defense so that’s why we were so discombobulated the first half,” Brandau said. “We just needed to get into a rhythm and calm down. They are probably the best defensive team we have seen and they really showed it. They came out and fought hard.”

A driving layup by Brandau with 3:06 left capped the 9-0 run and gave Osage a 44-37 lead that would never be cut to less than five.

West Branch shot just 24 percent in the second half and 30 percent for the game after making just 3-of-17 shots in the fourth quarter.

Druecker led West Branch with 14 points while Mackenzie Heise had 9 points and five rebounds.

“Obviously we are disappointed we had aspirations of playing more games than just one here this week,” Tylee said. “We are disappointed but as I’m going to repeat over and over I’m proud of my kids.”

West Branch              13  11  13   6   –  43

Osage                          5   16  14  15  –  50

Osage (50) – Mia Knudsen 2-7 0-0 5, Menalie Bye 3-7 0-1 9, Dani Johnson 4-12 5-6 13, Ellie Bobinet 2-7 0-0 5, Sidney Brandau 6-13 3-3 16, Libby Schwamman 1-1 0-0 2, Megan Henson 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 18-48 8-10 50.

West Branch (43) – Sasha Koenig 2-18 0-0 4, Rylan Druecker 5-12 0-0 14, Kaiya Luneckas 3-10 0-0 6, Taylor Thein 1-6 0-0 3, Taya Young 3-7 0-0 7, Mackenzie Heise 4-6 1-2 9, Delaynie Luneckas 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 18-61 1-2 43.

3-point field goals – WB 6-23 (Koenig 0-6, Druecker 4-10, Thein 1-5, Young 1-1, Heise 0-1), OSA 6-21 (Knudsen 1-4, Bye 3-7, Johnson 0-3, Bobinet 1-4, Brandau 1-2, Henson 0-1). Rebounds – WB 30 (K. Luneckas 9), OSA 43 (Brandau 12). Assists – WB 13 (Koenig 8), OSA 11 (Knudsen 4). Turnovers – WB 8, OSA 17, Total fouls – WB 14, OSA 9. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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