Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – On Thursday, Morgan Miller and Alli Clark learned they were unanimous first team all-conference selections.

One day later, the River Valley Conference looks very wise.

“It is awesome to see your hard work pay off,” Miller said after pouring in a game-high 26 points as No. 5 Iowa City Regina overwhelmed Wilton, 63-36, in a Class 2A regional semifinal Friday night at Regina High School. “I love watching my teammates get it, too.”

Miller’s third three-point basket of the first half just edged the halftime horn and gave the Regals a 26-16 lead at the intermission.

At that point in the contest, Miller and Clark had combined for all but three of Regina’s first-half points.

“All year long, they have been a strong pair of leaders for us,” Regina coach Mary Rogers said. “Both on the floor, being floor generals, but then in the scoring category, too. They do a lot of other things, as well. That is why they earned the honors that they did. If it isn’t scoring one night, then it is something else and that is what is so nice about the whole team in general, but of course those two for sure.”

Clark finished with 17 points and shared the team lead in rebounds alongside sophomore Ella McLaughlin with six for Regina (20-4) which pushed its lead to 20 points at the end of the third quarter at 44-24 by limiting Wilton to just eight points in the frame.

“We always make sure to talk a lot on defense,” Clark said. “Communicate with our other players so we know what is up and we can help each other. Just playing hard all the time.”

Regina led by as many as 29 points midway through the third quarter.

It was the third meeting of the season between the Regals and Wilton (10-13).

Regina won the two previous meetings this season by 29 and 40 points, respectively.

“We definitely didn’t want to overlook Wilton at all,” Miller said. “Because they are a tough team and they always play hard. And obviously after playing us twice, they know our stuff so we definitely implemented some new defensive sets and offensive sets. We just know we have to play hard. We can’t overlook anyone now because everyone wants to win obviously in postseason. No one wants to be done. We just play hard and play our game.”

Jozalynn Zaiser led Wilton with 15 points, while Charlotte Brown chipped in 11. Both players grabbed seven rebounds.

Regina is off until Wednesday when it travels to Muscatine to tangle with No. 12 Mediapolis (20-3) in a regional final rematch from last season.

Last year, Regina earned its trip to the state tournament by defeating Mediapolis by 12 points at Muscatine.

Should the Regals duplicate the feat on Wednesday, they will return to state for the seventh time in 11 years.

“We are going to have to work hard in practice,” Clark said. “And not overlook them, obviously, and try not to get nervous because state is on the line. We will just play our game.”

Wilton            11   5   8  12  –  36

Regina            14  12 18 19  –  63

Wilton (36) – Catie Hook 0 0-0 0, Lauren Thompson 0 1-2 1, Jozalynn Zaiser 3 6-10 15, Charlotte Brown 5 1-3 11, Kinsey Drake 3 1-2 7, Alayna Dann 0 0-0 0, Emersyn Guyer 1 0-0 2, Calli Langley 0 0-0 0, Totals 12 9-17 36.

Regina (63) – Alli Clark 7 3-5 17, Grace Gaarde 0 0-0 0, Ella McLaughlin 2 0-0 4, Morgan Miller 10 1-2 26, Morgan Squiers 2 0-0 6, Dani Laughlin 2 0-0 4, Caitlin Martin 1 0-0 2, Madelyn Greve 0 0-0 0, Jillian Panther 2 0-0 4, Totals 26 4-7 63.

Three-point goals – WIL (Zaiser 3), ICR 7 (Miller 5, Squiers 2). Rebounds – WIL 25 (Brown 7, Zaiser 7), ICR 25 (Clark 6, McLaughlin 6). Total fouls – WIL 11, ICR 15. Fouled out – None.

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