Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CEDAR RAPIDS – For the second straight game Regina pulled off an improbable fourth-quarter comeback on Wednesday night.

Only this time the Regals couldn’t quite finish the job.

Sixth-ranked Regina erased a 14-point second half deficit and took the lead with 2:04 remaining but No. 11 Cascade scored the final four points in a 50-46 win over the Regals in the Class 2A, Region 4 title game at Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School.

“We just came off of a fight in our last game and I always believe in the kids,” Regina coach Mary Rogers said. “We have a tremendous group, it was a big hole to climb.”

Cascade (17-6) got a game-high 15 points from leading scorer Molly Roling and 14 from freshman Harper Sconsa who entered averaging 5.1 points per game but came off the bench to hit four 3-pointers.

The Cougars will face top-ranked Dike-New Hartford (23-2) in a Class 2A state quarterfinal on Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“We are ecstatic,” Roling said. “No one thought we would be here and coach (Mike) Sconsa always says his favorite type of dog is an underdog and this was big for him too being out last season, having to leave us and we really wanted to do it for him.”

Last Friday Regina rallied from five points down in the final eight seconds to force overtime in a

semifinal win over Maquoketa Valley.

The Regals nearly pulled off another stunner on Wednesday.

Cascade closed the first half with an 8-0 run capped by two Sconsa 3-pointers to take a 29-22 halftime lead.

“Her consistency is what has helped us this postseason,” Mike Sconsa said of his daughter Harper. “She put in a lot of time in this summer and I am just happy the varsity girls have allowed her to be a part of the core of this team.”

The Cascade lead grew to as many as 14 points in the third when Addison Frake converted a layup with 1:00 left in the third quarter.

Regina began to chip away.

Morgan Miller hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final 45 seconds of the third quarter and opened the fourth quarter with a triple to trim the lead to 41-36.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Morgan Squiers and Ella McLaughlin cut the lead to 44-42 and Regina took its only lead of the game at 47-46 on a McLaughlin triple with 2:04 remaining.

Unlike the last rally for Regina this time Cascade had the answer.

Josie Manternach scored in the paint with 1:44 remaining and Brooklyn Trumm put back her own miss to give the Cougars a 50-47 lead with 30 seconds remaining.

“We just had too many unforced, uncharacteristic turnovers in crucial times,” Rogers said. “And then we just missed a lot of shots.”

Regina shot 36 percent from the floor on Wednesday including 7-of-28 from 3-point range.

The Regals still had a shot to tie in the final seconds.

Squiers had a 3-pointer bounce off the rim and out of bounds with 2.2 seconds left and Miller got a final look at a 3-pointer from the top of the key as time expired but it caromed off the rim.

“Obviously after their last game we knew they were good under pressure,” Roling said. “They are great shooters and we kind of live and die off our 2-3 zone so we knew we had to talk to each other and trust each other and do what we do best and that’s defense.”

Miller led Regina with 14 points while McLaughlin had 11 points and Alli Clark had nine points.

Caitlin Martin had six points and eight rebounds for Regina.

“The shots just didn’t fall,” Rogers said. “Cascade is a good team that you can never count out. Sconsa is a great coach, he always has his kids ready so I knew it was going to be a dog fight. I didn’t think we would struggle against the zone as much as we did but they surely gave us everything they had.

Cascade         10  19  12   9   –  50

Regina            8   14  11  14  –  47                         

Cascade (50) – Addison Frake 5-10 0-0 10, Brooklyn Trumm 2-5 0-0 4, Molly Roling 6-11 3-4 15, Claudia Noonan 0-1 0-0 0, Ella Nauman 1-2 0-0 3, Harper Sconsa 5-7 0-0 14, Josie Manternach 2-4 0-0 4, Totals 21-40 3-4 50.

Regina (47) – Alli Clark 3-8 3-4 9, Morgan Miller 4-13 2-2 14, Ella McLaughlin 4-9 1-2 11, Morgan Squiers 2-8 0-0 5, Caitlin Martin 3-9 0-0 6, Ella Keune 1-1 0-0 2, Totals 17-48 6-8 47.

3-point field goals – CAS 5-11 (Roling 0-4, Noonan 0-1, Nauman 1-1, Sconsa 4-5), ICR 7-28 (Miller 4-12, Clark 0-2, McLaughlin 2-6, Squiers 1-7, Martin 0-1). Rebounds – CAS 28 (Frake 8), ICR 25 (Martin 8). Turnovers – CAS 17, ICR 12. Total fouls – CAS 7, ICR 8. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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