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Editorial: Ending with a thriller
Op-Ed · March 17, 2017


If you’re going to lose, you want your opponent to walk off the court wiping their collective brow and thanking the heavens they survived.


West Branch High School’s girls varsity basketball did just that to the Bellevue Comets at the regional semi-final tournament, forcing overtime before eventually falling 51-45.

Not bad for a team that finished 14-9.

The Bears also put forth one of Class 2A’s Top Ten scorers in the state with junior Tatum Koenig coming in at No. 7 with 461 season points. Koenig was named to the River Valley Conference Elite Team for the third year in a row and hit the 1,000-point milestone back in early February. She finished the season averaging 20 points per game. The Iowa Girls’ Coaches’ Assoc. named her to their All-District South team and All-Regional Class 2A Region 7 team, and the First Team All-State.

West Branch also saw two seniors make the All-RVC list: Paige Miller, who earned an honorable mention, and Haley Mullinnix, who landed on the list for the fourth year in a row. Both Miller and Mullinnix were invited to participate in the RVC All-Star Game in Camanche on March 19, this coming Sunday.

All-Conference Academic awards went to Kaiya Luneckas, Mackenzie Heise, Taylor Thein, Abbey Fryauf, Courtney Jarrett, Riley Vaughan, Koenig, Bridget Buol, Maddi Luneckas, Manager Ashley Riley, Claire Bridges, Mullinnix, Allie Waterman, Miller, and Abby Knoop. For perspective, that’s enough girls to put three teams on the court.

Head Coach Jarod Tylee is also just three wins away from 100, which we expect will come not far into the 2017-18 season.

The Bears had four losses this season to teams that went on to the state playoffs, and went 1-1 with fellow RVC teams Wilton (13-10) and Bellevue (17-7) as well as beating Camanche (16-8). The fact that West Branch finished seventh of 13 in the RVC with those accomplishments ought to say something about the toughness of this conference.

So, compliments to Coach Tylee and the girls basketball team for a fun and exciting 2016-17 season, and may next year bring even more of the same!