Cedar Falls Tigers Advance to Girls State Tournament Semifinals

Cedar Falls fought a back and forth battle with Waukee before nailing the winning basket with :05 left in the game. The Tigers advance to Class 5A 2016 Iowa High School Girls Basketball State Tournament.

Emma Gerdes' big game and clutch shot sent Cedar Falls to the Class 5A semifinals with a dramatic victory.

Gerdes hit a 15-foot jumper with 4 seconds left to lift the fourth-ranked Tigers to a 48-46 victory over defending champion Waukee to complete the quarterfinal round.

Her shot ended a well-played game in which Cedar Falls never led until just over a minute remained.

Gerdes, a 5-foot-10 senior, scored nine of her team's 14 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 25. She played all 32 minutes with only one turnover and made 10 of 19 shots.

Seventh-ranked Waukee, which got 23 points and 12 rebounds from Reilly Jacobson, led by has many as six points twice in the second half but could never manufacture the big run it needed to take control.

Sophomore Cynthia Wolf added 10 points for the Tigers, who survived despite Waukee's 61 percent shooting. Andie Mataloni added eight points for Waukee and Rebecca Corbett scored six.

Cedar Falls took its first lead of the night at 46-45 when Wolf grabbed the ball after Jacobson blocked Gerdes' shot and dropped in a layup with 1:06 remaining.

Jacobson hit one of two free throws to tie it and Cedar Falls, working for a final shot, called a timeout after a scramble for the ball with 11 seconds left.

They got it quickly to Gerdes, who dribbled a couple of times, stopped and made her game winner. Waukee's Carlie Littlefield got off a running 3-point shot from inside the midcourt line at the buzzer, but the ball bounced off the back of the rim.

Cedar Falls, which lost to Waukee in the quarterfinals of last year's tournament, won a game at state for the first time since winning the Class 4A championship in 2001. The Tigers will take a 22-2 record against No. 3 Ankeny Centennial in a semifinal game at 3:15 p.m. Friday.

Waukee, which made it to state for the eighth time in nine years, finished 17-6.

Story Courtesy of IGHSAU

Waukee vs Cedar Falls
3/2/16 6:45 PM at Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, IA

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VISITORS: Waukee 17-6
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
04 Coleman, Kylie...... *  1-1    1-1    0-0    0  0  0   2   3  0  3  0  1  32
12 Jacobson, Reilly.... *  9-13   1-3    4-8    1 11 12   2  23  3  6  3  0  32
20 Corbett, Rebecca.... *  2-3    1-2    1-1    0  0  0   0   6  2  1  0  0  23
22 Littlefield, Carlie. *  1-2    0-1    0-0    0  1  1   5   2  1  1  0  0  12
24 Mataloni, Andie..... *  2-4    0-2    4-4    0  4  4   0   8  2  4  0  0  31
02 Deskin, Mollie......    0-2    0-2    0-0    1  0  1   0   0  0  1  0  0   8
10 Gray, Mary Kate.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0  0+
32 Hartman, Brianna....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   0  0  0  1  0   4
34 Earney, Callie......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  0   2
40 Nieman, Jori........    2-3    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   3   4  2  1  0  0  16
   TEAM................
   Totals..............   17-28   3-11   9-13   3 18 21  13  46 10 17  4  1 160

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-18 61.1%   2nd Half:  6-10 60.0%   Game: 60.7%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-9  33.3%   2nd Half:  0-2   0.0%   Game: 27.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-3  100 %   2nd Half:  6-10 60.0%   Game: 69.2%   2,2


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HOME TEAM: Cedar Falls 22-2
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
12 Gerdes, Emma........ * 10-19   1-6    4-4    2  3  5   1  25  3  1  0  1  32
14 Johnson, Calli...... *  1-5    0-3    0-0    0  1  1   2   2  0  2  0  2  28
24 Conrad, Ally........ *  0-1    0-1    0-1    0  2  2   2   0  2  2  0  1  24
32 Barney, Kiana....... *  3-7    1-1    0-0    0  1  1   3   7  0  1  0  0  27
50 Wolf, Cynthia....... *  3-9    0-0    4-4    4  1  5   2  10  1  1  0  1  23
20 Becker, Taylor......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   0  1  0  0  0  10
30 Bermel, Hannah......    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   2  0  0  0  0   7
40 Paup, Hailey........    1-2    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   2  0  0  0  0   9
   TEAM................
   Totals..............   19-44   2-11   8-9    6  9 15  11  48  7  7  0  5 160

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-23 43.5%   2nd Half:  9-21 42.9%   Game: 43.2%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-5  40.0%   2nd Half:  0-6   0.0%   Game: 18.2%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  6-6  100 %   2nd Half:  2-3  66.7%   Game: 88.9%   0,1


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Officials: Royce Ranniger, Jason Slaughter, Dave Schonrock
Technical fouls: Waukee-None. Cedar Falls-None.
Attendance:
Score by Periods                1st  2nd  3rd  4th   Total
Waukee........................   15   13   13    5  -   46
Cedar Falls...................   13   15    7   13  -   48