Lady Warriors ready for regional opener; Rockford to host North Iowa at p.m. tonight

By Andrew Larson

Press Correspondent

The Rockford Lady Warriors capped off another strong regular season with a convincing 38-31 home win over North Butler on Tuesday night.

The victory improved Rockford’s overall record to 15-5 and gave it some momentum going into the Class 1A Regional 2 first-round game against North Iowa (4-17) tonight in Rockford. The Lady Warriors previously defeated North Iowa 41-38 on Jan. 19.

“For the season that we’ve had, I couldn’t be happier with the group we have right now,” Rockford head coach Blake Hansen said. “Everything is survive and advance. You don’t get a chance to fix things, anymore.”

Frequently leading the charge for the Lady Warriors this season has been junior guard Emma Staudt, who has been the difference-maker in many of Rockford’s wins this season. Averaging 14.6 points per game and six rebounds per game (both improvements over Staudt’s numbers from her 2014-2015 campaign), Staudt has proven herself to be a leader and a game-changer this season, particularly in the absence of junior Madeline McGregor, who was averaging 15.2 points per game before being lost midway through the season.

Also stepping up this season is guard Fallon Marth, who has made sure her senior season will go down as her best. Marth has greatly improved her numbers over those from 2014-2015. As of now, Marth is averaging 5.4 points a game, and has recorded 36 more rebounds than she did during all of the previous year, including postseason games.

Junior guard Sarah Parcher has also proven herself to be a difference-maker on both sides of the ball this season, forcing turnovers on the defensive side and creating scoring opportunities on offense. Parcher is averaging 7.7 points per game and has recorded 45 steals, which second only to Staudt.

A surprise this season has been the emergence of freshman guard Morgan Thieman. Seeing extensive playing time coming off the bench, Thieman may not have produced the gaudy numbers of the likes Staudt or Marth, but has proven herself to be a heads-up player with good court awareness. Whether it be in having the wherewithal and quick thinking to prevent an errant pass or lose ball from heading out of bounds, or in having the discipline to seldom be caught out of position on defense, Thieman has shown a lot of potential in only her first season of high school basketball.