Des Moines, Iowa — West Lyon did the sure thing in its Class 3A quarterfinal.
The Wildcats got the ball to Brooklyn Meyer and let the 6-foot-2 senior go to work.
Meyer, who has signed with SDSU, scored twice in the game’s first 49 seconds and finished with 21 points to lead second-seeded West Lyon past seventh-seeded Roland-Story 38-23 to wrap up the first day of the 2022 state tournament.
Gianna Klarenbeek added nine points for the Wildcats (24-1), who are trying to get back to the championship game after losing to nearby rival Unity Christian in last year’s finals. Their only loss this season has been to Harrisburg, S.D., in late January.
Roland-Story (19-6) made it back to state in a year the Norsemen’s 1972 team is being honored for its title 50 years ago. They were impressive in beating Heart of Iowa Conference rival West Marshall 63-35 in the regional finals, but struggled to find their shooting touch in this one and had no one to match up with Meyer.
The right-handed Meyer often went effectively to her left for layups and ended up 8-for-17 from the field and 5-for-6 on free throws. She also blocked three shots and grabbed three rebounds.
Reagan Barkema led Roland-Story with 12 points to go with five rebounds and three blocks. Madison Geise also grabbed five rebounds and scored six points.
Roland-Story led only once, at 10-9 when Geise hit a 3-pointer with 56 seconds left in the first quarter. West Lyon quickly regained the lead with an 8-0 run spanning the quarter break and answered the only time the Norsemen got close.
Barkema’s layup and another 3 from Geise left Roland-Story trailing just 22-20 at halftime. But the Norsemen missed all seven of their shots in the third quarter and West Lyon outscored them 12-1 in the period to take control.
The Wildcats led 34-21 after three quarters, then got four quick points from Meyer at the start of the fourth quarter and coasted from there.
West Lyon will return to the court at 3:15 p.m. Thursday for a semifinal game against #3 Ballard who downed #6 seed Center Point-Urbana 43-29 in the last quarterfinal played Tuesday morning.
