Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s Leila Thesing (10), Lily Dripps (12) and Kennedy Brant celebrate after the Class 1A No. 11 Rebels defeated Grundy Center 41-37 in Friday night’s NICL West Division showdown in Reinbeck. Brant scored a game-high 19 points as Gladbrook-Reinbeck earned a season split with the Spartans. PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

REINBECK — The excitement was too much for Kennedy Brant last Friday (Jan. 17) night.

Brant, the leading scorer for Gladbrook-Reinbeck girls basketball, put up 19 points in the Rebels’ 41-37 triumph over Grundy Center in a crucial NICL West clash at G-R High School.

After celebrating with her teammates following the final buzzer, the energetic junior came back to the bench before heading to the locker room and collapsed.

“All the adrenaline just crashed and so did I,” said Brant, accompanied by a half-full cup of pickle juice for her post-game interview. “There’s been a lot of years put into this, so getting a win and having a shot now at the conference championship, it means a lot.”

The win puts the Rebels, ranked 11th in Class 1A, in control of their own destiny for at least a share of the West title, as G-R and the Spartans are each 4-1 in atop the division table with three games to play.

PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

The Rebels led by eight points at one stage of the fourth quarter, but Karlee Lynch and the Spartans climbed back within a single possession in the final minute of the game with Lynch hitting one of two free throws to make it 40-37 with 50 seconds to play.

G-R was pressured into a quick turnover, and what followed was a heart-stopping sequence as the Spartans put up five attempts at either a game-tying 3-pointer or something to get Grundy within one, but the lid was on the basket tight to benefit the hosts, and the Rebels mercifully reeled in a defensive rebound leading to Elly Sieh clinching the game at the free-throw line.

“I think our girls were playing as hard as they could and were just on tired legs for those last 30 seconds,” G-R head coach Amber Gerringer said. “Thankfully we were able to get our hands up and make shooting hard and get what we needed to get the win.”

The Rebels were dominant in the rebounding game to start the second half, including eight second-chance points as they seemed poised to run away with the contest.

“Grundy’s always an aggressive and tough team, but I think we made smarter choices tonight,” Brant said. “We attacked, we became the more aggressive team and we came out better for it.”

PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

Elly Sieh and Kailey Larsen added six points each for the Rebels. Lynch scored 14 points to lead Grundy and Ava Mundt added 11.

The Spartans fell to 8-6 overall and have yet to string together back-to-back wins in the new year.

“We had two straight bad turnovers in the third quarter, couldn’t knock down timely shots and the rebounding was huge,” Grundy Center head coach Matt Lindeman said. “That’s the game of basketball. … Our girls are always going to grind it out though, even when things aren’t going well, and that gives us a chance.”

G-R has a big week ahead with road games at AGWSR and South Hardin next Tuesday and Thursday that will go far in determining their potential stake of a division title.

For now, the Rebels will enjoy getting a big rivalry win in front of a standing-room-only crowd in Reinbeck.

PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

“These games are always great,” Brant said. “I love a good, packed gym. Our crowds always show out and we feed off that energy.”