VINTON — Abby Davis’ replay button got a severe workout last week.
“I’ve been watching game film and reliving it,” she said.
Can you blame her?
It was a moment, nine years in the making, that brought out some unexpected reactions from Vinton-Shellsburg girls’ basketball players.
And staff.
“I hugged a lot of people,” head coach Rich Haisman said, about the aftermath of the Vikettes’ Class 3A regional-final win at Grinnell. “Some of them, I didn’t even know. They could have been from Grinnell, for all I know.”
It was a moment that Haisman visualized for this group, even when they were too small to get the ball to the rim as third-graders, when they were absorbing losses by scores like 40-2.
When the other team would steal the ball, let this team catch up, so the other could team could work on its half-court offense.
Still, he believed in these girls, when they were 9, 10, 11 years old.
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“He told us that someday, we were going to be difference-makers,” Davis said. “He said we were going to be special.”
Haisman saw it then. Now, everyone sees it. And whatever happens next, the Vikettes have fulfilled their promise.
A former girls’ basketball giant, which went dormant for more than a decade, Vinton-Shellsburg is in its first state tournament in 24 years.
The 10th-ranked Vikettes (17-7) face defending-champion, top-rated Estherville-Lincoln Central (24-0) in a Class 3A quarterfinal at 5 p.m. Monday at Wells Fargo, Des Moines.
“We are a confident team right now,” Haisman said. “I guarantee this: Neither team is going there to lose.
“It’s going to be a heck of a battle, and I wouldn’t ever want to go to fight without these guys. They’re just built differently.”
Alyssa Griffith said, “Just making it was never our end goal.”
The regional-final win was Saturday, Feb. 18. The Vikettes celebrated through the rest of the weekend, soaking in a community’s adulation.
Then it was back to work.
“We got to Monday, and the focus was back,” Sophia Kreutner said.
Ashlie Davis said, “We’ve probably practiced the hardest we’ve practiced all year. (ELC has) quick guards, and we’ve got to be ready.”
Harold Shepherd built an elite program at Vinton, then at Vinton-Shellsburg. Conference championships came regularly. The Vikettes went to eight state tournaments between 1978 and 1999, winning a six-player championship (1984) and a Class 3A five-player crown (1995).
Vinton-Shellsburg won a Wamac Conference title in 2004-05, then came decline.
In an eight-year span from 2011-12 to 2018-19, the program won 22 games and lost 154. That’s one win for every seven losses.
“When we were younger, we would come to the home games, but we’d get bored, sit in the corner and play games,” Brylee Bruce said.
It would have been 2015-16 when the current senior class began playing (sort-of) organized basketball, as third-graders, under Haisman. His daughter, Molly, was on that team (she now is involved in dance and serves as a basketball manager).
In fourth grade, the team started to win a little bit. By fifth grade, they started to win some tournaments.
A seventh-grade math teacher, Haisman was hired as middle-school coach when this group hit seventh grade, then took the varsity job when it came open in 2019.
This class went 10-2 in seventh grade, 11-0 in eighth.
“They became a confident team,” Haisman said.
The year before this class entered high school, Vinton-Shellsburg was 4-18.
The next year, with six freshmen on the varsity roster and Haisman in charge, it was 12-11.
“When they were freshmen, they didn’t care that they were freshmen,” Haisman said. “They were going to compete with the juniors and seniors for playing time. It was like, ‘We’re here, and we’re ready to fight as hard as we can.’”
Those six seniors have stuck it out. Griffith, Davis, Kreutner, Meyer and Bruce comprise the starting lineup, with Kalie Burke joining junior Julia Johnson as key reserves.
The Vikettes have won seven straight games.
“Since Christmas break, we’ve flipped a switch,” Bruce said. “There’s three parts to a season ... before break, after break and the postseason. Once the postseason came, it was do-or-die time.”
Vinton-Shellsburg will be a decisive underdog against ELC. The Vikettes don’t care.
“I don’t think that means anything,” Burke said.
No matter what, they’ve fulfilled Haisman’s early observations. They’ve been difference-makers. And yes, they’re special.
“Sports at Vinton-Shellsburg had been pretty ‘meh,’” Burke said. “We’ve brought some life back.”
Meet the Vinton-Shellsburg seniors:
BRYLEE BRUCE (5-11, forward)
Stats: 4.6 points, 7.2 rebounds per game, 376 career points.
Future plans: Will play volleyball at Cornell College.
She said it: “When we were younger, we would come to the home games, but we’d get bored, sit in the corner and play games.”
KALIE BURKE (6-0, center)
Stats: 3.7 points, 3.6 rebounds per game; 280 career points.
Future plans: Will attend the University of Central Florida.
She said it: “I think our legacy is that we’ve brought life back to Vinton-Shellsburg sports. They had been pretty ‘meh.’ We’re underdogs (Monday), but I don’t think that means anything.”
ABBY DAVIS (5-6, guard)
Stats: 10.9 points, 2.7 assists, 2.4 steals per game; 586 career points.
Future plans: Plans to attend the University of Northern Iowa.
She said it: “We really wanted to leave a legacy here. ELC is a great team, but they don’t scare us. I think we’re prepared to play a high-level team.”
ALYSSA GRIFFITH (5-11, forward)
Stats: 12.1 points, 6.3 rebounds per game; 911 career points.
Future plans: Will attend the University of Iowa.
She said it: “I don’t think just making it was our end goal. We’ve thought all along that we were going to be state champions.”
SOPHIA KREUTNER (5-8, guard)
Stats: 6.9 points per game, 444 career points.
Future plans: Will play softball at Kirkwood Community College.
She said it: “If we play our best game, anything can happen. We play better competition. We get to see a state-level team (in the Wamac Conference) every week.”
ASHLIE MEYER (5-11, forward)
Stats: 6.8 points, 4.6 rebounds per game; 440 career points.
Future plans: Will attend the Des Moines Area Community College.
She said it: “I’m so grateful. Every year, I’ve been out there, just watching and wishing we could play there ... We’ve known Coach (Rich Haisman) for so long. He’s easy to communicate with, and will listen with an open mind, but he won’t accept low effort.”
Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com