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Heelan girls take home 3A state title

The No. 1 ranked Bishop Heelan Catholic High School girls basketball team defeated number two Waukon 73-54 to win the Class 3A championship March 6 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

The Crusaders finished their 26-1 season with their second state title in three years.

Senior Carli Tritz had 25 points, six rebounds and five assists. She set an all-time tournament record with 11 steals. Millie Niggeling, a senior, added 22 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four blocked shots. Amanda Hoffman had 11 points and Maggie Vondrak had six.

Heelan led 26-12 after the first quarter. However, with Tritz, Niggeling and Vondrak on the bench each with two fouls, Waukon cut the lead to 37-30 at halftime.
The beginning of the second half brought an eight-point run by the Crusaders and they never looked back.

Heelan beat defeating champion No. 5 Huxley Ballard 59-54 in the state semi-finals to earn an appearance in the final. They beat No. 8 Marion 69-61 in the quarterfinals.

Tritz and Vondrak were named to the Class 3A All-Tournament team, with Tritz as captain.

Tritz was also named “Miss Basketball” for 2010 by the Iowa Newspaper Association March 8, and was made a member of the Class 3A All-State first team. The Creighton University-bound Tritz is a three-sport all-stater in basketball, volleyball and soccer. She played in three straight Iowa Class 3A state championship games, helping her team win the state titles in 2008 and 2010.

A 5-11 senior, Tritz finished her career with 1,594 points, which ranks second in Sioux City five-player history. She averaged 22.5 points per game this season while pulling down 3.86 rebounds per outing. She had 147 steals and averaged 6.62 assists.

Niggeling was named to the All-State second team. She finished her career with 1,373 points, which is fourth in Sioux City five-player history.