The West Marshall girls’ basketball program had to replace its 33-year Hall of Fame head coach in Fred Zeller and an NCAA Division I recruit in Katy Reyerson after its 2023 campaign.

And yet two years later, the Trojans are going back to the Well.

West Marshall went on the road and knocked off No. 4 Forest City, 51-48, in Saturday’s Class 3A Region 3 championship game to get back to the Iowa High School Girls State Basketball Tournament for the third time in the last six years.

It’s the first trip for head coach Cody Hackett, who in his second season assembled a staff and a squad that accepted their roles and ran with them. The Trojans (19-5) didn’t play a perfect ballgame and they’ll tell you the same, but they beat the team they had to in order to secure the school’s 12th state tournament berth.

“There’s some moments this year where the girls probably questioned what their role was and sometimes I probably don’t do a very good job of explaning that,” Hacket said, “so there’s been some times of frustration.

“I’m extremely proud of how hard they worked day-in and day-out. I’m super-proud of our girls, super-proud of our seniors. This is something we wanted since last year, it’s surreal and we got here and we’re going to state.”

Tthe Trojans traveled two hours north to face the top team from the Top of Iowa Conference. Forest City (23-2) had lost only once all season — to 4A No. 9 Waverly-Shell Rock — and the Indians were rarely threatened on their home court, where they were 10-0 before Saturday’s regional final.

Fast-forward to the final horn, when Forest City’s frantic scramble to get one last tying 3-point attempt off failed, sending West Marshall into celebration.

“We got down at times throughout the game and you deal with adversity and at the end of the game, we scored more points than they did,” Hackett said. “I give Forest City credit for playing extremely hard, they never quit, they got us a little rattled there at the end, but fortunately we had a couple timeouts left that we could calm the girls down.”

Forest City head coach Matt Erpelding thought that was the difference in the game. Everytime his team felt it had turned the momentum in front of a raucous hometown crowd packed into the bleachers, West Marshall had an answer.

“We made runs to force a timeout, they came out of the timeouts and matched our runs, and that can’t happen on your home court,” Erpelding said. “That’s something we were stressing forever, but that was the key tonight. They just kept battling and battling and we came up a little short.

“Our crowd is tremendous, this was a great atmosphere tonight, but unfortunately West Marshall is celebrating and not us.”

West Marshall led by as six points in the first half, but the lead at intermission was one — 21-20. The Trojans had 14 turnovers to that point and their leading scorer, Bella Borgos, hadn’t scored at all. Fellow senior Halle Jones had the hot hand, instead, and handled the big moments for her team.

Jones made three of her career-high four 3-pointers in the first half, scoring 11 points to help West Marshall hold a slim lead at the break.

“Going into the game I knew my teammates had confidence in me, my coaches have confidence in me and I had confidence in myself,” Jones said. “What we did tonight — it was crazy.

“This means everything, this is my dream, dream come true. I can’t believe it, I can’t believe we’re going to state.”

A furious Forest City surge to start the second half put those plans on hold. The Indians used an 8-0 run to take their first lead since scoring the first basket of the game, going in front 28-23 with 5:33 left in the third quarter.

Hackett took a timeout and the Trojans composed themselves, retailiating with a 10-0 push powered by back-to-back 3-pointers by Jones and Borgos.

West Marshall answered every challenge from the Indians despite turnover problems, countering with a locked-in defensive effort that forced Forest City to settle for too many 3-point attempts to remain efficient.

The back-and-forth battle persisted until the Trojans opened the gap in the fourth, scoring six-straight for a 49-42 lead with 41 seconds left.

Backed against a wall, Forest City found its shooting touch in the clutch. Colette Loges sank her first 3-pointer since that opening salvo and Lexi Isebrand added a deep trey to make it 50-48 with 11.1 seconds showing.

Borgos got one of two free throws to fall, and with four fouls to give, West Marshall turned Forest City’s final 11 seconds into five. Isebrand’s 3-point try was long, and the Indians were denied their second-straight trip to state.

With Zeller and Reyerson in the stands, the Trojans’ new puzzle had taken form, and Borgos and Lily Zahnd, both starters on the 2023 state team, shared in a new celebration.

“They both were like insane experiences, but obviously being my senior year has a huge impact and we really, really wanted this and I think that’s what energized us to do so good tonight,” said Zahnd, who led the Trojans with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Borgos ended with 12 points — all in the second half — and relished this last trip to state with a couple years of perspective under her belt.

“You only get this team once and it’s bittersweet because this is our last ride, but we’re going to state and that’s the end goal in everyone’s book,” she said. “It’s surreal to me. We’ve been playing since third grade and we all stuck on different pants but we’re here today. Looking back those moments are bittersweet, but now we’re going to state together one last time it’s so amazing.”

Jones ended up with 14 points, while fellow juniors Shelby Johnston and Riley Randall contributed four and three points, respectively. Freshman reserve Kinley Johnston had two boards and one blocked shot.

Senior starters Avery Evertsen and Natalie Nichols didn’t score either, but that wasn’t necessarily their piece in this particular puzzle.

“I think everyone on the team knows their role,” said Zahnd. “They’ll maybe not do as much, but they do a lot for us. They know they’re in there for a reason and they will play their part and I think everybody knows that.”

Loges led Forest City with 17 points, Dru Seglem added eight and Isebrand seven. Jenna Dontje, the Indians’ second-leading scorer and primary post player, was held to six points.

West Marshall will have all week to prepare for the state tournament after pulling off the biggest upset of the regional round. The Trojans receive the No. 8 seed and will face top-seeded Mount Vernon (23-1) in the 3A opener Monday, March 3, at 5 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“As long as we all know our roles and we’re playing together like we are now, we’re unstoppable,” Borgos said.

West Marshall 51, Forest City 48

WEST MARSHALL (19-5) — Bella Borgos 3 4-6 12, Lily Zahnd 6 6-7 18, Natalie Nichols 0 0-0 0, Halle Jones 5 0-0 14, Avery Evertsen 0 0-0 0, Riley Randall 1 0-0 3, Kinley Johnston 0 0-2 0, Shelby Johnston 2 0-0 4. TOTALS 17 10-15 51.

FOREST CITY (23-2) — Colette Loges 6 2-2 17, Bethany Warren 2 2-3 6, Lexi Isebrand 3 0-0 7, Jenna Dontje 2 2-2 6, Dru Seglem 4 0-0 8, Brenin Giesen 2 0-2 4, Ashlen Kingland 0 0-0 0, Cadence Sletten 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 19 6-9 48.

W. MARSHALL 9 12 15 15 — 51

FOREST CITY 7 13 13 15 — 48

3-Point Goals–West Marshall 7 (Jones 4, Borgos 2, Randall), Forest City 4 (Loges 3, Isebrand). Team Fouls–West Marshall 8, Forest City 13. Fouled Out–Seglem.

Iowa Girls State Basketball Tournament

At Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines

Quarterfinal Pairings

CLASS 3A

Monday, March 3

No. 1 Mount Vernon (23-1) vs. No. 8 West Marshall (19-5), 5 p.m.

No. 4 Cherokee (21-3) vs. No. 5 Estherville-Lincoln Central (20-3), 6:45 p.m.

No. 2 Dubuque Wahlert (19-4) vs. No. 7 Spirit Lake (17-7), 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday, March 4

No. 3 Williamsburg (23-2) vs. No. 6 Des Moines Christian (21-3), 10 a.m.