West High junior Logan Cook By Susan Harman
Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – For the second straight game senior guard Rachael Saunders was out with a concussion, but the West High girls basketball team was cooking even without her.

Junior Logan Cook and sophomore Emma Koch combined for 31 points, including 21 of the team’s 22 in the first quarter, and the Women of Troy ran away from Cedar Rapids Prairie 70-39 Tuesday at West.

Four players scored at least 12 points for West (7-1, 5-0) in what turned out to be an excellent send off into the holiday break.

“I think we’re really happy with where we’re at right now, but we want to get better,” Cook said.

“It’s great; we’re 7-1 and had a chance against the No. 2-ranked team (City High) in the state, and we get to play them again,” West coach B.J. Mayer said. “We’ve taken some huge steps from day one of practice to right now.”

Sophomore guard Cailyn Morgan hit every shot she took and finished with 12 points, and sophomore Lauren Zacharias hit four 3-pointers in a five-minute span in the second half and finished with 14.

Overall the Women of Troy made 25 of 44 shots and 6-of-17 3-pointers. They made 14 of 17 foul shots. They were terrific in the opening quarter as they took control of the game.

“I’d say our defense really drives the offense,” Cook said. “That’s what Coach always says. We get fast breaks with steals.”

But it wasn’t just the full-court press that produced transition baskets. West moved the ball quickly in its half-court offense and invariably found a good shot inside.

“Before they went to a zone when they were in man, we just had really good matchups,” Koch said. “A lot of our cuts and drives were wide open.”

“We’ve struggled a little bit offensively; we’ve been pretty good defensively,” Mayer said. “We’ve done a better job of (spacing) and screening for people. Sometimes we get a little dribble happy, and we’ve worked on taking what the defense gives us.”

Prairie (2-8) struggled from the field against West’s full-court pressure, an aggressive half-court trap and later a 1-3-1 zone, shooting 37 percent.

“I think that they were a little frustrated, and that made it a little easier for us,” Zacharias said of the press and half-court trap. “We just love trapping and making them confused and frustrated. It goes so much easier for us.”

Saunders suffered the injury against City High but Mayer is hopeful she won’t miss any more games.

“I think we’ll get her back over break,” Mayer said. “It’s been nice that we’ve had some other kids step in. Cailyn played well. We have a lot of individuals who could do something, but they all sacrifice for the betterment of the team. That’s how we’ve always played. We picked up Rachael and when Rachael gets back we’ll be that much better, hopefully.”

CR Prairie 10 10 11  8 – 39
West High 22 17 13 18 – 70

Cedar Rapids Prairie (39) – Sarah Schmitt 3-9 2-3 8, Sid McCrea 1-5 0-0 2, Mallory McDermott 4-7 0-2 9, Rachael Kilpatrick 0-1 1-2 1, Lauren Kuch 2-3 0-0 5, Maggie Lampe 0-0 0-0 0, Makenna Moenk 2-5 2-2 7, Halle Person 0-4 2-4 2, Quinn Deahl 0-0 0-0 0, Nicole Sullivan 1-1 1-2 4, Morgan Erickson 0-0 1-2 1, Jenna Leggat 0-0 0-0 0, Team 13-35 9-17 39.

West High (70) – Cailyn Morgan 3-3 4-4 12, Lauren Zacharias 5-9 0-0 14, Maddie Huinker 0-5 0-0 0, Logan Cook 8-10 0-0 16, Emma Koch 4-7 7-7 15, Katie McGrane 2-5 0-0 4, Paige Beckner 2-2 0-0 4, Ali Tauchen 1-2 2-4 4, Carrie Callahan 0-0 0-0 0, Sydney Allen 0-0 1-2 1, Brianna Faulkner 0-1 0-0 0, Team 25-44 14-17 70.

3-point goals – CRP 4-16 (Schmitt 0-2, McCrea 0-3, McDermott 1-4, Kuch 1-2, Moenk 1-2, Person 0-2, Sullivan 1-1), ICW6-17 (Morgan 2-2, Zacharias 4-6, Huinker 0-5, Koch 0-1, McGrane 0-2, Tauchen 0-1). Total fouls – CRP 14, ICW 14. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – None.