Pat Harty

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Regina girls basketball coach Jeff Wallace was proud and pleased for the most part with how his team defended City High star Ashley Joens.

And she still scored 35 points.

“She’s just the best player that I’ve ever coached against Wallace said after Saturday’s 75-61 loss to the Class 5A top-ranked Little Hawks. “She’s just tremendous. We were into her pretty tough. We made her night tough and she still had 35.

“We tried to body her up as much as possible and tire her out and hopefully get her in foul trouble, which we did. Our kids followed our game plan to perfection. I was really happy with that.”

Joens picked up her third foul late in the second quarter, which saw City High go almost the entire quarter without making a basket.

Sophomore point guard Rose Nkumu finally made a basket just before the halftime buzzer to expand City High’s lead to 37-31 at halftime.

Regina trailed 28-10 after the first quarter, but then scored 14 consecutive points to start the second quarter.

Junior center Alex Wiese made a basket that trimmed the lead to 28-24 with 4 minutes, 10 seconds left in the second quarter.

Joens then answered with four consecutive free throws, but Regina answered back with a 3-point basket by Alexa Lehman that cut the lead to 32-27 with less than 3 minutes left in the second quarter.

The Little Hawks only made 1-of-12 field-goal attempts in the second quarter after converting on 11-of-16 shots in the first quarter,

“Regina exposed some things on us tonight,” said City High coach Bill McTaggart. “So hopefully, we can learn from that. And we told the girls, they didn’t know what Chaminade versus Virginia meant, but anybody that came to the gym that was neutral was going to go with the underdog and they kind of saw that happen.

“It was a nice, hostile environment, and I’m glad we came out alive.”

McTaggart was referring to Chaminade’s historic upset over Virginia and three-time national player of the year Ralph Sampson in 1982. It has been called college basketball’s biggest upset.

Regina flirted with an upset, cutting the deficit to four points twice in the third quarter. But the Little Hawks always had an answer.

Ashley Joens’ younger sister Aubrey Joens made a 3-point basket with 4:44 left in the third quarter after Regina had cut the lead to four.

Ashley Joens then made three baskets in a row for the Little Hawks, including a 3-pointer that expanded the lead to 54-43 with 1:18 left in the third quarter.

But Regina responded with a 6-2 scoring run to end the quarter, which ended with City High leading 57-49.

The Reglas narrowed the deficit to six points three times in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t get any closer.

Regina also scored six consecutive points late in the fourth quarter to trim the lead to 68-61.

But City High finally quelled the upset bid by scoring the final seven points in the game.

“We kind of let up a little bit, which let them back in it,” Ashley Joens said. “We started making dumb mistakes that usually we don’t make and that we probably shouldn’t have made. But we recovered and got it done.”

Ashley Joens made 12-of-21 shots from the field and 9-of-10 free throws. She also had two key steals late in the fourth quarter that resulted in a layup for Nkumu and two free throws for Joens.

“She’s a tremendous player, and great teammate and a great leader,” McTaggart said of the 6-foot Joens, who has signed a letter of intent with Iowa State.

City improved to 15-0 with the victory, while Regina fell to 11-4.

Wiese led Regina with 27 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. Star guard Mary Cromptom finished with 16 points, but she only made 3-of-12 field-goal attempts while being defended mostly by Nkumu.

Regina made 18 free throws, but was held to just one 3-point basket by Alexa Lehman in the second quarter. The Regals outscored City High 21-9 in the second quarter.

McTaggart was leery about facing Regina because it puts his team in a tough position as the top-ranked team in Class 5A facing a 2A opponent.

“It’s one of these games that they had more to gain than we did,” McTaggart said. “I’d rather not play this one for that reason. If we win, we’re supposed to. But if we don’t, we got beat by a 2A (opponent). But Regina was very good.”

City High    28   9   20  18  –  75

Regina        10  21  18  12  –  61

City High (75) – Ashley Joens 12-21 9-10 35, Roe Nkumu 6-8 2-2 14, Paige Rocca 3-6 1-2 9, Aubrey Joens 3-10, 1-2 9, Samantha Greving 2-4 4-6 8, Ella Cook 0-2 0-1 0, Ayana Lindsey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-51 17-23 75.

Regina (61) – Mary Crompton 3-12 10-11 16, Lauren Gaarde 0-2 1-1 1, Greyson Dumont 0-3 0-0 0, Kennedy Wallace 2-6 2-3 6, Alex Wiese 12-16 3-5 27, Alexa Lehman 2-3 0-0 5, Anna Martin 2-3 2-4 6, Katie Dunn 0-1 0-1 0. Totals 21-46 18-26 61.

3-point goals – City High 6 (Ashley Joens 2, Rocca 2, Aubrey Joens 2); Regina 1 (Alexa Lehman). Fouls – City High 21, Regina 21. Fouled out – Wiese.