Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Bill McTaggart contemplated utilizing full court pressure defense on multiple occasions over six quarters of action against cross-town rival West High this season.

The veteran City High coach just couldn’t quite pull the trigger on putting on the press.

At halftime of a tie game on Tuesday McTaggart left that decision to his players and got the exact answer he was hoping for.

“Our girls wanted to press,” McTaggart said. “They asked (at halftime) to come out with the press and I thought that was a great sign”

The Little Hawks’ full court pressure spurred an 11-0 run in the opening 75 seconds of the second half and pushed Class 5A top-ranked City High to a 79-70 win over No. 3 West High in a Mississippi Valley Conference matchup.

Ashley Joens scored eight straight points in a span of 38 seconds to open the third quarter as City High used its full court press to force three West High turnovers to open the second half.

Joens finished with game-highs of 32 points and 12 rebounds as City High improved to 16-0 on the season by completing the regular season sweep of its cross-town rivals.  

“We wanted to press,” Joens said. “We thought coming out with our press would give us some more momentum which did and that was important.”

City High never trailed on Tuesday jumping to a 20-8 lead a little more than six minutes into the game.

West High pulled even for the first time on a Cailyn Morgan layup that just beat the halftime buzzer and tied the score at 32-all.

City High bolted out of halftime locker room with a 16-2 run to start the third quarter and never let the Women of Troy get closer than five the rest of the way.

West High had seven of its 19 turnovers during the third quarter as City High pushed the pace with its full court press.

“I give them a little credit because we have had some struggles to start games and start the third quarter and they came out and tried to speed us up a little bit and they were able to do that,” West High coach BJ Mayer said. “It’s hard to keep coming back. You get down 12 or 13 and you fight your way back and eventually it just wears you down. It’s tough to do that.”

Joens gave City High a 34-32 lead with a driving layup 15 seconds into the second half and the Little Hawks immediately slapped on their press forcing a West High turnover on the inbounds pass.

On the ensuing possession Joens nailed a 3-pointer from the wing for a 37-32 lead.

Playing at the point of the City High press, Rose Nkumu came up with steals on back-to-back possessions that both lead to Joens shooting free throws.

The 6-foot senior converted 3-of-4 from the line and 38 seconds into the second half the City High lead was back to 40-32.

“We thought if we came out in the press we could catch them off guard and we did,” Nkumu said. “We got a couple of turnovers off that that led to baskets and it was a big swing in the game.”

Nkumu was the key to the City High pressure.

The speedy sophomore hounded West High ball handers into turnovers which led to City High transition opportunities where Nkumu excels.

After scoring two points on 1-of-4 shooting in the first half Nkumu had 16 points after halftime as four Little Hawks finished in double figures.

“When we press everybody loves the energy,” Nkumy said. “When you get a steal and get a quick bucket I think it just really starts our offense and feeds our defense.”

Logan Cook wouldn’t let West High go quietly.

The senior forward scored 17 of her team-high 26 points in the second half including seven straight during a 9-0 West High run that trimmed the lead to 51-46 with 13 seconds left in the third quarter.

“Logan played really well,” Mayer said. “She has been feeling that she is kind of letting the team down, she has been working really hard to try to get better. She is as competitive a kid as we’ve got so it was great to see her bounce back like that.”

West High got to within five once more at 55-50 but Sam Greving scored on a put back and Ashley Joens hit a pull up jumper off a turnover and West High never got closers than six the rest of the way.

“I am very pleased because this is a very good West High team, I can’t stress that enough,” McTaggart said. “They came ready to play, they have a really difficult schedule and our told our girls they are going to be very focused and they are going to give us their best game and we better be ready.”

Aubrey Joens finished with 17 points and Paige Rocca had 10 as City High shot 50 percent from the floor.

City High improved to 9-0 in MVC play with the win while West High dropped to 8-1.

“The first game with West wasn’t a conference game so this game was huge for us being a conference game and keeping our defeated streak going,” Rocca said. “Hopefully this gives us momentum.”

Emma Koch finished with 15 points and Lauren Zacharias added 14 for West High which dropped to 11-5 with its second straight loss despite shooting 54 percent from the floor.

It was 19 turnovers that hurt the Women of Troy.

“I think the main takeaway is that we need to get tougher and be ready for a press,” Logan Cook said. “We just have to be tougher and stronger with the ball.”

City High       23   9  21  26  –  79

West High      14  18 14  24  –  70

City High (79) – Rose Nkumu 6-11 5-6 18, Ashley Joens 9-16 12-15 32, Ella Cook 0-2 0-0 0, Paige Rocca 4-7 0-0 10, Aubrey Joens 5-10 2-2 17, Sam Greving 1-3 0-2 2, Team 25-50 19-25 79.

West High (70) – Cailyn Morgan 2-10 1-2 5, Lauren Zacharias 5-7 2-3 14, Rachael Saunders 3-7 0-0 6, Logan Cook 11-15 2-3 26, Emma Koch 5-9 4-4 15, Paige Beckner 2-4 0-0 4, Team 28-52 9-12 70.

3-point field goals – ICH 10-24 (Nkumu 1-5, Ash. Joens 2-4, Cook 0-2, Rocca 2-3, Aub. Joens 5-10); ICW 5-15 (Morgan 0-4, Zacharias 2-3, Saunders 0-1, Cook 2-4, Koch 1-2, Beckner 0-1). Rebounds – ICH 26 (Ash. Joens 12); ICW 29 (Cook 7). Turnovers – ICH 9; ICW 19. Total fouls – ICH 13; ICW 20. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.