Scheels Athlete of the Week: West High’s Cook Comes Up Big in Regional Final
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
IOWA CITY – There is a long list of big games by Logan Cook over the past four seasons.
The West High senior forward saved one of her best performances for when her team needed it most.
Cook scored 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead West High to a 61-51 road win over eighth-ranked Pleasant Valley on Tuesday in a Class 5A regional final.
The huge game from Cook helped West High (16-7) return to the Class 5A state tournament for the second straight season and third time in the past four seasons.
“At this point none of us want our high school careers to end,” Cook said. “We were just trying to focus on getting to state and trying to make another run this year.”
Cook has been at the center of the Women of Troy’s past two tournament runs.
The 6-foot-1 forward averaged a team-high 15 points per game last season while helping West High reach the state semifinals.
After that experience as a junior Cook wasn’t about to let her career end anywhere outside of Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
“She has really worked hard and I think she realizes that any time it could be over for her high school career,” West High coach BJ Mayer said. “I don’t think she is ready for that to happen and she has really stepped it up the past couple of weeks.”
A month ago a second consecutive state tournament trip seemed very much in doubt.
West High had lost four in a row to drop to 11-7 on the season and fell to ninth in the Class 5A rankings.
Mayer sat down with Cook during that stretch and the senior had a simple solution to some of her mid-season struggles.
“In that four-game stretch of losses we had some little meetings and I talked to some of the girls individually and asked them and one of Logan’s responses was she just said ‘I just have to play better’,” Mayer explained. “She has really worked and has really been huge for us the last few weeks.”
Cook leads West High with 14.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.
During the current five-game winning streak for West High that followed the four-game losing skid Cook has been markedly better.
Cook has double-doubles in three of the last five games following her 20-point, 13-rebound performance against Pleasant Valley.
Over the last five games Cook is averaging 17 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
“She has slowly gotten better and better and more confident each game,” West High coach BJ Mayer said. “I think she has had some lulls a little bit but she stepped up huge in the game that we absolutely needed to have her.”
The best performance during that stretch came with her prep career on the line.
Cook was 8-of-12 from the field and made all four of her free throw attempts in the win at Pleasant Valley.
She also added three assists and a blocked shot.
“It was a fun game,” Cook said. “I think we played well as a team and everyone did their part to help us get the win.”