Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Whatever it takes.

Down double digits to third-ranked West Des Moines Dowling with under four minutes to play in Monday’s Class 5A state quarterfinal those are the words Lauren Zacharias screamed to her West High teammates.

Whatever it takes.

It took a lot but eighth-ranked West High is moving on.

West High rallied from a 12-point fourth quarter deficit to force overtime and outscored Dowling 16-6 in the extra session to stun the Maroons 63-53 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“I guess I just kept on telling the team we aren’t done, we are winning this thing,” Zacharias said. “I kept saying we have to do whatever it takes. I guess that just motivated all of us to keep going.”

What all did it take for West High to return to the 5A semifinals for the second consecutive season and third time in four years?

It took a fourth-quarter rally and a monster second-half performance from junior Cailyn Morgan.

West High still needed a game-saving block by the 5-foot-5 Zacharias as time expired in regulation and 14 free throws in overtime to advance to face Indianola (21-3) on Thursday at 11:45 a.m.

“We weren’t ready to lose, we aren’t ready to be done, we want to go all the way,” Zacharias said. “If that block means that we are keep it going I will do whatever it takes.”

Morgan scored 12 of her team-high 20 points in the fourth quarter to help West High erase a 12 point deficit.

The 5-foot-9 Morgan also played a key role in limiting Dowling standout sophomore Caitlin Clark to eight points on 4-of-13 shooting in the second half and overtime. 

“We didn’t really design anything, our coach just said we are going to do what West does and we are going to play defense like West does,” Morgan said. “Caitlin is an amazing player and I was grateful that I got the opportunity to guard her and I just did what I did and played defense. I guess that was my role.

West High led by as many as eight in the first half but Dowling rallied to tie the score at 21 at the half.

The Maroons outscored West High 10-4 in the third quarter and took their biggest lead of the game at 37-28 on a Mia Cataldo with 6:09 left.

Morgan kept West High afloat, scoring seven straight points to trim the lead to five.

“Cailyn knocked down amazing free throws she put us on her back honestly,” Zacharias said. “She played great.”

Dowling still led by 10 after a Clark driving layup with 3:42 left.

West High again refused to lay down.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Zacharias and Morgan cut the lead to four with 2:34 left.

After a pair of Dowling free throws West High rattled off seven straight points and took its first lead of the second half on a Zacharias 3-pointer with 65 seconds remaining.

“We’ve been in those positions before, a lot of them we’ve come up short so we just dug as deep as we could and put the ball in the hands of whoever was hot,” West High senior Rachael Saunders said. “That happened to be Cailyn and Lauren and they did an incredible job.”

Zacharias put West High up 47-45 with a driving layup and Clark tied it 12 seconds later on a layup of her own.

West High had a chance to get the final shot but a Saunders runner was long and Clark rebounded a threw an outlet to a wide-open Anna Wanek.

Wanek appeared poised to put in a game-winning layup as time expired but Zacharias hustled in to block the shot from behind as time expired.

“I saw a wide-open layup and somewhere out of I don’t know where Z came out of the blue,” West High coach BJ Mayer said. “She doesn’t block many shots and she shouldn’t she is one of our hardest workers in the weight room and she squats an unbelievable amount for a little kid and that’s where that probably paid off today in saving our season.”

Saunders put West High up 50-49 with a step back 18-foot jumper with 2:45 left in overtime and West High never trailed again.

West High was 1-of-2 from the free throw line in the first three quarters combined but converted on 20-of-26 free throws in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Morgan was 11-of-12 from the line all in the final 12 minutes.

“Coach told us that we were going to get the last shot and we are going to play some more basketball,” Morgan said. “We didn’t get the last shot unfortunately but we did play some more basketball.”

Did they ever.

West High limited Dowling to six points on 2-of-9 shooting in the four-minute overtime.

“We came together and we just keep saying that we will do it together like always,” Morgan said. “We weren’t going to give up, we knew we could come back.”

Saunders added 13 points and Zacharias and Emma Koch each had nine for West High which shot 38 percent for the game.

West High will be seeking its first time game appearance since 2012 when it faces Indianola on Thursday at 11:45 a.m.

“It means everything,” Saunders said. “We want to pack those duffles on Thursday and come back on Friday so we are really looking forward to it.”

West High                              9  12   4   22  16 –  63

West Des Moines Dowling      5  16  10  16   6  –  53

West High (63) – Cailyn Morgan 3-9 11-12 20, Lauren Zacharias 3-6 1-2 9, Rachael Saunders 4-14 5-6 13, Logan Cook 2-8 1-4 5, Emma Koch 4-8 1-2 9, Matayia Tellis 2-2 2-2 7, Audrey Koch 0-0 0-0 0, Paige Beckner 0-1 0-0 0, Team 18-48 21-28 63.

West Des Moines Dowling (53) – Caitlin Clark 9-27 2-2 22, Kaitlyn Moses 0-3 2-2 2, Mia Cataldo 5-11 0-0 12, Anna Wanek 1-6 0-0 2, Josie Filer 4-6 4-5 12, Ella McVey 0-0 0-0 0, Grace Gaber 1-2 0-0 3, Jacey Koethe 0-1 0-0 0, Team 20-56 8-9 53.

3-point field goals – ICW 6-18 (Morgan 3-6, Zacharias 2-5, Saunders 0-3, Cook 0-1, Koch 0-1, Tellis 1-1, Beckner 0-1); DOW 5-21 (Clark 2-10, Moses 0-2, Cataldo 2-6, Wanek 0-1, Gaber 1-2). Rebounds – ICW 35 (E. Koch 9); DOW 33 (Clark 9). Assists – ICW 8 (Cook 4); DOW 9 (Clark 6). Turnovers – ICW 12; DOW 14. Total fouls – ICW 15; DOW 20. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.