City High Returns to State Tournament With 57-40 Win Over Bettendorf
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
IOWA CITY – Aubrey Joens got City High out to an early lead in its regional final matchup with Bettendorf on Tuesday evening with a strong first quarter.
Rose Nkumu sealed the Little Hawks third straight trip to the state tournament with a stellar second half.
Joens scored 14 points in the first quarter as City High (19-2) built an early 10-point lead and Nkumu scored 18 of her game-high 22 after halftime as sixth-ranked City High rolled to a 57-40 win over Bettendorf (16-7) in the Class 5A, Region 1 title game.
The defending 5A runner-up Little Hawks will face eighth-ranked West Des Moines Valley (17-5) in a 5A quarterfinal at 11:45 a.m. on Monday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
“This means a lot,” Joens said. “Going last year and not getting the job done we have another chance to do down there and accomplish what we want.”
Joens and Nkumu made sure a third consecutive state tournament trip was never in doubt.
Joens scored 14 points during a 19-5 first-quarter run that helped City High build a 19-9 lead after one quarter.
Nkumu did the rest with 18 second-half points including eight in a 10-0 Little Hawk run to open the third quarter that put City High up 35-15.
“We didn’t let ourselves get down when we missed a couple of shots,” Nkumu said. “We went through a series where we had eight shots and none of them went in but we kept pushing to play as hard as we could.”
Joens finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds and Ella Cook had 10 points and seven boards as City High outrebounded the taller Bulldogs by 18.
Despite being at a distinct height disadvantage City High held a 43-25 rebounding edge that including 18 offensive rebounds.
City High had 16 offensive rebounds in the first half alone which led to 38 first-half shot attempts, 16 more than Bettendorf.
The Little Hawks shot just 26 percent from the field in the first half but led 25-15 at halftime.
“The ball movement was good and our offensive rebounding was good,” Joens said. “I thought our rebounding tonight was really good, we moved the ball and got good shots.”
Nkumu sparked the Little Hawks early in the second half with a deep 3-pointer on the opening possession and a steal and layup on the ensuing Bettendorf possession.
The junior point guard fed Cook for a layup to put City High up 32-25 and capped the 10-0 run with another 3-pointer that pushed the lead to 20 with 5:26 left in the third quarter.
“She was huge tonight,” City High coach Bill McTaggart said of Nkumu. “She controls the tempo.”
Nkumu missed her first seven field goal attempts on her way to 2-of-11 shooting in the first half but made her first three attempts after halftime and finished 6-of-8 from the floor in the final two quarters.
“I think the first half they were doing a really good job of eliminating my driving lanes and I was just getting the ball to my teammates and seeing them make shots makes me just as happy as if I made shots,” Nkumu said. “I was just patient the first half and the second half my teammates were looking for me and they created some space in the lane for me to drive and that was key.”
After allowing 51 points in a semifinal win over Muscatine the Little Hawks held Bettendorf to 40 points on 38 percent shooting.
City High forced Bettendorf into eight third-quarter turnovers while outscoring the Bulldogs 18-10.
“That’s all our practice was the last few days, it was all defense,” McTaggart said. “We created turnovers the second half and that was the difference.”
Allie Brownson led Bettendorf with 12 points while Kylie Wroblewski added 10 points and nine rebounds for the Bulldogs.
City High brings a five-game winning streak into its state tournament opener as it attempts to return to the state title game where it lost to West High last season.
“They are all different, this team is completely different team,” McTaggart said. “We had a bad taste in our mouth last year and that will help us out this year hopefully being more inspired.”
Bettendorf 9 6 10 15 – 40
City High 19 6 18 14 – 57
City High (57) – Rose Nkumu 8-19 4-6 22, Eviyon Richardson 0-0 2-2 2, Andie Westlake 1-3 0-0 2, Ella Cook 5-9 0-0 10, Paige Rocca 1-8 0-0 3, Aubrey Joens 6-17 4-5 18, Totals 21-56 10-13 57.
Bettendorf (40) – Grace McKenzie 0-1 0-0 0, Allie Brownson 4-7 3-4 12, Ashley Fountain 1-4 5-6 7, Maggie Erpelding 2-9 0-2 5, Kaalyn Petersen 0-2 0-0 0, Kylie Wroblewski 5-13 0-0 10, Emilie Gist 2-3 0-0 4, Jenna Schweizer 1-1 0-0 2, Totals 15-40 8-12 40.
3-point field goals – ICH 5-20 (Nkumu 2-5, Westlake 0-1, Rocca 1-5, Joens 2-9), BET 2-9 (McKenzie 0-1, Brownson 1-4, Fountain 0-1, Erpelding 1-2, Petersen 0-1). Rebounds – ICH 43 (Joens 12), BET 25 (Wroblewski 9). Turnovers – ICH 12, BET 16. Total fouls – ICH 12, BET 12. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.
Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by becoming a member.