Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The City High senior trio of Aubrey Joens, Rose Nkumu and Paige Rocca were honored with a ceremony before the Little Hawks top-six matchup with Cedar Rapids Prairie on Friday night.

Then the senior trio put on a show of their own.

Led by a record-breaking 31-point outburst by Joens the City High seniors combined for 61 points as top-ranked City High steamrolled sixth-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie 85-63 on senior night at City High.

“We knew even though it was a special night for us seniors that we knew that had to take care of business,” Joens said. “This was a big game.”

City High (17-0, 12-0) seized control of the Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division race with the win moving a game in front of sixth-ranked Prairie (16-2, 12-1).

It was also a fitting senior night sendoff for a senior class that has been pivotal in the Little Hawks recent run of success.

Joens broker her older sister Courtney’s school record for 3-pointers in a game with nine as City High hit 14 3-pointers.

Nkumu had 18 points and Rocca added 12 points as City High cracked 80 points for the seventh time this season.

“The seniors wanted to go out in style on senior night and they did,” McTaggart said. “We were trying to make it a fast-paced game and we were pleased with pace. That was the key.”

City High never trailed on Friday scoring the first six points of the game before busting open a five-point game with a 16-2 first-quarter run.

Joens hit her first seven 3-point attempts as City High went 11-of-14 from behind the arc in the first half while building a 53-31 halftime lead.

“Obviously they’ve had a great season so far and they are a good team so we wanted to come out strong to start with and we got up early,” Joens said. “Everybody was knocking down shots and there was a lot of good ball movement.”

City High led 13-8 midway through the first quarter when the barrage began.

Sophomore Eviyon Richardson scored on a putback with 3:59 left in the first quarter that started a 11-0 City High burst.

Joens and Ella Cook hit 3-pointers just 13 seconds apart to give City High a 29-10 lead.  

“It’s really fun because everyone was knocking down shots,” Joens said. “One more pass is always there and we know whoever gets it will knock it down.

Joens was just getting started.

The Iowa State signee hit four more 3-pointers without a miss in the second quarter as City High started the game 11-of-12 from 3.

Joens had three 3-pointers in a span of less than two minutes as City High built a 53-25 lead on her seventh triple of the game with 1:54 left in the first half.

“When she has the hot hand, she’s got it,” Nkumu said of Joens. “When she is continuously making those shots we just make sure to keep feeding it to her. She’s the source of our offense, she is what gets offense going because when she is hitting from out there it opens up the lane for me to drive.”

Joens had 23 of her game-high 31 points in the first half and finished 9-of-13 from 3-point range.

“I was feeling hot and my teammates were getting me the ball when I was open,” Joens said. “I just kept shooting. It felt like practice a little bit.”

Prairie attempted to cut into the lead in the third quarter but Rocca and Nkumu ignited a 9-2 City High run to end the third quarter.

Nkumu had seven of her 18 points in the third quarter, connecting on her final five field goal attempts.

“Our thing this year is outrunning teams and pushing the tempo to our pace and making sure we get things going,” Nkumu said. “Our defense turns into our offense, even if we don’t get a steal if we get a stop it really kicks things up for us on the offensive end.”

Cook added 11 points for City High and Kelsey Joens had seven for the Little Hawks while Eviyon Richardson had five points and a game-high seven rebounds.

City High shot 51 percent from the floor including 54 percent from 3-point range.

“It was really fun to play in this environment,” Nkumu said. “We had really good support from the fans and it was one of the most fun I’ve had in a game this season.

Mallory McDermott led Cedar Rapids Prairie with 15 points. Kamryn Grissel had 13 and Sidney McCrea 12 for the Hawks.

City High       29  24  19  13  –  85

CR Prairie     12  19  13   9   –  53

City High (85) – CeCe Kelly-Harvey 0-0 1-2 1, Rose Nkumu 7-11 3-3 18, Georgia Kimm 0-1 0-0 0, Lauren Koch 0-1 0-0 0, Kelsey Joens 3-8 0-0 7, Eviyon Richardson 2-3 1-1 5, Andie Westlake 0-0 0-2 0, Ella Cook 4-5 2-4 11, Paige Rocca 3-10 4-5 12, Aubrey Joens 11-20 0-0 31, Totals 30-59 11-17 85.  

Cedar Rapids Prairie (53) – Sidney McCrea 4-8 3-3 12, Kamryn Grissel 5-9 1-1 13, Mallory McDermott 5-12 4-4 15, Jenna Leggat 2-3 0-0 4, Hailey Cooper 2-5 2-6 6, Natalie Bennett 0-4 0-0 0, Chloe Heefner 1-2 0-0 2, Anna Eckert 0-1 0-0 0, Emma Keiper 0-0 1-2 1, Totals 19-44 11-16 4-15.

3-point field goals – ICH 14-26 (A. Joens 9-13, Rocca 2-4, Cook 1-2, K. Joens 1-3, Nkumu 1-2, Kimm 0-1, Koch 0-1), CRP 4-15 (McCrea 1-3, Grissel 2-3, McDermott 1-5, Cooper 0-1, Bennett 0-3). Rebounds – ICH 34 (Richardson 7), CRP 24 (Grissel, McDermott 4). Turnovers – ICH 9, CRP 16. Total fouls – ICH 13, CRP 12. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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