Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The three seniors on the City High girls basketball team have made three trips to the state tournament.

Three years of experiencing the range of emotions that come with a trip to the state’s biggest basketball stage.

Three times Rose Nkumu, Aubrey Joens and Paige Rocca have shared the excitement of winning a regional final and the anxious anticipation of entering Wells Fargo Arena in search of a state title.

Each of the past three years have ended with the same combination of disappointment, frustration and heartache.

Three games.

That’s all that stands in the way of the City High senior trio walking out of Wells Fargo Arena for the final time together as state champions.

“There’s only going to be five teams that end this week on a winning note,” City High coach Bill McTaggart said. “They’ve had some close calls and it would be just fitting if we could win three more.”

The senior night ceremony at City High last month was a relatively short ordeal.

With just three seniors on the roster the list of players honored was short but the resumes for the senior class was as full as any in City High history.

Joens, Nkumu and Rocca have won 88 games over the past four seasons leading City High four state tournaments, the longest stretch of state appearances in program history.

Before last season City High had never reached the state tournament more than two consecutive seasons.

The trio has combined to score more than 3,500 points and to hit nearly 400 3-pointers in four seasons.

They have racked up better than 950 rebounds and nearly 850 assists.

Even as the numbers pile up it’s the one thing that the group doesn’t have, a state title, that all three have focused on this season.

“It was really hard to go there and not get the job done like we had wanted,” Joens said. “Leaving every year after not getting it done was obviously upsetting and disappointing. This year we just wanted to focus on getting back there and getting it done.”

For the most decorated senior class in recent memory the final opportunity for state gold begins on Monday when second-ranked City High (22-1) faces No. 9 Cedar Rapids Prairie (20-3) at 10 a.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.  

“We talk a little bit about it, obviously our main focus is Monday’s game but you always have those ideas of advancing to the finals and winning it,” Nkumu said. “I think that’s good to have in the back of our minds that we know we are capable of doing that.”

The excitement of the first state tournament trip for the senior trio quickly turned to disappointment in 2017 when City High lost to a Cedar Falls team it had defeated by 22 points in the regular season 48-46 in the opening round.

It was heartbreak for the Little Hawks the following year when undefeated and top-ranked City High lost to rival West High in the 5A title game.

“To make it to the finals was incredible,” Nkumu said. “It was heartbreaking to lose that game but every team goes through their hardships and every great player has gone through wins and losses and I think that was my biggest year of growth was just being in that situation.”

Last season ended in frustration in the form of a 66-59 overtime loss to eventual champion West Des Moines Valley.

“It’s frustrating,” Rocca said. “We haven’t gotten what we’ve wanted yet but it’s definitely been a learning experience.”

Led by its seniors City High returns to Wells Fargo Arena this week ready to finish what it started four years ago.

“It’s business now,” Nkumu said. “We have to win to advance so we have to take one game at a time and every minute has to be taken advantage of when you are at state.”

Led by its senior backcourt featuring three Division I recruit City High is among the most talented and explosive teams in the 5A field.

An Iowa State recruit Joens leads City High with 20.2 points per game helping the Little Hawks average 72.6 points per game, tops among 5A qualifiers.

Nkumu who will play at Marquette next season averages 14.4 points and leads all of 5A with 5.7 assists per game while Rocca, a Missouri State recruit, averages 11 points per game while shooting 42 percent from 3-point range.

As important as those numbers is the experience the seniors bring to Wells Fargo arena, entering with five state tournament games under their belts.

“It’s kind of a comfort level that comes with being there before,” McTaggart said. “Everybody gets a little nervous if you don’t get nervous it’s not normal but I think it’s a slight advantage for us since our girls have been there.”

Fantastic careers for three seniors are missing just one thing and City High plans to change that on Friday.

 “We’ve wanted this for four years and being close has been hard,” Joens said. “It’s been our goal this year and now we have a chance to reach that so we want to make the most of it.”

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