Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – She wouldn’t admit it but its hard to believe that Aubrey Joens didn’t crack a smile when she saw the opening-round opponent for City High at the Class 5A state tournament.

After her past two performances against Cedar Rapids Prairie no one would blame the City High senior guard for being a little bit giddy about another matchup with the Hawks.

Joens has scored 31 and 32 points in regular season wins over Cedar Rapids Prairie the past two seasons.

On Monday Joens will attempt to carry over that success on the state’s biggest stage when second-ranked City High (22-1) and No. 9 Cedar Rapids Prairie (20-3) meet in a Class 5A quarterfinal at 10 a.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“I can’t really explain it,” Joens said of her recent run of success against the Hawks. “We run a lot of plays to get me open for 3s against them, my teammates have gotten me the ball and I’ve had room for shots.”

In the past two meetings with the Hawks when Joens has had to get of a shot it has gone in better than half of the time.

Joens had 32 points on 11-of-18 shooting in a 62-36 win over Cedar Rapids Prairie last season.

In the most recent meeting with the Hawks, Joens made her first seven 3-pointers on her way to a school-record nine triples and 31 points in an 85-53 City High win on February 7th.

Joens expects to going to be tougher in the rematch on Monday.

“It will be harder because they know our stuff and they’ve already scouted us so it will be harder for us but we know them as well,” Joens said. “We know we’ll have to make adjustments.”

The big game from Joens keyed an offensive explosion for City High in the win over Prairie last month.

City High made 11-of-14 3-point attempts in a 53-point first half during the 32-point win and finished with 14 3-pointers as all five starters hit a 3.  

“Our last game with them we played exceptionally well, it’s probably one of our best games as a team overall,” City High senior Rose Nkumu said. “Hopefully we can have another game like that but we know they are going to play their butts off so we expect a lot of intensity from them.”

Anyone thinking the outcome of the first game could have City High overlooking its opener on Monday think again.

City High is all too familiar with what can happen in regular season rematches at the state tournament.

The Little Hawks had state tournament losses to teams it defeated in the regular season two of the past three seasons.

“We aren’t talking about anything but Prairie and we aren’t going to take them lightly,” City High coach Bill McTaggart said. “We were making everything that night and they are going to be fired up. If I was them, I would be fired up.”

Cedar Rapids Prairie has more than enough firepower to catch the attention of City High.

The Hawks have to top scoring duo in the 5A field in senior guards Mallory McDermott and Sidney McCrea who combine to average 40 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.

McCrea and McDermott combined for 27 points on 9-of-23 shooting in the February loss to City High but the Little Hawks are well aware of how quickly the duo can get going.

“We know what they like to do, it’s not even scouting anymore because we’ve played against them so much,” City High senior Paige Rocca said. “We’ve seen them, we know how good they are and how dangerous they can be so we aren’t taking them lightly at all.”

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by becoming a member.