Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The way Ella Cook sees it playing sports through a pandemic is a privilege.

With so many opportunities to compete across every sport already cancelled due to COVID-19 you aren’t going to catch the City High senior complaining about the schedule.

Three-game weeks, games on back-to-back days or an early afternoon game after a Friday night contest – Cook says bring it all on.

“At this point we are just thankful to play as many games as we can get in,” Cook said. “If we play back-to-back we are just happy to be playing since we’ve had so many games cancelled this year. We like playing so we want to play any way we can.”

Cook and her City High teammates made the most of an opportunity to get back on the court on Saturday dispatching of Dubuque Hempstead 76-42 in a Mississippi Valley Conference make-up game in Iowa City.

Just 16 hours after posting an impressive 20-point win over Class 4A ninth-ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier, 5A No. 8 City High shot 50 percent from the field and buried 10 3-pointers in the win over the Mustangs.

Kelsey Joens led four players in double figures with a game-high 18 points as City High improved to 6-2 on the season.

“We are used to playing back-to-back days so it’s not a concern,” Joens said. “We know we have to play every game as hard as we can and we are ready for that.”

City High certainly was up to the task of the tight turnaround on Saturday.

Joens and Cook each hit a pair of 3-pointers in the opening quarter as City High jumped to a 19-11 lead.

Five different Little Hawks made 3-pointers in the first quarter as City High went 8-of-14 from beyond the arc while building a 38-20 halftime lead.

“We had really good energy last night and that carried over to today,” Joens said. “That energy definitely showed both days.”

Hempstead used an 8-0 run to close to within 33-20 with 1:21 left in the second quarter but City High junior Andie Westlake scored the final five points of the half to push the lead back to 18.

Westlake hit a pair of free throws with 37 seconds left and then buried a corner 3-pointer off a set play with 2 seconds left in the half.

“We don’t have a ton of subs but we are in good enough shape,” Westlake said. “We know how to pace ourselves so we can still push the ball and not get too tired.”

The second half was all City High.

City High broke the game open with a 13-2 run to open the second quarter and triggered the running clock that begins at the 35-point margin with a 9-0 burst to open the fourth.

“For the rest of the month we are already at three games a week so we are just playing every game like it could be our last,” Westlake said. “We don’t know what is going to happen so we are happy to play any chance we get.”

A night after scoring 40 points in the first half against a stingy Cedar Rapids Xavier squad City High shot 50 percent from the field, was 18-of-21 from the foul line and went 10-of-18 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Cook had 17 points and Westlake had 14 while both players went 2-of-3 from 3-point range.

Georgia Kimm went 2-of-2 from 3-point range hit all four of her field goal attempts and had 10 points.

Joens had seven rebounds while Cook and Kacie Earl each had six as City High held a 33-29 rebounding edge.

“Our rebounding has been a huge thing,” Cook said. “We are sharing the ball on offense and I think our defense can still get a little better but overall it’s really improved.”

City High limited Hempstead (2-8) to 29 percent shooting and 4-of-24 from 3-point range.

“Our defense has improved a lot,” Westlake said. “We’ve been working a lot on our help defense to make sure we aren’t giving up easy baskets like we have in the past.”

City High                                   19  19  22  16  –  76

Dubuque Hempstead            11   9   11  11  –  42

City High (76) – Lauren Koch 0-0 3-3 3, Georgia Kimm 4-4 0-0 10, Kelsey Joens 6-14 3-3 18, Eviyon Richardson 3-9 2-2 9, Diamond Blackman 0-0 0-1 0, Andie Westlake 5-7 2-2 14, Ella Cook 5-8 5-6 17, Kacie Earl 1-6 3-4 5, Totals 24-48 18-21 76.

Dubuque Hempstead (42) – Carleigh Hodgson 1-8 0-0 3, Ellie Hermiston 0-0 0-2 0, Ashley Glennon 0-2 0-0 0, Camdyn Kay 2-4 2-4 6, Emily Klein 0-1 0-2 0, Kenzie Tomkins 1-2 0-0 2, Kialah Hill 3-9 1-2 8, Chandler Houselog 2-7 1-2 6, Jaelyn Tigges 2-8 4-4 9, Morgan Hawkins 2-4 4-7 8, Totals 13-45 12-23 42.

3-point field goals – ICH 10-18 (Kimm 2-2, Joens 3-6, Richardson 1-4, Westlake 2-3, Cook 2-3), DH 4-24 (Hodgson 1-8, Glennon 0-1, Kay 0-2, Hill 1-4, Houselog 1-5, Tigges 1-3, Hawkins 0-1). Rebounds – ICH 33 (Joens 7), DH 29 (Tigges 8). Turnovers – ICH 4, DH 11. Total fouls – ICH 14, DH 14. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.