Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Playing through a pandemic athletes have grown accustomed to the fact that any game could be the last.

Audrey Koch realized before tipoff that Friday’s top-10 showdown with rival City High would likely be her final meeting with the Little Hawks.

The West High senior made sure her final appearance in the long-time, cross-town rivalry was one to remember.

Koch scored 24 of her game-high 29 points in the second half to lift Class 5A sixth-ranked West High to a 57-52 win over sixth-ranked City High in a Mississippi Valley Conference contest at City High.

“You are kind of used to approaching games like it could be your last but the seniors were talking before the game that this could be the last time we play them,” Koch said. “We wanted to have that mentality that if this is the last time we play them that it’s a good one.”

Koch didn’t attempt a shot in the first quarter and had only five first-half points as West High fell behind 27-20 at the break.

“We definitely needed to bring a lot more energy in the second half,” Koch said. “We’ve had games like that where we get down and so we knew we could do it if we made sure to pick ourselves off.”

Koch picked herself and the Trojans up earn in the second half.

The senior hit a 3-pointer 21 seconds into the second half and didn’t miss a shot while scoring 13 points in the third quarter as West High (6-3) erased a seven-point halftime deficit.

That was just the start of a stellar second half for Koch who scored five points during a 10-0 fourth-quarter run that gave West High the lead for good.

“I thought she turned down a bunch of shots in the first half and I yelled at her one time because she needs to be aggressive,” West High coach BJ Mayer said. “She’s a four-year player for us, she’s shooting 60 percent, she’s an all-state kid we needed her to step up and she did in that second half.”

Koch was almost unstoppable after intermission.

The Providence recruit was 6-of-7 from the field in the second half and hit all three of her 3-point attempts in the third quarter.

“She didn’t shoot the ball that much in the first half and I kind of told her that she needed to get going,” Tellis said. “When Audrey went off in the third quarter I just made sure I got her the ball.”

Koch put the game away by making 9-of-10 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter.

The 29 points matched the most Koch has scored in nine games against the Little Hawks. She will finish with a 4-5 mark against rival City High baring a postseason meeting between the two teams.

“She is such an unselfish kid and the way we play is a lot of unselfishness but sometimes she needs to be selfish,” Mayer said. “I thought she was great in the second half.”

West High needed every point from Koch to complete the regular season sweep of City High for the first time since 2015.

City High (7-3) closed the third quarter on an 11-2 run to take a 45-40 lead and led 47-42 when Kelsey Joens scored on a layup with 7:10 left.

West High responded with a 10-0 run that spanned more than three minutes and featured eight made free throws.

“We had some bad possessions and they capitalized on them with some made free throws” City High coach Bill McTaggart said. “Then they got a couple of rebounds on missed free throws that were just kind of bad bounces for us.”

City High cut the lead to 52-50 on a conventional three-point play by Eviyon Richardson with 2:39 left but wouldn’t score again until Andie Westlake’s bucket at the buzzer.

West High held the ball for more than two minutes at the end of the game twice grabbing offensive rebounds after missing the front end of a one-and-one.

The Trojans limited City High to four points on 2-of-8 shooting over the final seven minutes.

“We tried to help off of a couple of kids and keep Kelsey (Joens) out of the lane,” Mayer said. “She is such a great driver and she got to the rim a lot. We were trying to help and get the ball out of her hands a little bit and I was really proud of our kids with how they played late.”

Joens had 19 points, Richardson had 13 and Ella Cook had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds for City High.

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Little Hawks who lost to West High 75-63 in the season opener for both teams last month.

“Our defense was a lot better tonight than it was at the beginning of the year,” McTaggart said. “It’s night and day on the defensive end from the start of the year.”
City High       14  13  18   7  –  52

West High      12   8   20  17 –  57

City High (52) – Georgia Kimm 0-2 0-0 0, Kelsey Joens 7-16 4-6 19, Eviyon Richardson 5-6 3-4 13, Andie Westlake 3-8 2-2 9, Ella Cook 5-8 0-1 11, Totals 20-40 9-13 52.

West High (57) – Matayia Tellis 5-10 2-2 14, Emma Ingersoll-Weng 0-7 0-2 0, Meena Tate 2-5 1-2 5, Jenna Saunders 1-2 0-0 3, Melae’ Lacy 0-1 1-2 1, Audrey Koch 8-12 9-10 29, Anna Prouty 2-5 1-3 5, Totals 18-42 14-21 57.

3-point field goals – ICH 3-12 (Kimm 0-2, Joens 1-4, Richardson 0-1, Andie Westlake 1-2, Cook 1-3), ICW 7-19 (Tellis 2-6, Ingersoll-Weng 0-2, Tate 0-1, Saunders 1-2, Lacy 0-1, Koch 4-7). Rebounds – ICH 24 (Cook 10), ICW 27 (Tellis, Prouty 5). Turnovers – ICH 18, ICW 16. Total fouls – ICH 16, ICW 12. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – ICH (Bench).

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