Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – City High girls basketball coach Bill McTaggart called it his team’s, ‘best overall game.’

Three days after a crosstown fistfight against Liberty High, the Class 5A second-ranked Little Hawks welcomed No. 10 Cedar Falls to the sparkling new gymnasium on the City High campus. It would have been difficult for anyone to envision the dominance that occurred.

“We played better defensively, we had good passing and we hit some big shots,” McTaggart said after City High routed Cedar Falls, 76-46, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game. “We have got a ways to go, but this was our best game overall from beginning to end. That is one of the best overall perimeter-shooting teams that we are going to face, and we made it difficult on them in the first half.”

City High was led by the dominant 1-2 scoring punch of junior Kelsey Joens and senior forward Eviyon Richardson.

With 50 combined points, the duo outscored Cedar Falls by themselves.

“Just moving the ball around,” said Joens, an Iowa State commit who led all scorers with 29 points, which included four made 3-point baskets. “Go inside, kick it out or get inside. Just find the easy, open shots.”

Richardson – a Nebraska Omaha recruit – added 21 points by getting downcourt, pushing the tempo of the action and helping 6-foot-1 senior center Bella Cooley control the area around the basket on both ends of the floor.

“A lot of communicating,” Richardson said. “We talked a lot. That was the loudest we have ever talked on the floor. So I feel like our communication was on point today and just movement, knowing where people are and letting us know when there is somebody coming over so we can be on the help side. Just being in the right position as a team has just helped us a lot and the communication was really big tonight.”

Senior guard Andie Westlake chipped in 11 points via three 3-point baskets for the Little Hawks, who led by 21 points at halftime and by as many as 38 in the fourth quarter.

Grace Knutson scored 15 points for Cedar Falls (7-3, 3-2), which averaged nearly nine made 3-pointers per game entering the contest, but managed just one until the final minute of the third quarter and five overall.

“Just get out to the shooters,” Joens said. “We knew they all could shoot, so take away that part of their game and let them figure a way out to score inside and I think we did that pretty well.”

City High visits Dubuque Wahlert on Tuesday.

Cedar Falls                  7   6   17   16  –  46

Iowa City High          15 19   27   15  –  76

CEDAR FALLS (46) – Sarah Albaugh 1 0-0 3, Grace Knutson 7 0-0 15, Mya Crawford 4 4-4 12, Anna Sandvold 2 3-3 9, Sydney Remmert 2 2-2 7, Morgan Linck 0 0-0 0, Grace Hannam 0 0-0 0, Averie Bear 0 0-0 0, Johnna Dieken 0 0-0 0, Ella Ubben 0 0-0 0,  Lilyanna Ganfield 0 0-0 0, Totals 16 9-9 46.

IOWA CITY HIGH (76) – Georgia Kimm 1 0-0 3, Kelsey Joens 9 7-8 29, Eviyon Richardson 8 4-5 21, Andie Westlake 4 0-0 11, Bella Cooley 3 0-2 6, Emmy McComas 2 0-0 4, Lauren Koch 1 0-0 2, Kacie Earl 0 0-0 0, Martha Hamilton 0 0-0 0, Emmy McComas 0 0-0 0, Mia Driscoll 0 0-0 0, Totals 28 11-15 76.

Three-point goals – Cedar Falls 5 (Sandvold 2, Knutson 1, Remmert 1, Albaugh 1); Iowa City High 9 (Westlake 3, Richardson 1, Kimm 1, Joens 4). Fouled out – None.

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