Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – What West High needed in its rematch with second-ranked City High on Friday was a little bit of belief.

That little bit of belief went a long way for the Trojans on Friday.

Seventh-ranked West High busted open a one-point game with an 8-0 run to close the third quarter and never trailed again in a 52-49 win over previously unbeaten City High.

“We really just had to believe,” West High junior Anna Prouty said. “We came out and we believed in ourselves tonight.”

West High isn’t the type of program that doubts itself often.

After a 13-point loss to the Little Hawks in the first meeting in December head coach BJ Mayer sensed his team wondering if it could hang with second-ranked City High.

Mayer got his answer early and West High started believing after a 4-0 run to close the second quarter evened the game at 23-all at the half.

“I’m just proud of our kids,” Mayer said. “I’m not sure our kids really believed we could play with these guys until halftime. We came in at halftime and it was 23 and our kids were going crazy and realized we could do this.”

West High (11-2) trailed 33-32 with 2:35 left in the third quarter after Andie Westlake hit her second triple of the quarter.

The Trojans responded by scoring the next 10 points and never trailed again.

Prouty had five of her team-high 15 points during the 8-0 run to close the third quarter that gave West High a 40-33 lead.

“We pulled together in the second half and sometimes against the good teams we have melted a little bit,” Mayer said. “We didn’t do that tonight.”

City High (11-1) got as close as three points twice in the final seven minutes.

The Little Hawks used a 6-0 run to close to within 42-39 with 6:47 left and got the margin to 52-49 and had a chance to tie late but a three-pointer by Eviyon Richardson in the final seconds was off the mark.

City High shot just 26 percent from the field in the second half and was 3-of-19 from beyond the three-point line in the final three quarters.

“We got a little frustrated and got out of our offense,” City High coach Bill McTaggart said. “To West High’s credit they took us out of it a little tonight.”

In a 65-52 win over West High in December City High shot 32 free throws, making 26.

On Friday the Trojans switched from its traditional man-to-man defense to zone in an attempt to limit the dribble penetration that led to fouls and free throws in the first meeting.

The move was a successful one.

“Last time we fouled so much, they must have had 30 points off of free throws so the goal this game was to not foul and rebound and we would be fine,” West High junior Meena Tate said. “We took a couple of charges and that was big.”

The leading scorer for West High, Tate was limited to two points in the first half but had seven in the third quarter as the Trojans took control.

“I was frustrated in the first half because even though we were doing really well I knew that if I had put in a little more we would have been winning,” Tate said. “My shots weren’t falling so I needed to find another way to score and that was the fast break in the second half.”

All three of the third-quarter field goals for Tate came in transition.

“We didn’t get back on defense and they got some easy transition baskets,” McTaggart said. “That was the difference in the game.”

Prouty finished with a double-double for West High with 15 points and 10 rebounds while Tate had 10 points and Lucy Wolf and Melae’ Lacy had eight each.

Richardson led all scorers with 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Kelsey Joens had 12 points for City High.

“Anna played really well tonight and she’s been playing well,” Mayer said. “We got contributions out of everybody.”

City High                     15   8   10  16  –  49

West High                  13  10  17  12  –  52

City High (49) – Emmy McComas 1-3 0-0 2, Georgia Kimm 1-2 0-0 2, Kelsey Joens 4-19 3-3 12, Eviyon Richardson 5-16 4-5 16, Andie Westlake 4-8 1-2 11, Bella Cooley 3-8 0-1 6, Totals 18-56 8-11 49.

West High (52) – Lucy Wolf 2-3 3-4 8, Avery Vest 2-3 0-0 5, Meena Tate 4-11 2-4 10, Carolyn Pierce 1-6 1-2 3, Melae’ Lacy 3-4 0-0 8, Keiko Ono-Fullard 1-6 1-2 3, Anna Prouty 5-12 5-8 15, Totals 18-45 12-20 52.

3-point field goals – ICW 4-14 (Wolf 1-1, Vest 1-2, Tate 0-2, Pierce 0-4, Lacy 2-2, Ono-Fullard 0-3), ICH 5-23 (McComas 0-2, Joens 1-10, Richardson 2-6, Westlake 2-5). Rebounds – ICW 34 (Prouty 10), ICH 36 (Richardson 10). Turnovers – ICW 11, ICH 11. Total fouls – ICW 12, ICH 16. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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