Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The City High girls’ basketball team has been itching for a return to action.

Two losses in back-to-back days – its first defeats of the season – followed by a game postponement meant it had been 10 days since the Little Hawks last experienced victory. Needless to say, the layoff had City High feeling anxious to correct their mistakes and resume their winning ways.

“We have been working for this one,” City High senior Andie Westlake said after the Class 5A ninth-ranked Little Hawks defeated No. 14 Iowa City Liberty, 72-59, in a Mississippi Valley Conference showdown Friday night at City High School. “It felt like forever since we have been back on the court. Especially when we have had a couple of weeks where we have played two, three games. It just felt like way too long and we have been working hard at practice. We wanted this one.”

After converting just five of 40 three-point attempts in the Jan. 21-22 losses to Iowa City West and Cedar Rapids Xavier, City High (12-2, 6-1 MVC) drained nine against Liberty High.

Four arrived courtesy of junior sharpshooter Kelsey Joens, who led all scorers with 28 points.

“We just wanted to play,” said Joens, an Iowa State commit who entered the game ranked fourth in all of 5A in points per game, which now stands at 22.1. “After losing, we wanted redemption.”

City High senior guard/forward Eviyon Richardson – a Nebraska Omaha signee – added 24 points, which included three 3-point baskets and nine made free throws.

“They are a good one-two punch,” City High Coach Bill McTaggart said.

In the practices leading up to the Liberty game, City High re-emphasized its shot selection and it consistently paid off.

The Little Hawks scored at least 16 points in all four quarters and hit the 20-point mark in the second and fourth frames.

City High used bursts of 10-0 and 16-3 to get some distance in the first half, then started the second with 11 of the first 14 points for a 14-point lead at 48-34.

“Just trusting each other again,” Richardson said. “We came back together as a team and just making sure we put in our all together as a team. Make every possession count. Be patient on offense, getting the most open shots, just being patient and waiting for the right opportunity to come and we’ll take it.”

With the aid of 13 3-point baskets, Liberty (8-6, 5-3) got within five points at 55-50 early in the fourth quarter, but a City High three-pointer from senior guard Georgia Kimm kick-started a 14-7 closing burst.

Westlake chipped in 10 points for City High, while Liberty junior guard Jasmine Barney – who played her first two varsity seasons at Cedar Falls – kept her team in the contest by scoring 14 of her team-high 25 points in the fourth quarter.

Iowa City High has never lost to Liberty in eight meetings, but both matchups this season were four-quarter tilts.

“I think their future is very bright,” McTaggart said of Liberty. “They don’t lose much, so next year they are going to be even tougher.”

City High has a quick turnaround as eighth-ranked West Des Moines Valley arrives for a top-10 matchup Saturday at 6:30.

“We have just got to keep on going,” Joens said. “We had the momentum there, so just coming into the next game with the same momentum. Just finding the right shots. You know they are going to come at us with everything they have got, so we have just got to show them what we’ve got, too.”

Liberty High    15  16  14  14  –  59

City High          16  21  16  20  –  73

Liberty High (59) – Avery Gaudet 3 0-0 9, Jasmine Barney 9 4-4 25, Kennedy Daugherty 1 0-0 2, Ava Meyer 2 0-0 6, Madeline Casey 1 0-0 3, Libby Allen 1 0-0 3, Bella Tafolla 1 0-0 3, Brynlee Slockett 2 0-0 6, Sunny Yarnell 1 0-0 2, Totals 21 4-4 59.

City High (73) – Georgia Kimm 2 0-0 5, Kelsey Joens 9 6-6 28, Eviyon Richardson 6 9-12 24, Andie Westlake 3 3-4 10, Bella Cooley 2 0-0 4, Emmy McComas 1 0-0 2, Totals 23 18-22 73.

Three-point goals – Liberty High 13 (Gaudet 3, Slockett 2, Allen 1, Casey 1, Meyer 2, Barney 3, Tafolla 1); City High 9 (Westlake 1, Joens 4, Richardson 3, Kimm 1). Fouled out – None.

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