Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – If Linn-Mar didn’t have the full attention of seventh-ranked City High when the postseason pairings were announced on Wednesday the Lions certainly do now.

No. 15 Linn-Mar closed the game on a 13-4 run and stunned the Little Hawks 49-40 on senior night Friday in a Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division tilt in Iowa City.

“The nice thing is we could possibly play them again,” City High coach Bill McTaggart said. “They’ve got our attention. We should be even more fired up. We know we got a tough draw. They are playing really well.”

It was announced on Wednesday that City High (16-4) was the top seed in Class 5A, Region 6 and could host the Lions in the February 22 regional final with a trip to the state tournament on the line.

On Friday Linn-Mar (14-7) it would be a more than formidable postseason foe.

Zoe Kennedy scored 11 of her game-high 19 points in the second half as the Lions erased an early 11-point deficit to earn its first win over City High since 2016.

“They are a very good team and they fight until the end and we knew that going in,” McTaggart said. “Now we have to bounce back because we go to Waukee Northwest. This has been a real tough week.”

The win was the fifth in the last six games for Linn-Mar which will host the winner of Dubuque Hempstead and Dubuque Senior in the Region 6 semifinals on February 19 in an attempt to set up a rematch with City High.

The Little Hawks travel to No. 11 Waukee Northwest (13-7) on Saturday for its regular season finale at 4:30 p.m.

“They are a very good team and they fight until the end and we knew that going in,” McTaggart said. “Now we have to bounce back because we go to Waukee Northwest. This has been a real tough week.”
Eviyon Richardson had 10 of her team-high 18 points in the first quarter as City High built a 17-8 lead after eight minutes.

The Little Hawks led 22-11 after a Kelsey Joens’ three-pointer three minutes into the second period and were up 24-14 with under three minutes to play in the opening half.

Linn-Mar scored nine unanswered points over a span of just more than two minutes to trim the lead to 25-23 at intermission.

“When we got up by 11 we have to take care of the basketball,” McTaggart said. “That was one of the things but we had breakdown after breakdown.”

After going 7-of-11 from the field in the opening quarter City High was just 7-of-29 the rest of the game and was 2-of-11 from three-point range over the final three quarters.

The Little Hawks had just one field goal in the final seven minutes, a layup by Richardson with :23 seconds left.
“There wasn’t very much ball movement,” McTaggart said. “Our ball movement was pretty poor and we turned the ball over and we usually don’t do that.

Linn-Mar didn’t shoot particularly well itself, only 38 percent, but the Lions took care of the ball committing only eight turnovers and just three in the second half and converted all 10 if their free throw attempts.

The Lions were 8-of-8 from the line in the final 84 seconds to put the game away.

“We held them under 50 and that’s a good team but our offensive movement wasn’t what it needs to be,” McTaggart said. “We were up by 11 but got a little stagnant in the second half.”

Joens had eight points and seven rebounds for City High and Andie Westlake had six.

Taylor Brunson had 10 points for Linn-Mar.

Linn-Mar                   8  15  13  13  –  49

City High                   17  8    8    7   –  40

Linn-Mar (49) – Ellie Daubenmier 1-7 0-0 2, Sofia Bush 2-4 0-0 4, Tessa Casebolt 3-6 0-0 6, Caelynn Obleton 1-2 2-2 4, Taylor Brunson 3-9 2-2 10, Ella Grove 2-6 0-0 4, Zoe Kennedy 5-11 6-6 19, Totals 17-45 10-10 49.

City High (40) – Emmy McComas 0-3 0-0 0, Georgia Kimm 0-3 2-2 2, Kelsey Joens 2-7 3-5 8, Eviyon Richardson 7-13 2-3 18, Andie Westlake 2-6 1-2 6, Bella Cooley 2-7 0-0 4, Kacie Earl 1-1 0-0 2, Totals 14-40 8-12 40.

3-point field goals – ICH 4-13 (McComas 0-1, Kimm 0-2, Joens 1-2, Richardson 2-5, Westlake 1-3), L-M 5-14 (Daubenmier 0-1, Bush 0-1, Brunson 2-4, Obleton 0-1, Kennedy 3-7). Rebounds – ICH 30 (Joens 7), L-M 26 (Grove 7, Kennedy 7). Turnovers – ICH 15, L-M 8. Total fouls – ICH 12, L-M 12. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – ICH (Richardson).

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