PURCHASE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME

Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Pleasant Valley broke a 45-all tie with three quick points late in the fourth quarter of its Class 5A quarterfinal with fifth-ranked City High on Monday.

The result was a state tournament breakthrough for the Spartans that had been decades in the making.

Fourth-ranked Pleasant Valley outscored City High 7-2 over the final three minutes earning the first state tournament win in program history with a 52-47 win over the Little Hawks at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“We asked a couple days ago how many kids had been to Wells Fargo and six kids raised their hand and we asked how many had been to Wells Fargo to watch girls basketball and no one raised their hand,” Pleasant Valley coach Jennifer Goetz said. “We are kind of this team where everyone thinks ‘oh that’s cute, they are from the east side of the state that’s really cute’ well this group showed today they are going to find a way to get it done.”

Pleasant Valley (22-2) which lost opening-round games in its previous three trips to the state tournament in 1978, 1996 and 2010 will face top-ranked Johnston (24-0) in the 5A semifinals on Thursday at 10 a.m.

City High (19-5) led by as many as 11 in the first half but shot just 21 percent in the second half, including 2-of-16 in the fourth quarter while falling in the 5A quarterfinals for the third time in its past five trips to state.

“We didn’t shoot very well and we attribute that to Pleasant Valley,” City High coach Bill McTaggart said. “We shot like 30 percent and you aren’t going to win too many games shooting 30 percent and credit PV for that.”

City High closed the first quarter on a 9-0 run capped by a Georgia Kimm three-pointer to take a 17-12 lead.

The Little Hawks led 27-16 after back-to-back three-pointers by Kimm and Joens with 2:53 left in the opening half.

That is when momentum swung.

Pleasant Valley closed the half on a 6-0 burst over the final 90 seconds to cut the lead to 27-22 at the half.

“We didn’t finish the quarter very well and gave them all the momentum,” McTaggart said. “We were up 11 and had a chance to go up 13 and didn’t get a good possession and then they came out and it just continued in the third quarter and it was a struggle the rest of the way.”

The 6-0 burst to end the first half got the Spartans within five points despite shooting just 27 percent in the first two quarters.

It also gave Pleasant Valley momentum.

“It was huge because it gave us a little boost going into halftime,” Goetz said. “We were struggling putting the ball in the basket, I thought we were getting good looks we just couldn’t put the ball in the basket.”

Pleasant Valley hit its first five shots of the second half and led by as many as five at 43-38 but City High closed the quarter with an Andie Westlake three-pointer to cut the lead to 43-41.

It was 45-all when Kelsey Joens hit a spinning jumper in the lane with 4:15 left.

City High would score just two more points, on a Bella Cooley baseline jumper with 1:33 left.

“They definitely took away the three-point shot and it was hard for us to drive in too, they were everywhere,” Joens said. “It was hard to get shots up and it was hard to get into the momentum of the game and knock down shots.”

Halle Vice hit a free throw to put Pleasant Valley up 46-45 with 2:55 left and Addie Kerkhoff converted a transition layup after a City High turnover with 2:29 left.

City High had two different possession where offensive rebounds resulted in four shots in the final two minutes but neither ended with points.

“We had a few more turnovers in the fourth quarter than we are used to and they came in crunch time,” McTaggart said. “One of those baskets that would have tied it went in and out but that’s basketball.”

Vice finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds and Kerkhoff had 12 points and five boards to lead Pleasant Valley.

She also played a key role in Pleasant Valley’s zone defense that limited Joens and senior Eviyon Richardson to 24 points on combined 7-of-30 shooting.

Joens had a game-high 17 points while Westlake had 13 for City High before fouling out with 4:08 to play.

“We really used our length really well in our zone to try to stop her that way,” Vice said of Joens. “We know she is a shooter so we tried to push her out a little further.”

City High                      17  10  14  6  –  47

Pleasant Valley          12  10  21  9  –  52

City High (47) – Emmy McComas 0-4 0-0 0, Georgia Kimm 3-6 0-0 8, Kelsey Joens 6-19 3-4 17, Eviyon Richardson 1-11 5-5 7, Andie Westlake 4-6 2-2 13, Lauren Koch 0-0 0-0 0, Bella Cooley 1-4 0-1 2, Totals 15-50 10-12 47.

Pleasant Valley (52) – Jessie Clemons 1-2 2-2 4, Halle Vice 5-15 5-6 16, Mattie Moats 1-5 0-0 3, Addie Kerkhoff 5-15 0-0 12, Megan Schiltz 2-3 0-0 4, Reagan Pagniano 2-8 2-2 7, Quinn Vice 0-1 0-0 0, Addy Mauerer 2-3 0-0 6, Totals 18-52 9-10 52.

Three-point field goals – ICH 7-22 (McComas 0-1, Kimm 2-4, Joens 2-8, Richardson 0-5, Westlake 3-4), PV 7-19 (H. Vice 1-5, Moats 1-4, Kerkhoff 2-6, Pagniano 1-2, Mauerer 2-2). Rebounds – ICH 37 (Richardson 11), PV 34 (Vice 10). Assists – ICH 10 (Joens 3, Richardson 3), PV 12 (Pagniano 5). Turnovers – ICH 12, PV 12. Total fouls – ICH 13, PV 16. Fouled out – ICH (Westlake). Technical fouls – None.

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