PHOTO GALLERY

Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Lynsey Barnard and August Palmer each made their official City High debuts on Friday.

Both would be considered a smashing success.

Palmer poured in 30 points as City High rallied from a double digit first-half deficit in a 54-48 win over Cedar Rapids Jefferson (2-2) to give Barnard a win in her head coaching debut.

“I am so happy and so excited for our kids, for every one of them,” Barnard said. “That was so much fun for me to watch and just see them get to experience that. I’m so excited for our kids.”

In her first real game in a City High uniform Palmer was impressive.

The West Branch transfer had 18 of her game-high 30 points in the second half as City High overcame a nine-point halftime deficit.

“This is not what I would have ever imagined for my first game,” Palmer said. “I never would have imagined having 30 but it’s all because of my teammates.”

Palmer and Barnard are just a few of the new faces on a new look City High squad that lost its top five scorers from last season’s state tournament team.

They were not the only Little Hawks to step up on Friday.
Sophomore Emmy McComas had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds and freshman guard Tessa Driscoll made five free throws in the final 63 seconds to secure the win.

Driscoll finished with 10 points in her prep debut.

“I think it means so much because we came off a huge year last year when we lost 12 seniors and this year we have to work so hard because we lost so many people,” McComas said. “It’s kind of a boost to our confidence because it shows that we can do it.”

City High trailed 9-3 less than three minutes in and was down 26-17 at the half.

The Little Hawks had 12 turnovers and shot 30 percent from the field in the first half.

City High turned things up after halftime.

The Little Hawks scored the first four points of the third quarter cutting the J-Hawk lead to 34-33.

“We just worked harder,” McComas said. “We came out and we weren’t communicating and the second half we talked more, we worked hard and we saw the court better.”

Palmer had 10 points in the third quarter, hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the final 48 seconds.

Her 3-pointer from the top of the key that beat the third-quarter buzzer got City High as close as it had been since the opening quarter and sparked a late City High burst.

“When I felt like we had the game 100 percent was when I hit that three from the top of the key to end the third quarter,” Palmer said. “That’s what I think changed the game.”

A Driscoll layup with 6:43 left in the fourth quarter gave City High its first lead of the game and a Palmer layup a minute later made it 37-34.

Palmer scored six consecutive points as City High pushed the lead to 41-36.

“We came out more confident in the second half,” Palmer said. “We passed the ball better and we were under control.”

McComas scored the next six points as City High built a 47-38 lead.

“I felt good at halftime going in down nine and for them to come back, I don’t know that I would have expected us to do that,” Barnard said. “You look at how many young kids we have on the floor and for them to have this experience is just laying the foundation for the future.

Palmer, McComas and Driscoll scored all 21 City High points in the fourth quarter and went a combined 6-of-6 from the floor.

“I have been trying to get Augie and Emma and Tess to realize how good they can be and I think they got a glimpse of that tonight,” Barnard said.

Emma Slings had 19 points to lead Cedar Rapids Jefferson while Aubrey Luvan had 11 points for the J-Hawks.

City High                     11   6  16  21  –  54

CR Jefferson             13  13   8  14  –  48

City High (54) – August Palmer 9-12 10-10 30, Mia Driscoll 0-1 0-0 0, Lauren Koch 1-3 0-0 0, Emmy McComas 4-8 2-4 11, Tessa Driscoll 2-8 5-7 10, Totals 16-35 17-21 54.

Cedar Rapids Jefferson (48) – Aubrey Luvan 3-8 2-2 11, Ava Erger 1-5 0-0 2, Danielle Boche 1-1 0-0 2, Madison Mercil 2-4 0-0 4, Madie Denlinger 0-4 1-2 1, Jariah Harris 2-10 1-2 5, Madison Williams 1-1 2-2 4, Emma Slings 7-14 5-7 19, Totals 17-47 11-15 48.

3-point field goals – ICH 5-17 (Palmer 2-4, Koch 1-2, Jesperson 0-2, McComas 1-4, T. Driscoll 1-5), CRJ 3-14 (Luvan 3-7, Erger 0-2, Denlinger 0-1, Harris 0-2, Slings 0-2). Rebounds – ICH 27 (McComas 13), CRJ 25 (Harris 7). Turnovers – ICH 18, CRJ 13. Total fouls – ICH 14, CRJ 13. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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