Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – There is plenty of familiarity when West High and Liberty High hook up.

The players know each other. Coaches too.

“We all know each other well,” West High senior Meena Tate said. “There’s not a lot of secrets.”

Those on the West High side are also quite familiar with the all-time record between the two cross-town rivals.

“It’s a cross-town rival and they’ve never beat us,” Prouty said. “We want to keep that going as long as possible.”

West High remained perfect against Liberty High on Friday hanging on for a 42-40 win over the Lightning in a non-conference meeting between the two Mississippi Valley Conference rivals on Friday in North Liberty.

Tate scored six of her team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter and Prouty had a seven points and a game-high 14 rebounds as Class 5A seventh-ranked West High improved to 4-0 on the season and 8-0 all-time against Liberty High.

“We know their players, we’ve played against them for years,” Prouty said. “I think we just kind of focused in on what they could do and were able to stop them pretty well.”

West High led 25-18 at the half and was seemingly in control for most of the game.

Liberty High (3-3) took its first lead since the opening quarter at 33-32 on a pair of Jasmine Barney free throws with 40 seconds left in the third quarter/

The Lightning led 35-32 with under 6:30 to play when Tate and the Trojans made their run.

“I didn’t realize we were losing and I looked up at the score and I said ‘we aren’t losing this’,” Tate said. “I think our intensity was just a level up.”

Tate scored six points during an 8-0 West High run that spanned nearly four minutes and gave the Trojans a 40-35 cushion.

The Trojan’s top scorer this season, Tate put West High up 40-35 with 2:30 remaining with a floater in the lane.

“We challenged her a little bit,” West High coach Nate Frese said. “We told her that she needed to attack and go at them. I told her I don’t think they can guard you if you are being aggressive and attacking the hole I don’t think they want any part and she finally started doing that and got to the line a few times and knocked down a couple of those baby jump shots we’ve been working on in practice.”

Liberty High came charging back.

The Lightning cut the lead to 42-39 on an Ava Meyer free throw with 26 seconds left and had an opportunity to tie but Barney’s 3-pointer was long.

Kennedy Daugherty was fouled after grabbing the offensive rebound and made one of two, missing the second intentionally but West High secured the rebound.

The Trojans finished with a 43-36 rebounding edge that included 16 offensive rebounds.

“We definitely talked a lot about rebounding leading up to this game,” Prouty said. “We worked a lot on rebounding this week.”

Friday was third consecutive meeting between the two teams decided by 10 points or less and the second to be decided by three or less.

West High shot just 28 percent from the field while Liberty High shot 26 percent including 4-of-21 from 3-point range.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be 80-75 coming into this game,” Frese said. “They know our tendencies, we know their tendencies pretty well, these girls have been playing together for so long we were just hoping to knock down more shots and get more stops.”

Barney had a game-high 17 points and eight rebounds to lead Liberty High while Meyer had 12 points and seven boards.

West High                  13  12   7   10  – 42

Liberty High              11   7   15   7   – 40

Liberty High (40) – Avery Gaudet 0-5 0-0 0, Janessa Mosley 1-4 2-4 4, Bella Tafolla 1-4 1-1 3, Jasmine Barney 5-13 7-10 17, Kennedy Daugherty 0-1 1-4 1, Ava Meyer 4-12 1-2 12, Madeline Casey 1-7 0-0 3, Totals 12-46 12-21 40.

West High (42) – Lucy Wolf 1-3 0-0 2, Meena Tate 5-12 3-4 15, Carolyn Pierce 2-9 0-0 6, Melae’ Lacy 1-10 1-2 3, Keiko Ono-Fullard 2-7 0-0 5, Anna Prouty 2-8 3-4 7, Grace Fincham 2-4 0-0 4, Totals 15-53 7-10 42.

3-point field goals – ICW 5-26 (Tate 2-3, Pierce 2-9, Lacy 0-3, Ono-Fullard 1-6, Fincham 0-2), ICL 4-21 (Gaudet 0-2, Mosley 0-1, Tafolla 0-2, Barney 0-2, Meyer 3-8, Casey 1-6). Rebounds – ICW 43 (Prouty 14), ICL 36 (Barney 8). Turnovers – ICW 16, ICL 13. Total fouls – ICW 11, ICL 6. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.