Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – Liberty High hit a program milestone on Friday with its first win in nine tries against cross-town rival City High.

It was manner in which the Lightning secured its first ever win over City High that stood out to Liberty High head coach Jamie Brandt.

Class 5A No. 13 Liberty High fell into an early seven-point hole, had a first-half scoring drought of nearly five minutes and shot just 28 percent from the floor but still found a way to escape with a 48-40 win over City High (2-4) on Friday in North Liberty.

“What we talked about in the locker room is if it’s not pretty, if things aren’t going our way how do we find a way to win and tonight it was second-half defense and rebounds,” Brandt said. “It’s finding a way to win and that’s what we did.”

Liberty High (5-3) outscored City High 15-4 in the second quarter and held off a fourth-quarter charge from the Little Hawks for its first ever win in the series that began in 2018.

None of the first eight meetings between the two teams were decided by single digits as City High won the first eight meetings by an average of better than 40 points.

That changed on Friday.

“It’s exciting because that’s a team we haven’t beat and they are a really good team,” Liberty High junior Haley Schroeder said. “It feels really good, we knew going into this it would be a hard game because they play really hard but we just had to top their energy and play the way that we do.”

Liberty High which relies on an up-tempo offense capable of pouring in points from the perimeter struggled to get into any type of an offensive rhythm against City High.

The Lightning made just 2-of-14 first-quarter field goal attempts, and went more than four minutes without a point in the first quarter before Schroeder hit a 3-pointer with 2:32 remaining in the quarter.

Trailing 10-6 after the opening quarter Liberty High dug in defensively.

“Shots weren’t falling but I think something that we have all learned is we can do more than just shoot,” Schroeder said. “We can’t always control shots going in but we can control our effort and our attitude and if we do that we will be in good shape.”

Liberty High held City High to just four points in the second quarter, including just three over the final 7:24 while taking a 21-14 halftime lead it would never give up.

A trapping 2-3 Liberty High zone defense held City High to 28 percent from the floor including 9-of-36 from 3-point range.

Liberty High overcame its own shooting struggles on Friday, outscoring City High 15 to five at the free throw line.

Liberty High was 10-of-15 from the free throw line in the second half while City High did not attempt a second-half free throw.

“I always tell the kids I’m a shooter so anytime your shot isn’t falling the mindset has to be that the next one is going,” Brandt said. “We never really stopped shooting good, open in-rhythm 3s but at the same time let’s get to the rim and force the refs to call some fouls. We just talked about being more aggressive getting to the rim.”

City High didn’t go without a fight.

The Little Hawks got as close as four points on an Augie Palmer 3-pointer with 5:33 left but Madeline Casey answered with a 3-pointer just more than a minute later.

City High trailed just 42-37 when Schroeder all but put the game away with a 3-pointer from the right wing with 1:25 remaining.

“I think it was Jasmine and I saw her and I knew I was open and I was yelling for her and I knew she would get me the ball and it felt really good when I shot it,” Schroeder said. “We are really good about being selfless, it’s always about the next pass. We could be open but if someone is more open it’s that next pass we are making.”

Barney had 11 of her game-high 16 points in the second half and was the only Liberty High player in double figures although five others had at least five points led by Schroeder with seven.

“I feel like we are playing more as a team,” Barney said. “We know how to share the ball we make the extra pass to a wide-open shooter, we aren’t being selfish and that helps us so much.”

Palmer and freshman Tessa Driscoll each had 15 points for City High while Emmy McComas had six points and 10 rebounds.

“We’ve been talking about that buy in and not giving up and we had that tonight,” City High coach Lynsey Barnard said. “That’s our identity and I was proud of them for the way that they represented what it looks like to work hard and once we get those shots to fall and we get to that next level it’s going to be fun.”

City High                   10  4   13  13  –  40

Liberty High              6  15  14  13  –  48

City High (40) – August Palmer 5-17 1-3 15, Mia Driscoll 0-2 1-2 1, Lauren Koch 1-2 0-0 2, Emmy McComas 2-8 2-2 6, Halle Larew 0-2 1-2 1, Tessa Driscoll 5-16 0-0 15, Totals 13-47 5-9 40.

Liberty High (48) – Avery Gaudet 2-5 0-2 5, Janessa Mosley 1-4 2-4 5, Bella Tafolla 1-3 3-4 5, Jasmine Barney 4-14 7-9 16, Kennedy Daugherty 0-0 2-2 2, Libby Allen 0-0 0-1 0, Ava Meyer 1-5 0-0 2, Haley Schroeder 2-4 1-2 7, Madeline Casey 2-11 0-0 6, Totals 13-46 15-24 48.

3-point field goals – ICH 9-36 (Palmer 4-15, M. Driscoll 0-2, Koch 0-1, McComas 0-3, T. Driscoll 5-15), ICL 7-25 (Gaudet 1-2, Mosley 1-1, Tafolla 0-2, Barney 1-3, Meyer 0-4, Schroeder 2-4, Casey 2-9). Rebounds – ICH 42 (McComas 10, Koch 10), ICL 35 (Daugherty 9). Turnovers – ICH 18, ICL 8. Total fouls – ICH 20, ICL 10. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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