Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CORALVILLE – West High continued to get solid performance from two of its oldest and most experienced players on Sunday.

It is the emergence of one of the youngsters on the West High roster that hast the Trojans playing their best basketball of the season.

Freshman Grace Fincham joined seniors Meena Tate and Anna Prouty in double figures as Class 5A No. 12 West High pulled away from cross-town rival City High for a 58-43 win over the Little Hawks at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

“She is a really good player and she is definitely getting into the flow of things,” Prouty said of Fincham. “Playing as a freshman isn’t easy, I was not like her as a freshman so it’s nice to have a freshman like that.”

Steady seniors Tate and Prouty continued their strong season on Sunday.

Tate had a game-high 18 points and Prouty had a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds as West High improved to 8-2 with its third straight win.

It was the continued emergence of Fincham that stood out on Sunday.

After scoring a team-high 19 points in a 58-57 win at 4A top-ranked Xavier on Thursday Fincham was in double figures again on Sunday with 12 points and grabbed five rebounds.

“My confidence level has gone way up,” Fincham said. “I’m definitely playing with more confidence and our team helps grow my confidence.”

With junior Lucy Wolf and senior Keiko Ono-Fullard sidelined with injuries Fincham made her first career start Sunday.

She responded by scoring eight points in a span of 63 seconds to ignite a 9-0 West High run to close the first half.

Fincham started the 9-0 burst with a 3-pointer and ended it with a layup that just beat the halftime buzzer as West High turned a three-point lead into a 34-22 halftime cushion.

“I think every game she gets better and she gets more comfortable,” Tate said of Fincham. “She is filling some pretty big shoes with Lucy and Keiko out. The first career start I would say she did a really good job.”
City High (2-7) trailed just 35-27 with under six minutes to play in the third quarter.

West High quickly put the game away with a 17-2 run to close the quarter.

“If our offense doesn’t click and we let them go on runs defensively we have to reset and we often don’t have time to do that,” City High coach Lynsey Barnard said. “We need to reset before we are down 20 so when it’s close and we are playing well reset then in the moment. We just have to reset a little quicker and I hope we will be able to put four quarters together instead of two.”

Despite playing without a pair of starting guards in Ono-Fullard and Wolf West High shot 49 percent from the floor on Sunday.

West High also had a 35-21 rebounding edge and outscored the Little Hawks 13-10 at the free throw line.

“I think we are meshing really well right now,” Prouty said. “We had some trouble getting used to our new offense early in the season but I think we are getting into the flow now, moving the ball and getting open shots.”

Sophomore Augie Palmer had 17 points and freshman Tessa Driscoll had nine for City High.

West High                  15  19  18    6  –  58

City High                    9   13   7   14  –  43

West High (58) – Meena Tate 8-15 2-3 18, Carolyn Pierce 2-4 2-2 7, Laney Prelle 0-2 0-0 0, Melae’ Lacy 1-4 1-2 3, Anna Prouty 5-6 6-8 16, Zola Gross 0-1 2-2 2, Grace Fincham 5-10 0-0 12, Kristiana Washington 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 21-43 13-17 58.

City High (43) – Augie Palmer 4-16 7-7 17, Mia Driscoll 0-1 0-0 0, Lauren Koch 2-8 0-0 4, Norah Jespersen 2-4 0-0 6, Emmy McComas 2-8 1-1 5, Halle Larew 1-2 0-0 2, Tessa Driscoll 3-7 2-2 9, Totals 14-46 10-10 43.

3-point field goals – ICH 5-21 (Palmer 2-8, M. Driscoll 0-1, Koch 0-4, Jespersen 2-3, McComas 0-2, T. Driscoll 1-3), ICW 3-10 (Tate 0-2, Pierce 1-2, Prelle 0-1, Lacy 0-1, Gross 0-1, Fincham 2-3). Rebounds – ICH 21 (Driscoll 5, Koch 5), ICW 35 (Prouty 13). Turnovers – ICH 16, ICW 16. Total fouls – ICH 13, ICW 12. Fouled out – ICH (Palmer). Technical fouls – None.

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