Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – In it’s season opener against perennial power Southeast Polk last month Liberty High struggled out of the gate falling into a 14-2 first-quarter deficit.

The Lightning fixed its early struggles on Friday against Cedar Rapids Washington but couldn’t find a way to finish.

Liberty High (0-2) raced to a 15-0 lead less than four minutes into the game but couldn’t hang on falling to Cedar Rapids Washington 66-58 in a meeting of Mississippi Valley Conference cross-division foes in North Liberty.

“We shot the ball better early and we handle the pressure better early but then struggled with those things in the second half,” Liberty High co-head coach Jeff Printy said. “It was a case of two halves obviously and we just couldn’t get the ship righted.”

Sophomore Samantha Becker scored 21 of her game-high 32 points in the fourth quarter as Cedar Rapids Washington (2-2) completed the comeback to secure its second straight win following an 0-2 start.

Becker didn’t miss a shot in the fourth quarter, hitting all five field goal attempts and going 10-of-10 from the free throw line including eight in the final minute to help secure the win.

“I think the most important thing is we just didn’t let (the early deficit) affect us,” Cedar Rapids Washington coach Chris James said. “We had that mental toughness to move on to the next play. Down 14-0 we just kept coming at them and that was the thing I was most proud about.”

After scoring just two first-quarter points in the loss at Southeast Polk last month Liberty High was nearly perfect over the first four minutes on Friday.

Liberty High made its first five field goal attempts, a stretch that included three 3-pointers from three different players and led 15-0 with 4:23 left in the first quarter.

The first three possessions of the game for Liberty High resulted in a Bella Tafolla conventional 3-point play, a Madeline Casey 3-pointer and a Ava Casey 3-pointer as the Lighting led 9-0 just 91 seconds into the game.

It was 12-0 after a Kennedy Goodheart 3-ointer 32 seconds later.

Cedar Rapids Washington adjusted.

The main tweak for the Warriors was on their full-court pressure which forced Liberty High into two first-quarter turnovers.

After a minor switch, pulling the pressure in a more three-quarter court look, the Warriors forced 21 turnovers in the final three quarters.

“There were a few things that we changed,” James said. “One of them being our press and how we extended it, we were out too far and we pulled back a little back and shrunk the court so they weren’t able to throw over the top and I think it threw them off a little bit.”

Despite going nearly seven minutes without a point to end the first half Liberty High led 22-16 at the half.

The Lightning were up 38-24 with 2:57 to play in the third quarter after a Madeline Casey steal and layup.

he final 11 minutes was all Warriors.

“We gotten to the point of down four or down five and then they would extend it back 10 or 12,” James said. “We said ‘let’s just take the lead’ and I think that was a mental hurdle for both teams and I think once that happened we felt more free.”

Cedar Rapids Washington closed the third quarter on a 11-1 run to cut the Lightning lead to 39-35.

The Warriors took their first lead at 42-41 on a Becker bucket with 6:13 remaining and never trailed again.

After shooting 27 percent from the field in the first half Cedar Rapids Washington shot 68 percent in the second half and went 8-of-11 from the floor in the fourth quarter.

“The Washington team from last year to this year has made huge improvements,” Printy said. “We knew what was coming, they really get after you and I think once we got back on our heels a little bit we couldn’t really right ourselves.”

Casey led Liberty High with 19 points while sophomore Natalie Ramsey had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Tafolla added 11 points and freshman Ava Casey had nine points.

“We are young, we have several freshman and sophomores out there and they haven’t had much varsity experience. I’m not making excuses but it’s going to be a learning experience,” Printy said. “Our girls work hard and they get after it and that’s the main thing.”

CR Washington                   6  10  19  31  –  66

Liberty High                         19  3   17  19  –  58

CR Washington (66) – Elysionna Westerfield 4-4 1-4 9, Samantha Becker 10-16 10-10 32, Jayla Strong 0-1 0-0 0, JaeCis Wright 1-3 0-0 3, Ava Sales 2-3 1-4 5, Lily Belle Barker 5-13 1-1 14, Jamiah Malone 1-4 1-2 3, Tashi Fields 0-1 0-0 0, Hailey Becker 0-3 0-4 0, Sira Doumbia 0-1 0-0 0, Lillie Dostal 0-3 0-0 0, Totals 23-52 14-25 66.

Liberty High (58) – Ava Casey 3-9 0-0 9, Bella Tafolla 308 4-6 11, Ava Tague 0-1 1-2 1, Madilyn Meyer 1-2 0-2 2, Natalie Ramsey 4-7 5-6 13, Madeline Casey 6-15 2-2 19, Kennedy Goodheart 1-9 0-0 3, Totals 18-51 12-18 58.

3-point field goals – ICL 10-31 (A. Casey 3-5, Tafolla 1-4, Meyer 0-1, Ramsey 0-3, M. Casey 5-13, Goodheart 1-5), CRW 6-17 (S. Becker 2-4, Strong 0-1, Wright 1-2, Barker 3-8, Fields 0-1, H. Becker 0-1). Rebounds – ICL 33 (Ramsey 12), CRW 35 (S. Becker 9). Turnovers – ICL 23, CRW 20. Total fouls – ICL 18, CRW 15. Fouled out – ICL (Ramsey), CRW (H. Becker). Technical fouls – None.

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