Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – With three losses to ranked teams during a 1-3 start to the season City High has had several shots to make an early-season splash.

In its latest clash with a ranked opponent the Little Hawks finally cashed in on the opportunity to make a statement.

City High erased a seven-point first-quarter deficit and rolled to a 65-47 win over Class 4A No. 11 and previously unbeaten Marion (6-1) on Saturday afternoon in a non-conference matinee in Iowa City.

“It’s really great to get a win like this because we feel like we have the makings of a really solid team all the way around,” City High freshman Hattie Galloway said. “We have a lot of players who can show up so it’s really great to get a nice team win and prove that those pieces can all step up.”

City High had three players in double figures and four with at least seven points while improving to 2-3 on the season.

The win for City High came after a 65-52 loss to Dubuque Wahlert on Tuesday.

“We needed one tonight,” City High coach Lynsey Barnard said. “I think the coaching staff has known the entire time what we are capable of but we needed that one bad against a good team.”

Sophomore Tessa Driscoll had a game-high 20 points, freshman Kaitlin Loria had 16 and Augie Palmer for City High.

Galloway added seven points as freshmen Galloway and Loria combined to make all 10 of their field goal attempts helping City High shoot 48 percent from the floor.

“Once we start getting on the board more and more and show we have five players that can score that is going to opening it up for everyone,” Loria said. “That’s hard for teams to defend.”

City High shot 25 percent (3-of-12) from the floor in the opening quarter and trailed 13-6 after Marion closed the quarter on a 6-0 run over the final 65 seconds.

The Little Hawks controlled the final 24 minutes.

City High outscored Marion 24-5 in the second quarter, closing the half on a 17-1 run that spanned the final 3:58.

“That quarter break is nice because you can take what you learned from the first quarter and you can see what you have to keep doing and we did that and then we brought the energy up,” Galloway said. “We came out and played a lot better.”

Marion got as close as eight points with 5:03 remaining but Galloway and Avy Lindsey responded with back-to-back 3-pointers to spark an 8-0 City High run.

“The girls trust each other,” Barnard said. “That 3-pointer by Avy was a dagger, it was kind of back-and-forth and that was a huge shot and they trust her to shoot that.”

City High held a 34-24 rebounding edge as Galloway grabbed 10 rebounds and junior Emmy McComas had six rebounds to go with five points.

The Little Hawks had just three turnovers in the second half and just 13 in the game.

“I really hope that this brings up our confidence,” Loria said. “We just beat a ranked team and that is something that not every team can do. Yes, we didn’t win against Wahlert, we didn’t play our best game against them but that really motivated us to come out and play better today.”

Marion                       13  5   16  13  –  47

City High                    6  24  16  19  –  65    

Marion (47) – Mallory Heinricy 1-6 0-0 3, Natalie McAllister 2-6 0-0 5, Jenna Heinricy 4-11 5-6 13, Grace Whalen 1-3 0-0 2, Mila Van Weelden 3-13 2-4 11, Madeline Pavelka 3-9 7-8 13, Totals 14-48 14-18 47.

City High (65) – Ava Lindey 1-3 0-0 3, Augie Palmer 4-13 6-8 14, Hattie Galloway 2-2 2-2 7, Kaitlin Loria 8-8 0-0 16, Emmy McComas 1-3 2-2 5, Tessa Driscoll 6-17 4-4 20, Totals 22-46 14-16 65.

3-point field goals – ICH 7-15 (Lindsey 1-2, Palmer 0-3, Galloway 1-1, McComas 1-1, Driscoll 4-8), MAR 5-19 (M. Heinricy 1-5, McAllister 1-4, J. Heinricy 0-1, Van Weelden 3-9). Rebounds – ICH 34 (Galloway 10), MAR 24 (J. Heinricy 8). Turnovers – ICH 13, MAR 14. Total fouls – ICH 13, MAR 14. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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