Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – For the City High girls’ basketball team, the talk this week centered on what it would look like to be successful.

The definitive answer was offered up by the players.

Win or lose, success would be determined by having fun, playing together and above all, the number of smiling faces.

After a performance like Wednesday night, the grins along the Little Hawks’ bench stretched from ear to ear.

“The momentum is what we just said, ‘Are they enjoying each other? Are they playing together?’” second-year City High Coach Lynsey Barnard said after the Little Hawks routed Davenport West, 76-24, in a Class 5A regional quarterfinal at Iowa City High School. “That’s when we play our best basketball. I still think our best basketball is ahead of us.”

If that is true, then look out because City High was terrific on Wednesday.

After yielding the opening bucket of the game, the Little Hawks used a 22-2 explosion to grab firm control.

The first-half fireworks were the result of big starts from both junior August Palmer and freshman Kaitlin Loria, who combined for 29 points as City High built a 44-12 halftime advantage.

“Definitely rebounding and pushing the ball up the floor,” Palmer said. “Our transition is amazing.”

Palmer finished with a game-high 21 points, including three 3-pointers. Palmer – who currently holds scholarship offers from NCAA Division-II Augustana (S.D.), William Jewell and Minnesota State – leads City High in scoring at 14.8 points per game and entered Wednesday with the team lead with 76 assists and 40 steals, as well.

“She has a competitiveness and a fire,” Barnard said. “I have seen, in my time here under (former City High Coach) Bill (McTaggart), so many good players and I would put her up among the best in the last 10 years in terms of just how hard she goes. How hard she works. She’s always doing something basketball-related.”

With just two seniors on its roster, the City High starting lineup consists of two juniors (Palmer, Emmy McComas), one sophomore (Tessa Driscoll) and two freshmen (Kaitlin Loria, Hattie Galloway).

The Little Hawks’ “youth movement” has allowed for tangible, incremental improvement throughout the season – evidenced by five wins in the last nine games – while at the same time heightening the excitement for the future.

“I’m super excited,” Palmer said. “I transferred from West Branch and had a whole new team my sophomore year. Those were mostly seniors. Now, we are going to have the returning team. I am super excited because we also have a very strong bond. All of us. It is fun to be around.”

Loria is the headliner of the underclassmen providing City High with immense contributions. Against Davenport West, she registered 20 points and six rebounds to push her season averages to 11.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.

“As I have gotten used to the pace of the game and all of it, it has gotten a lot easier,” Loria said. “But it is still harder sometimes.”

Driscoll erupted for 14 of her 18 points in the third quarter, which included eight free throws and a pair of three-point baskets. Driscoll leads the Little Hawks with 58 3-pointers this season.

“She was like five for a billion when we started the year,” Barnard said with a laugh. “And has never faltered from ‘gets in, shoots.’ She’s probably going to be the first one shooting tomorrow. We knew that is what she could do.”

Elizabeth Paustian and Sydney Westerhoff each scored eight points for Davenport West, which ends its season at 4-18.

McComas pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds for City High (8-14), which started the season with losses in 10 of its first 13 contests.

The Little Hawks will visit Pleasant Valley (17-4) on Saturday in a 5A regional semifinal.

“Tonight we just played really loose, played our game,” Loria said. “All were just happy and positive, laughing. I feel like we just need to, when playing PV, just play loosely.”

Davenport West         4   8   7    5   –  24

City High                     19  25  21 11  –  76

Davenport West (24) – Elizabeth Paustian 3 2-4 8, Sydney Westerhoff 4 0-0 8, Hannah Mitchell 0 0-0 0, Ellie Holdorf 2 0-0 4, Zoe Glasgow 0 0-0 0, Aubrey Gradin 1 0-0 2, Raelyn Lacourse 1 0-0 2, Meredith Mitchell 0 0-0 0, Sveta Sanders 0 0-0 0, Dakota Clare 0 0-0 0, Totals 11 2-4 24.

City High (76) – August Palmer 8 2-2 21, Hattie Galloway 3 2-3 8, Kaitlin Loria 9 2-3 20, Emmy McComas 2 0-1 5, Tessa Driscoll 3 9-10 18, Maeve Obermueller 0 0-0 0, Maybes Miller 1 2-2 4, Avyana Lindsey 0 0-0 0, Maclayne Menzel 0 0-0 0, Quinn Brende 0 0-0 0, Halle Larew 0 0-0 0, Totals 26 17-21 76.

Three-point goals – ICH 7 (Driscoll 3, Palmer 3, McComas 1). Rebounds – DW 15 (Paustian 5); ICH 31 (McComas 12). Total fouls – DW 16; ICH 7. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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