Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Liberty High senior Madeline Casey entered Tuesday’s meeting with West High one 3-pointer shy of 150 for her career.

It took 67 seconds for Casey to get her milestone 3-pointer but it was career triple number 154 that is the one she will remember.

Casey drilled the go-ahead 3-pointer from the wing with one minute remaining as Class 5A No. 13 Liberty High rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit to down No. 12 West High 56-52 in a cross-town thriller in Iowa City.

“The last few games I haven’t shot how I want to so I came into this game looking it as a fresh start,” Casey said. “When it came down to the last minute I knew my team needed me to step up.”

Natalie Ramsey had 22 points and Casey had 18, including five 3-pointers, as Liberty High improved to 7-2 with its fourth consecutive win.

The win was the second straight for Liberty High over West High after the Trojans won the first 10 meetings between the two teams.

“We knew they are a really strong team but we wanted to focus on what we could control,” Casey said. “We really want to focus on these rivalry games and these wins.”

West High (8-4) closed the second quarter on a 12-5 run to take a 33-25 halftime lead.

The Trojans led 38-25 less than a minute into the second half after a jumper by Grace Fincham.

Liberty High responded with an 11 run that was capped by six straight points by Ramsey to pull within 38-36.

“The first half we weren’t playing how we expect to,” Ramsey said. “We had to talk more and communicate on defense and once we made some adjustments things started to flow a lot better.”

Liberty High took its first lead since the first quarter at 42-41 on a 3-pointer by Ava Casey with 27 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

A basket by Ava Frese with eight seconds left gave West High a 43-42 entering the fourth quarter.

“I think a year or two ago we would have folded,” Liberty High coach Jamie Brandt said. “Tonight, on the road against a really good and well-coached West High team we were able to stay composed and keep believing in each other it was a big win for us.”

Ramsey scored the first five points of the fourth quarter and gave Liberty High a 49-44 lead with a jumper with 3:26 remaining.

West High scored eight of the next 10 points and took a 52-51 lead on a driving layup by Fincham with 1:19 remaining.

Casey delivered the biggest shot of the game and the 154^th 3-pointer of her career on the next possession.

“She has put in the work and I think her confidence comes from that and she knows we want her to shoot the ball when she can,” Liberty High coach Jamie Brandt said. “That was a huge shot for her down the stretch but she kept us in it when we struggling with some threes.”

With West High focused on stopping Ramsey, who had eight of the Lightning’s 14 fourth-quarter points, Liberty High ran a play for Casey.

The senior guard took a pass from Ramsey off a flare screen and drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing to put the Lightning on top 54-52.

“I wanted to make sure I met the ball and got the catch and then I just kicked it over to Maddie,” Ramsey said. “She has a great shot so I knew it was going in as soon as it went up.”

Casey came up with a steal with under 10 seconds to play and made a free throw with 3.5 seconds left to secure the win.

“I haven’t had a team that has bought in like this team has bought in,” Brandt said. “I think that’s why we are coming on so strong is because they believe in each other and they believe in our system and they are working hard.”

West High got 22 points from Grace Fincham and 17 from Abby Neumiller and had a three-game winning streak snapped with the loss.

Liberty High              10  15  17  14  –  56

West High                  13  20  10   9   –  52

Liberty High (56) – Ava Casey 2-4 2-2 8, Janessa Mosley 1-6 2-4 5, Natalie Schechinger 1-2 0-0 3, Morgan Bennett 0-1 0-0 0, Madilyn Meyer 0-3 0-0 0, Natalie Ramsey 10-17 2-5 22, Madeline Casey 6-11 1-2 18, Totals 20-44 7-13 56.

West High (52) – Ava Frese 1-2 2-2 4, Kate Van Waning 0-7 3-4 3, Abby Neumiller 6-10 0-0 17, Grace Fincham 9-16 3-7 22, Sasha Baldwin 2-5 0-0 6, Totals 18-40 8-13 52.

3-point field goals – Liberty High 9-20 (A. Casey 2-3, Mosley 1-2, Schechinger 1-1, Bennett 0-1, Meyer 0-3, Casey 5-10), West High 8-15 (Van Waning 0-5, Neumiller 5-6, Fincham 1-2, Baldwin 2-2). Rebounds – Liberty High 25 (Ramsey 7), West High 24 (Fincham 6, Van Waning 6). Total fouls – Liberty High 16, West High 13. Turnovers – Liberty High 7, West High 12. Fouled out – Liberty High (Mosley). Technical fouls – None.

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