Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – On Tuesday City High let a halftime lead slip away and scored just nine second-half points while missing out on an opportunity for a marquee win over fifth-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie.

Three days later the Little Hawks showed they had learned from that loss.

Class 5A No. 13 City High exploded for 22 fourth-quarter points to pull away for a 51-35 win over ninth-ranked Cedar Falls in a meeting of ranked Mississippi Valley Conference teams in Iowa City.

“The Prairie game really showed us what we were capable of doing and you learn more from the losses at the end of the day,” City High senior Emmy McComas said. “We knew we were right there (on Tuesday), we learned from it and tonight that helped us get a win.”

Sophomore Kaitlin Loria scored 15 of her game-high 24 points in the 22-point Little Hawk fourth-quarter as City High improved to 9-3 on the season with its fifth win over a ranked opponent.

Loria scored 12 points during a 20-3 City High run that spanned just over four minutes at the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters.

That run started with a Loria conventional three-point play and turned a three-point deficit into a 43-29 City High lead.

“I think what we learned is we can’t let teams back in,” Loria said. “We let them back in the game and they won and tonight we knew we couldn’t let them back in the game.”

Friday’s meeting of top-15 teams was similar to City High’s 48-39 loss to Cedar Rapids Prairie on Tuesday.

Points were at a premium early in a physical first half that ended with City High leading 16-14.

Cedar Falls shot 13 percent from the floor in the first half and City High was only slightly better at 33 percent but committed 14 first-half turnovers.

“Cedar Falls is a great team, their pressure is something that really pushed us and we had some tough moments but we stayed together,” McComas said. “We stayed together as a team and that was the difference.”

The difference between Tuesday’s nine-point loss and the win on Friday was how City High finished.

At halftime on Friday City High had been held to single digit point totals in four consecutive quarters and scored 28 points combined during that span after being limited to nine points in the final two quarters by Cedar Rapids Prairie on Tuesday.

City High found its offensive footing late on Friday behind Loria.

“One thing that we did really well is our energy just skyrocketed,” Loria said. “The bench was loud, our energy was up and we finally got used to the pressure they were giving us. They are amazing with the pressure and once we handled that it was big for us.”

Loria scored 20 of the Little Hawks 35 second-half points as City High pulled away.

After making nine field goals in the first three quarters combined on Friday the Little Hawks had eight in the fourth quarter, six coming from Loria and all of which came in the paint.

“With Prairie we struggled offensively so a big focus today was finding the best shot and moving the ball around,” McComas said. “We knew they were going to be all over us so we had to be smart with the ball and we still turned it over but we found some open spots.”

City High limited Cedar Falls to 22 percent shooting for the game including just 3-of-22 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Karis Finley had 16 points to lead Cedar Falls but no other Tiger had more than five.

“We are sticking with the things we are good at defensively,” City High coach Lynsey Barnard said. “We don’t always have to do something drastic. We can go see what our core, fundamental defense can do and they did an awesome job of that.”

Loria grabbed 10 rebounds to finish with a double-double and help City High hold a commanding 42-25 rebounding edge.

McComas had seven points and August Palmer added seven points for the Little Hawks.

“I think the Prairie game showed us how good we are,” Barnard said. “We are definitely learning something from every game that we lose. We are taking it and we are getting better. Obviously we don’t want to lose game but we are taking advantage of those loses.”

Cedar Falls                5  9  12   9  –  35

City High                   7  9  13  22 –  51          

Cedar Falls (35) – Gabie Hanks 1-9 2-2 5, Mattie Dieken 0-4 0-0 0, Sophie Stanic 2-6 1-4 5, Jordann Oakland 1-3 0-0 3, Karis Finley 5-18 5-8 16, Emma Jacobs 1-4 0-0 2, Grace Hannam 1-5 2-7 4, Totals 11-49 10-21 35.

City High (51) – Eve Vitense 0-0 2-4 2, Maybes Miller 2-4 0-2 4, August Palmer 2-14 2-4 7, Hattie Galloway 2-3 0-0 5, Kaitlin Loria 9-10 6-9 24, Emmy McComas 2-3 2-4 7, Tessa Driscoll 0-4 2-2 2, Totals 17-38 14-25 51.

3-point field goals – Cedar Falls 3-22 (Hanks 1-6, Dieken 0-1, Stanic 0-2, Oakland 1-2, Jacobs 0-2), City High 3-9 (Miller 0-1, Palmer 1-4, Galloway 1-1, McComas 1-1, Driscoll 0-2). Rebounds – Cedar Falls 25 (Hannam 8), City High 42 (Loria 10). Total fouls – Cedar Falls 20, City High 16. Turnovers – Cedar Falls 12, City High 24. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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