Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – There aren’t many basketball coaches in the state that wouldn’t say the focus in their practices over the holiday break was on defense.

When West High coach Nate Frese says it, he means it.

And the Trojans showed it on Tuesday.

Class 5A ninth-ranked West High limited No. 10 Liberty High to 26 percent shooting and used a strong fourth quarter to pull away for a 52-36 win over the Lightning in a top-10 contest in North Liberty.

“We spent a lot of time on defense and the first couple of practices over break were just defensive fundamentals,” Frese said. “I’ve been coaching these seniors since they were in fourth grade and we did a lot of the same things we’ve been doing since then that are just the simple things that are the core of how we defend.”

The win was the second in four days for West High (8-3) over a top-10 ranked opponent out of the holiday break.

West High made 11 3-pointers in a 53-45 win over Cedar Rapids Washington 53-45 on Saturday.

On Tuesday it was defense that carried the Trojans.

West High held Liberty High (6-4) to just two points over the final 4:25 while closing the game on a 13-2 run.

“Our defense was fantastic throughout the whole game,” West High senior Grace Fincham said. “We had ups and downs but our defense is what kept us in the game. We were all picking each other up.”
Fincham had a game-high 21 points and senior point guard Ava Frese added 10 points for West High which shot just 33 percent from the field including 3-of-17 from 3-point range.

However, West High shot 28 free throws, including 14 from Fincham and outscored the Lightning 23-8 at the charity stripe.

“The first half we were a little bit slow on offense and our shots weren’t falling,” Fincham said. “We got to the line a ton the entire game, especially in the second half and that’s what got our offense going.”

The one consistent for West High on Tuesday was its defense.

West High limited Liberty High to four first quarter points and didn’t allow more than 14 points in a quarter.

Liberty High led 18-17 at the half and by as many as three points in the third quarter but made just 6-of-24 field goal attempts in the second half.

“They were the better team tonight,” Liberty High coach Jaime Brandt said. “Down the stretch they made plays and we didn’t, they made shots and we didn’t, they got 50-50 balls and we didn’t and that happens. Hopefully we can learn from it and we get them again.”

West High led 31-29 after three quarters and opened the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run.

Liberty High cut the margin to 39-34 on an Ava Casey 3-pointer with 4:25 remaining but would one score two more points.

The Lightning went scoreless for more than two minute as West High took control of the game with an 8-0 run that started with an Abby Neumiller 3-pointer.

“Our defense has always been solid it’s just been if we want to come to play or not,” Fincham said. “I think that we came to play especially in the second half.”

Sasha Baldwin had eight points and 11 rebounds for West High while Kate Van Waning had six points and Neumiller had five.

Natalie Ramsey had 13 points and seven rebounds to lead Liberty High while Casey and Brynlie Walker each had seven points.

“We told them we are going to take tomorrow, watch film and learn from it and after that film session it’s done,” Brandt said. “Then we have to prep for another really good team on Friday in Cedar Rapids Prairie.”

West High                  10  7  14  21  –  52

Liberty High               4  14  11   7  –  36

West High (52) – Ava Frese 3-6 4-4 10, Kate Van Waning 2-6 0-0 6, Abby Neumiller 2-2 0-2 5, Josephine Austen 1-1 0-0 2, Grace Fincham 5-14 11-14 21, Sasha Baldwin 0-10 8-8 8, Totals 13-39 23-28 52.

Liberty High (36) – Ava Casey 2-11 1-4 7, Aubrey Meyer 0-2 0-0 0, Natalie Schechinger 1-4 2-2 4, Brynlie Walker 1-4 4-6 7, Morgan Bennett 0-4 0-0 0, Olivya Johnson 0-3 0-0 0, Madilyn Meyer 2-5 0-0 5, Natalie Ramsey 6-13 1-1 13, Totals 12-46 8-13 36.

3-point field goal – ICW 3-17 (Frese 0-3, Van Waning 2-4, Neumiller 1-1, Fincham 0-3, Baldwin 0-6), ICL 4-19 (Casey 2-9, Walker 1-3, Bennett 0-1, Johnson 0-1, M. Meyer 1-3, Ramsey 0-2). Rebounds – ICW 32 (Baldwin 11), ICL 30 (Ramsey 7, Schechinger 7). Turnovers – ICW 12, ICL 13. Total fouls – ICW 9, ICL 19.  Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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