Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – Through 20 games Jaimie Brandt had a good idea of the makeup of her Liberty High squad as the postseason approached.

Brandt may have learned more about her team in the final eight minutes of the 21^st and final regular season game than she had from the previous 20 games combined.

Class 5A No. 8 Liberty High gutted out a 75-68 double overtime win over No. 14 Cedar Rapids Kennedy to snap a two-game losing streak in the regular season finale for both teams on Friday in North Liberty.

“I told them that double overtime probably taught us more than anything else maybe all season,” Brandt said. “We learned how to handle end of game situations, how to battle through things, overcame adversity, foul trouble. You name it.”

Natalie Ramsey scored seven of her game-high 32 points in the eight minutes of overtime as Liberty High (14-7) bounced back from back-to-back road losses to ranked teams last week.

Ramsey scored the first five Liberty High points of the second overtime as the Lightning took a 69-66 lead it would never give up.

“That was a big one for us and pulling that off in double overtime is a big confidence builder after two tough losses,” Ramsey said. “This was definitely a big confidence booster.”

Liberty High led 31-25 at the half and 48-38 late in the third quarter before Cedar Rapids Kennedy (11-10) stormed back.

The Cougars opened the fourth quarter on a 13-2 run and led 58-54 with under 30 seconds to play.

Junior Morgan Bennett hit a 3-pointer from the corner to cut the lead to 58-47 with 28 seconds remaining.

Bennett finished with 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting including 3-of-4 from 3-point range.

“I was just in the moment and tonight I was just on,” Bennett said. “The big girl was on me so I knew if I was in the corner I could shoot it.”

Ramsey sent the game to overtime with a pair of free throws with 4.2 seconds remaining.

Liberty High scored the first five points of overtime but Cedar Rapids Kennedy took its turn answering, forcing a second overtime on a deep 3-point by sophomore Bentley Dill with 47 seconds remaining.

Dill finished with 26 points and nine rebounds to lead four Cougars in double figures.

“It was so important, Kennedy played so well, they are well-coached and Dill is something, she is such a good player,” Brandt said. “So going in a straight week of practice getting ready for postseason it feels good to come out with that win.”

Cedar Rapids Kennedy took a 66-64 lead with 3:05 remaining in the second overtime on a pair of Dill free throws but Ramsey scored the next five points to give Liberty High the lead for good.

Ramsey had 13 points in the final 16 minutes of the game.

“I think we did a better job of relying on each other and trusting each other,” Ramsey said. “We were getting each other open and trusting that someone was going to hit big shots.”

Cedar Rapids Kennedy got as close as 70-68 with under a minute to play but freshman Aubrey Meyer clinched the win with a 3-pointer with 32 seconds remaining.

“We showed a lot of mental toughness making plays down the stretch,” Brandt said. “I said in the first overtime, this is what we want, this is going to make us better moving hard which is all you can ask for right now. I am just really proud of our effort and how we stuck together because Kennedy played really well.”

Ava Casey had 11 points and Meyer and Natalie Schechinger each had eight points for Liberty High.

Ramsey had a double-double adding 15 rebounds and Schechinger had nine boards.

“We have so many people that can make big shots, Aubrey hit a big shot, Morgan played amazing tonight, Natalie Schechinger was amazing defensively,” Ramsey said. “It was a great team effort.”

Liberty High will open postseason play by hosting Cedar Rapids Jefferson (8-13) on February 21 at 7 p.m.

Cedar Rapids Jefferson closed the regular season with back-to-back wins over No. 10 City High and No. 11 Cedar Rapids Prairie.

“This really gives us some confidence going into the postseason and a win like that is something that we need,” Bennett said. “If you are going to make it to the state tournament you are going to have tough games like that.”

Cedar Rapids Kennedy        13  12  15  19  5   4   –  68

Liberty High                          14  17  17  11  5  11  –  75

Cedar Rapids Kennedy (68) – Emerson Blocker 0-1 0-0 0, Bentley Dill 6-14 12-14 26, Payton Thier 3-5 2-2 11, Alaysia Williams 2-11 1-2 5, Alaina Canney 5-11 3-5 13, Lola Sain 1-5 0-0 3, Addison Stallman 4-14 0-0 10, Totals 21-61 18-23 68.

Liberty High (75) – Ava Casey 3-12 3-4 11, Aubrey Meyer 2-4 2-2 8, Natalie Schechinger 2-8 2-2 8, Kennedy Goodheart 1-5 0-0 , Morgan Bennett 4-5 2-2 13, Madilyn Meyer 0-6 0-0 0, Natalie Ramsey 12-23 8-9 32, Totals 24-63 17-19 75.

3-point field goal – CRK 8-32 (Blocker 0-1, Dill 2-5, Thier 3-5, Williams 0-7, Sain 1-3, Stallman 2-11), ICL 10-32 (Casey 2-11, A. Meyer 2-3, Schechinger 2-2, Goodheart 1-5, Bennett 3-4, M. Meyer 0-4, Ramsey 0-3). Rebounds – CRK 41 (Dill 9), ICL 41 (Ramsey 15). Turnovers – CRK 13, ICL 12. Total fouls – CRK 16, ICL 16. Fouled out – CRK (Canney). Technical fouls – None.

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