Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

BETTENDORF – There were moments during a four-game losing skid last month when West High BJ Mayer knew his team was down.

Did the veteran West High coach ever think his team was out during its string of four consecutive losses to ranked teams?

Not a chance.

Ninth-ranked West High (16-7) made those mid-season struggles a distant memory on Tuesday with a 61-51 win over eighth-ranked Pleasant Valley (21-2) in a Class 5A regional final in Bettendorf.

 “In that stretch when we were playing seven straight ranked teams and had a four-game losing streak they were a little down on themselves but never out,” Mayer said. “We were always looking towards the long run and as coaches we kept trying to preach to them it’s o.k. we are playing these games to get better and they kept working.”

Logan Cook scored 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as West High won for the fifth straight time following its four-game losing streak.

The win sends West High back to the state tournament for the second straight season and sixth time in eight years.  

“We never doubted that we could win this game and get back to state,” Cook said. “We knew we were playing a tough schedule but we knew those games were going to prepare us for games like this and I think that worked well for us today.”

A string of seven consecutive games against ranked opponents started fine for West High with wins over Cedar Rapids Washington and Cedar Rapids Prairie and a loss to Illinois power Bolingbrook.

That’s when the struggles set in.

First it was a Saturday loss to West Des Moines Valley then a nine-point setback to cross-town rival and top-ranked City High.

Losses to second-ranked Cedar Falls and another Illinois opponent Montini Catholic followed along with some frustration.

Seven losses are a lot for a team that lost 15 the previous three seasons combined.

“It’s hard, when you are on an 0-4 run there isn’t much that can look forward to,” West High senior Rachael Saunders said. “But with our coaches having our backs we kept working together and we felt we could get to where we are right now.”

Despite the losses West High never wavered.

On Tuesday, they gave a rousing reminder of why they spent most of the season ranked in the top three in 5A.

West High never trailed after the opening two minutes while handing Pleasant Valley its second loss of the season.

The Women of Troy held a 42-25 rebounding edge, including a 23-6 advantage in the first half as West High built a 34-24 halftime lead.  

“Pleasant Valley is a great team but we wanted to put it to whoever ranked us at number nine,” Saunders said. “We wanted to prove that we still belonged in Des Moines even if we had to go on the road and win.”

West High led 20-14 after one quarter but broke the game open with a 14-4 run to open the second.

Saunders and Lauren Zacharias each had 3-pointers during the stretch that gave West High a 34-18 lead.

“We’ve had mental lapses in some games between the first and second quarter, slowing down and not getting our momentum back,” Saunders said. “It was all about keeping ourselves pumped up in a controlled manner and coming out the best we could.”

West High never let the Spartans get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Pleasant Valley senior Kira Arthofer kept her team within striking distance with a game-high 22 points but the rest of the Spartans were a combined 10-of-36 from the floor.

“We knew they had really good players and we wanted to make them work for everything they got,” Mayer said. “We were mad a couple times because we lost kids, Ellie (Spelhaug) got a couple wide open looks, Arthofer got too many open looks but credit to our kids we did a pretty good job for the most part.”

West High had four players in double figures led by Cook with 20.

Cailyn Morgan had 13 and Zacharias and Saunders each had 11 but it was the work on the glass that spurred West High.

West High had 12 of its 18 offensive rebounds in the first half and feasted on second change points.

Saunders had seven rebounds and Paige Beckner grabbed six off the bench.

“We definitely thought we could get an advantage there,” Mayer said. “Emma and Logan got a lot of rebounds but we also had our guards going to the boards and it was what we talked about and they really executed.”

West High                  20  14  12  15  –  61

Pleasant Valley         14  10   9   18  –  51

West High (61) – Cailyn Morgan 4-6 5-8 13, Lauren Zacharias 3-10 4-6 11, Rachael Saunders 4-9 1-4 11, Logan Cook 8-11 4-4 20, Audrey Koch 0-1 0-0 0, Emma Koch 0-5 4-4 4, Paige Beckner 0-2 2-2 2, Team 19-44 20-28 61.

Pleasant Valley (51) – Adrea Arthofer 1-6 2-2 4, Carli Spelhaug 0-6 2-2 2, Rory Donahue 1-3 0-3 2, Taylor Gau 2-2 1-2 6, Kira Arthofer 8-170-0 22, Grace Budde 0-1 0-0 0, Ellie Spelhaug 6-18 3-4 15, Team 18-53 8-13 51.

3-point field goals – ICW 3-15 (Morgan 0-1, Zacharias 1-7, Saunders 2-4, E. Koch 0-1, Beckner 0-2); PV (A. Arthofer 0-2, Carli Spelhaug 0-5, Donahue 0-2, Gau 1-1, K. Arthofer 6-14, Budde 0-1, E. Spelhaug 0-4). Rebounds – ICW 42 (Cook 13); PV 25 (C. Spelhaug 8). Turnovers – ICW 21; PV 12. Total fouls – ICW 14; PV 22. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.