Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Aubrey Joens has played a lot of good basketball in her time in a City High uniform.

Joens was good enough in her first two seasons to earn all-state honors and a scholarship offer from Iowa State.

The junior guard has played the best basketball of her prep career over the past week and it couldn’t be coming at a better time because the biggest battles of the season are yet to come for top-ranked City High.

Joens has averaged 30 points and 7.7 rebounds per game over her last three games including a 32-point outburst in a 26-point win over fourth-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie last Friday.

Behind the stellar play of Joens City High (16-2) has won back-to-back games following its first two losses of the season and closes out the regular season on Wednesday by hosting No. 12 Cedar Rapids Washington.

“We have been pretty good the last couple games and that’s what we needed to do against these good teams,” Joens said. “Playing tough teams at the end of the season is going to get us ready and show us what we have to do to finish this year.”  

Joens had a season-low seven points as City High failed to reach 60 points for the first time this season in a loss to West High on January 31.

Since going 2-for-18 from the field in the loss at West High Joens has shot 48 percent from the field including an impressive 14-of-28 from 3-point range.

She had a career-high 37 points and 11 rebounds in a loss to West Des Moines Dowling and followed with 21 points in a win over Dubuque Senior.

Joens’ best performance came Friday against Prairie.

The 5-foot-9 Joens scored 32 points on 11-of-18 shooting and went 7-of-9 from 3-point range.

“My teammates were working to get me the ball, they knew that I was hot,” Joens said. “I think the ball movement was a key and we just took smart shots.”

Joens had 26 of her 32 points in the second and third quarters as City High broke open a tie game by outscoring the Hawks 44-16.

“Aubrey was great and we had a lot of passes before we hit shots,” City High Bill McTaggart said. “Our ball movement was very good, we moved the ball, it wasn’t just one on one stuff.”

Equally important to her scoring has been everything else Joens has done over the past several games.

Joens had six rebounds and four steals against Prairie and is averaging two assists and four steals over her past three games.

“I think I’ve been play well but I think everyone has kind of stepped up the last three games,” Joens said. “We know we have to step up this time of year if we are going to go as far as we want to go.”

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