Pat Harty

Your Prep Sports 

IOWA CITY – The City High girls basketball team was in the unusual position of having to bounce back from a loss when it faced Liberty High on Saturday, and to say the Little Hawks bounced back would be an understatement.

City High never trailed and held Liberty to just three made field goals in the first half while cruising to a 72-32 victory in a Class 5A regional semifinal at the Little Hawk gymnasium.

The entire second half was played with a continuous clock, which goes into effect in the second half when one team leads the other by at least 35 points.

City High led Saturday’s game 45-10 at halftime.

The victory came one week after the Little Hawks suffered their first loss of the season, a 55-39 setback at Waukee last Saturday in the regular-season finale.

“I didn’t want to lose, but like my coaching friends say, the best thing that could happen to you would be to lose,” said City High coach Bill McTaggart. “They got their wish, but as far as that goes, we’ve had some good practices since then and I feel pretty good.”

McTaggart could almost sense some relief after the loss to Waukee because the burden and pressure from being undefeated had been lifted.

“It seemed to be with the girls,” McTaggart said. “We went out to eat afterwards and they were pretty relaxed.

“And I thought we started off much better (today) than we did last week.”

City High bolted to a 19-3 lead against Liberty and led 29-5 after the first quarter.

Seniors Aubrey Joens and Rose Nkumu led a balanced City High offense with 15 points apiece, while sophomore Eviyon Richardson came off the bench to score 14 points.

Freshman Kelsey Joens, who is Aubrey’s younger sister, finished with 12 points, and matched Aubrey by making three 3-point baskets.

City High made nine 3-point baskets overall.

“A lot people say it’s good to lose, but I don’t agree,” Aubrey Joens said. “I think winning is always good. If you come ready to play every game and if you get beat, then there’s nothing you can really do about it.”

City High improved to 21-1 overall and will face Dubuque Hempstead (14-9) on Tuesday with a trip to the state tournament on the line.

Aubrey Joens is one of three senior starters for the Little Hawks, along with Nkumu and Paige Rocca. They’ve been through a lot together, and have won a lot of games, so they want to cherish what time they have left and use that as motivation to play well.

“Our ball movement tonight went really well and we executed, and our defense was good, we helped well,” Aubrey Joens said. “We just wanted to come out ready to play knowing that we’ve only got so many games left.”

Liberty High, which started two freshmen and one sophomore, struggled against City High’s pressure defense, especially in the first half when the Little Hawks were applying full-court pressure.

City High forced numerous turnovers that led to easy baskets in transition.

“That was the plan,” McTaggart said. “Our offense comes from our defense because we like to run in transition.

“I was pleased with the effort for the most part tonight.”

Senior Sam McPherson led Liberty with 12 points and with two 3-point baskets, while fellow senior Neshy Byrd came off the bench to score seven points, all of which came in the second half.

The Bolts closed the season with a 3-18 record.

Liberty High    5   5    6   14  –  32

City High        29  16  13 14  –  72

Liberty High (32) – Avery Gaudet 0-2 0-0 0, Isabel Smith 1-4 0-0 2, Sam McPherson 3-11 4-6 12, Keiko Ono-Fullard 2-5 2-4 6, Haley Napoli 2-6 0-0 5, Cecily Johnston 0-2 0-2 0, Ava Meyer 0-0 0-0 0, Neshy Byrd 2-3 3-5 7, Meika Elliot 0-1 0-0 0, Erica Heisdorffer 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 10-33 9-17 32.

City High (72) – Aubrey Joens 5-14 2-2 15, Rose Nkumu 4-7 6-6 15, Kelsey Joens 4-9 1-1 12, Paige Rocca 2-6 0-0 6, Ella Cook 1-6 0-2 2, Eviyon Richardson 5-9 4-5 14, Andie Westlake 1-3 0-0 2, CeCe Kelley-Harvey 2-2 0-0 4, Georgia Kimm 1-1 0-0 2, Carey Koenig 0-1 0-0 0, Ayanna House 0-0 0-1 0, Anna Knoche 0-0 0-0 0, Lauren Koch 0-1 0-0 0, Mia Driscoll 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-59 13-17 72.

3-point goals – Liberty 3 (Sam McPherson 2, Haley Napoli); City High 9 (Aubrey Joens 3, Kelsey Joens 3, Paige Rocca 2, Rose Nkumu). Fouls – Liberty 14, City High 17.

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