Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – In its return to action on Tuesday Liberty High was understandably and possibly even predictably rusty on offense.

Playing for the first time in 25 days Liberty High shot 34 percent from the floor including 5-of-17 from 3-point range in a 48-42 win over Linn-Mar on Tuesday.

The Lightning offense appeared finely polished on Friday.

Liberty High (5-6) shot 50 percent from the field and buried 14 3-pointers sprinting past City High 75-64 in a Mississippi Valley Conference contest in North Liberty.

“It’s really tough to guard us when we shoot the ball like that,” Madeline Casey said. “We practice a lot of shooting so when we are on I think we are extremely hard to guard.”

Natalie Ramsey had 25 points and seven rebounds to lead three Liberty High players in double figures as the Lightning completed the regular season sweep of City High.

The 75 points were one off the season-high for Liberty High and the first time the Lightning had gone over 70 points since December 5.

“We can score from anywhere,” Ramsey said. “We can get to the hoop, we can hit 3s and score from the midrange too. It’s fun when your shots go in.”

Madeline Casey had 15 points and Ava Casey added13 as the sisters combined for nine of the 14 Liberty High 3-pointers.

The Casey sisters had six of Liberty High’s nine first-half triples that built an 11-point halftime cushion.

“It’s super helpful to hit a few shots early,” Ava Casey said. “It got my confidence up and I’m a lot better when I make the first one.”

Friday’s win continued a mid-season surge for the Lightning who have won three in a row and four of their last five games following a 1-5 start to the season.

The recent hot streak started with a 59-52 win at City High back on December 15.

“We started off a little rough this season,” Madeline Casey said. “The second half of the season we are really focusing on getting better and this is a really big win for us.”

Liberty High was efficient offensively from the outset.

The Lightning never trailed on Friday, opening the game on a 16-3 run that featured 3-pointers from Madeline Casey, Ramsey and senior Bella Tafolla.

Madeline Casey had three 3-pointers in the opening quarter as Liberty High led 25-21 after the first quarter.

“We had 25 days between games and this was just our second game back so we knew we had to come out with a lot of energy,” Ramsey said. “That’s what we did.”

City High (3-9) pulled even on three separate occasions in the second quarter the final tie coming at 31-all on a Kaitlin Loria bucket with 2:23 remaining in the first half.

Liberty High closed the half on an 11-0 run fueled by three consecutive 3-pointers by Ava Casey, Madeline Casey and Tafolla to take a 42-31 lead.

The Liberty High lead would never dip to single digits again.

“This was only our second game back after break so it was really important to get off to a good start,” Ava Casey said. “We were focused on coming out strong and I think we did that in the first half.”

Liberty High followed up its 11-0 run to close the first half with a 7-3 burst to start the second.

The Lightning led 62-44 after three quarters and put the game away with an 11-4 run to start the fourth that stretched the lead to 25.

“It’s exciting to play in these games,” Madeline Casey said. “The environment was great and we know those girls so it’s an exciting game and a big win.”

August Palmer had 25 points and seven rebounds to lead City High and Emmy McComas had 16 points as the Little Hawks lost their sixth straight game.

Kaitlin Loria had 11 points and Tessa Driscoll had 10 for City High.

City High                   21  10  13  20  –  64

Liberty High            25  17  20  13  –  75                           

City High (64) – August Palmer 9-20 3-3 25, Hattie Galloway 1-5 0-0 2, Maybes Miller 0-2 0-0 0, Kaitlin Loria 5-5 0-2 11, Emmy McComas 6-11 3-4 16, Tessa Driscoll 3-10 1-2 10, Totals 24-53 7-11 64.

Liberty High (75) – Ava Casey 4-6 1-2 13, Janessa Mosley 1-4 0-0 2, Bella Tafolla 3-6 0-0 8, Kennedy Goodheart 2-7 2-2 7, Morgan Bennett 0-0 1-2 1, Haley Schroeder 0-1 1-2 1, Natalie Ramsey 8-11 7-9 25, Madeline Casey 5-11 0-0 15, Sydney Van Heukelom 0-0 3-4 3, Totals 23-46 15-21 75.

3-point field goals – ICH 9-27 (Palmer 4-12, Galloway 0-3, Miller 0-1, Loria 1-1, McComas 1-3, Driscoll 3-7), ICL 14-27 (A. Casey 4-5, Tafolla 2-2, Goodheart 1-6, Ramsey 2-2, M. Casey 5-10). Rebounds – ICH 26 (Palmer 7), ICL 27 (Ramsey 7). Turnovers – ICH 13, ICL 14. Total fouls – ICH 17, ICL 13. Fouled out – ICH (Loria, McComas). Technical fouls – None.

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