Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Rivalry games are always big.

For City High seniors Emmy McComas and August Palmer Friday’s meeting with cross-town rival West High was a little bit bigger than normal.

In presumably their final game in the long-time rivalry McComas and Palmer combined for 21 points as Class 5A ninth-ranked City High rallied for a 55-50 win over No. 11 West High in front of a large crowd at City High.

“This was huge, it felt like this was a championship game,” Palmer said. “I needed to win this so bad. We all needed to win this.”

Palmer scored all of her team-high 12 points in the second half as City High (11-4) erased a four-point halftime deficit and split the season series with the Trojans.

West High (10-6) won the first meeting 63-46 on December 20, outscoring City High 50-31 over the final three quarters.

In Friday’s rematch it was City High that closed strong using a 19-point third quarter to take a 43-38 lead it would never give up.

“Coming off a loss against them last game there was something extra this game,” McComas said. “This is a huge rivalry and we don’t take that lightly.”

Grace Fincham had six of her game-high 20 points during an 8-0 West High run to close the second quarter that gave the Trojans a 28-24 halftime edge.

City High needed less than four minutes to erase the deficit.

The Little Hawks used a 6-0 burst spurred by a pair of transition layups by sophomore Kaitlin Loria to take a 35-32 lead with 3:30 remaining in the third quarter.

“That’s definitely one of our biggest highlights is when we start getting our transition going,” Palmer said. “When we are able to run we really start playing the way we want to play.”

West High regained the lead at 36-35 on a Fincham 3-pointer with 2:36 remaining in the quarter but the lead was short lived.

Palmer scored in the paint to give the Little Hawks the lead back and ignite an 8-0 run that including a Hattie Galloway and a pair of baskets by junior Tessa Driscoll.

“We knew it was going to be back and forth and they were going to go on runs but we came out in the second half and we were in control the whole second half,” Palmer said. “The whole week we knew what we were coming into, we knew this was a big game, especially for Emmy and myself being seniors we wanted this one bad.”

City High led 43-38 after three quarters and never let West High get closer than four points the rest of the way.

The Little Hawks put the game out of reach with an 8-0 fourth-quarter run that started and ended with jumpers by Palmer.

“We had a rough first half but then really showed up the second half,” McComas said. “It really meant a lot to us to win this game and prove that we can beat these teams.”

Six different City High players had at least seven points as the Little Hawks shot 48 percent from the floor including 56 percent (14-of-25) after halftime.

Loria joined Palmer in double figures with 10 points while McComas and Galloway each had nine points and Maybes Miller had eight.

“At West High I just don’t think we played the way we know we can play,” McComas said. “We were out of our element in the first game and we really locked in this game and we knew what we could do, we know we are a great team and we knew if we played our best we’d come out with a win tonight.”

Sasha Baldwin had 10 points for West High which shot 38 percent from the floor and was just 31 percent in the second half.

“This game means a little bit more,” City High coach Lynsey Barnard said. “I know every coach, big picture wants the season to end a certain way but we are not going to not celebrate little things. Within a game we celebrate one dive on a floor and in the scheme of a big season, that’s a game that you play high school sports for games like that.”

West High                  10  18  10  12  –  50

City High                   13  11  19  12  –  55          

West High (50) – Ava Frese 2-7 1-1 5, Kate Van Waning 2-3 0-1 5, Abby Neumiller 3-8 0-0 8, Grace Fincham 9-17 0-0 20, Lauryn Hynek 0-0 2-2 2, Sasha Baldwin 3-15 2-3 10, Totals 19-50 5-7 50.

City High (55) – Eve Vitense 0-0 0-0 0, Maybes Miller 3-5 0-0 8, August Palmer 5-11 2-2 12, Hattie Galloway 4-8 1-1 9, Kaitlin Loria 4-8 2-2 10, Emmy McComas 4-5 0-0 9, Tessa Driscoll 3-11 0-0 7, Totals 23-48 5-5 55.

3-point field goals – West High 7-28 (Frese 0-3, Van Waning 1-2, Neumiller 2-7, Fincham 2-6, Baldwin 2-10), City High 4-16 (Palmer 0-4, Miller 2-3, Galloway 0-2, Loria 0-1, McComas 1-1, Driscoll 1-5). Rebounds – West High 29 (Fincham 7), City High 28 (Galloway 8, Loria 8). Total fouls – West High 11, City High 8. Turnovers – West High 11, City High 10.  Fouled out – None.  Technical fouls – None.

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