Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – Prior to the start of each season Liberty High selects a single-word mantra for the up-coming year.

This season the Lightning settled on the word ‘Redemption’.

The Lightning got a measure of that on Friday against City High.

Liberty High matched its win total from last season and avenged a pair of losses to the Little Hawks a year ago with a 61-56 win on Friday in a cross-town showdown in North Liberty.

“As a group they call came up with that word, we started with a whole list and we narrowed it down and they all settled on redemption which I kind of think fits with what we want to do this year,” Liberty High coach Ryan Kelly said. “It kind of takes last year but uses it as fuel.”

Chase Goodheart scored a game-high 22 points and Jerimiah Washpun added 20 as Liberty High improved to 2-1 on the season.

The win matched the win total for Liberty High last season when the Lightning finished 2-21, a season that included a pair of losses to the cross-town Little Hawks.

“We all have a chip on our shoulder and we don’t want to feel the feeling of going 2-21 again,” Washpun said. “We all hate losing and starting off the season 2-1 feels good.”

Liberty High broke a 29-29 tie in the third quarter with an 11-0 burst that was part of a 25-point third quarter explosion.

Washpun had 13 of his 20 points in the third quarter as Liberty High built a 49-33 lead it would never give up.

“It was just having confidence in my shot, having confidence in what I can do,” Washpun said. “I knew coming into the second half if I started hitting shots it was going to be different for me and that’s what happened.”

City High (1-3) didn’t go without a fight.

The Little Hawks scored the first six points of the fourth quarter and cut the lead to 56-53 with an 8-0 run that featured a conventional 3-point play by senior forward Christopher Watkins.

Watkins finished with a 14-point, 13-rebound double-double to lead three Little Hawks in double figures.

However, Liberty High had an answer.

Goodheart put the game away with a 3-pointer from the right wing, his fourth of the game with 49 seconds remaining.

“The big thing with Chase is his IQ,” Kelly said. “He’s only a sophomore but his IQ is up there as that of a senior. He knocks down shots for us and that’s his bread and butter is that 3-pointer but I saw him attack the rim a little bit more today.

Senior Jacob Stapleton put the exclamation point on the win with a two-hand dunk with 20 seconds to play.

Stapleton had six points and Rylen Schweitzer had six points and eight rebounds for the Lightning.

Jack Lampe had 14 points and seven boards and Coden Kurtz had 13 points for City High.

The Little Hawks held a 38-34 advantage on the glass but Liberty High used its extended half court trapping defense to hold the City High to 39 percent shooting.

“Defensively I think we got enough deflections and we did a phenomenal job on the boards,” Kelly said. “I don’t know what the numbers were but compared to what happened last year we did a really, really good job on the boards.”

City High                   13  11   9  23  –  56

Liberty High             11  13  25 12  –  61

City High (56) – Iyon Harris 0-3 0-0 0, Jack Lampe 4-11 6-11 14, Jack Rogers 0-1 0-0 0, Ja’Vion Robinson 0-6 0-2 0, Coden Kurtz 4-11 1-2 13, Christopher Watkins 6-8 2-3 14, Kevion Estremera 3-8 0-2 6, Davion Hopkins 4-9 0-0 9, Totals 22-57 9-20 56.

Liberty High (61) – Asher Kahn 2-5 0-0 5, Jerimiah Washpun 7-16 3-6 20, Brooks Andersen 0-1 0-0 0, Cale Baldwin 1-2 0-0 2, Rylen Schweitzer 3-6 0-0 6, Chase Goodheart 8-13 2-2 22, Brooks Peyton 0-2 0-0 0, Jacob Stapleton 3-8 0-0 6, Totals 24-53 5-8 61.

3-point field goal – ICH 3-20 (Harris 0-3, Lampe 0-1, Rogers 0-1, Robinson 0-4, Kurtz 2-7, Hopkins 1-4), ICL 8-25 (Kahn 1-4, Washpun 3-7, Schweitzer 0-2, Goodheart 4-7, Peyton 0-2, Stapleton 0-3). Rebounds – ICH 38 (Watkins 13), ICL 34 (Schweitzer 8). Turnovers – ICH 11, ICL 15. Total fouls – ICH 14, ICL 15. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating