Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – While City High has been running hot over the last several weeks Eve Vitense was by her own admission in a bit of a cold spell.

Vitense couldn’t have picked a better time to heat up.

The sophomore guard scored a career-high 14 points, including the game-winner with 4.2 seconds remaining as Class 5A ninth-ranked City High edged seventh-ranked Liberty High 51-49 in a cross-town thriller on Friday at City High.

“I haven’t been much of a scoring factor lately but I know my teammates have my back,” Vitense said. “The fact I could score this game really helped out the team.”

The win was the seventh in the last eight games for City High (16-4) but Vitense hadn’t provided much offense during that recent hot streak.

Vitense had scored just eight points combined and was scoreless three times in the previous five games but came up huge on Friday.

She went 4-of-6 from 3-point range and her runner in the lane in the final seconds proved to be the difference as City High avenged a 58-53 loss at Liberty High in December.

“It’s just a huge game as far as maybe staying home in the playoffs and we lost to them the first time,” Vitense said. “We’ve been a second half team this year but we played the whole game today.”

Liberty High (13-6) trailed by as many as seven in the first half but took a 36-31 lead with a 10-0 run in the third quarter.

The Lightning took a 49-47 lead on a conventional 3-point play by Morgan Bennett with 3:50 to play but didn’t score again.

Kaitlin Loria tied the game at 49 with a driving basket with 3:33 remaining and neither team scored again until Vitense drove the lane and floated in an eight-footer with under 5 seconds to play.

“We were looking to pass the ball around a little more but they gave me an open lane and I knew I had to take that shot for my team,” Vitense said. “I was pretty confident with my shot.”

Liberty High had a final chance to tie or win the game but Maybes Miller intercepted a long inbounds pass and dribbled out the clock.

The 14 points for Vitense was a team-high and led five City High players with at least seven points.

Hattie Galloway had nine points and eight rebounds while Thisbe Lewis had eight points and six boards and Loria and Tessa Driscoll each had seven points.

“Our offense was working pretty well for us tonight,” Galloway said. “I thought we swung the ball really well and were looking for teammates and that makes a big difference for our game because our defense is always there.”

City High limited Liberty High all-stater Natalie Ramsey to 17 points and seven rebounds after Ramsey had 25 points and 11 rebounds in a 58-53 win over the Little Hawks in December.

“We have to manage Natalie and then play everybody else as hard as we can,” Galloway said. “We had to try to limit their second chance points.”

Bennett had nine points and Ava Casey and Aubrey Meyer each had seven for Liberty High which had a five-game winning streak halted with the loss.

The two-point win for City High was the sixth win by three points or fewer in the previous seven victories for the Little Hawks.

City High is now 8-1 in games decided by five or less points this season and a perfect 7-0 in games decided by three or less.

“Either fortunately or unfortunately we have been in one-possession or close games multiple times this year so it was kind of par for the course for us,” City High coach Lynsey Barnard said. “I don’t know that it’s a great thing but we know that if its close here are some things that we need to do and we kind of tighten the belt a little bit.”

Liberty High             7   16  17    9  –  49

City High                   15  12  13  11  –  51

Liberty High (49) – Ava Casey 2-7 2-4 7, Aubrey Meyer 3-6 0-0 7, Natalie Schechinger 3-6 0-0 6, Kennedy Goodheart 1-3 0-0 3, Morgan Bennett 4-8 1-1 9, Madilyn Meyer 0-2 0-0 0, Natalie Ramsey 6-13 5-7 17, Totals 19-45 8-12 49.

City High (51) – Eve Vitense 5-8 0-0 14, Maybes Miller 1-4 0-0 3, Hattie Galloway 4-9 1-4 9, Ka’Liyah Blakeney 0-7 0-0 0, Thisbe Lewis 4-4 0-0 8, Kaitlin Loria 3-5 1-1 7, Halle Larew 1-1 1-2 3, Tessa Driscoll 3-7 0-0 7, Totals 21-45 3-7 51.

3-point field goal – ICL 3-16 (Casey 1-5, A. Meyer 1-1, Schechinger 0-1, Goodheart 1-3, Bennett 0-2, M. Meyer 0-2, Ramsey 0-2). ICH 6-17 (Vitense 4-6, Miller 1-2, Blakeney 0-5, Loria 0-1, Driscoll 1-3). Rebounds – ICL 26 (Ramsey, Schechinger 7), ICH 28 (Galloway 8). Turnovers – ICL 12, ICH 11. Total fouls – ICL 11, ICH 12. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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