In their first conference game of the season, the girls basketball team proved they will be a tough team to beat. Tuesday night the No. 3 Little Hawks knocked off No. 10 Cedar Rapids Washington by a score of 73-27. Head coach Bill McTaggart says he is pleased with how his team has preformed in the first few contests of the season.
“The girls have done well,” McTaggart said. “Cedar Rapids Washington was a top ten team and we kind of took control of the second half. So, we’ve been very pleased, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement.”
Both City and Washington run a press as a major component of their defense. McTaggart said the team hoped their press would contain some of the Warriors’ top scorers.
“We wanted to put a lot of defensive pressure on them and try to create turnovers, which we did that in the first half,” McTaggart said. “We also wanted to test their three point shooters because when they’re hot, they make a lot of threes, but they just weren’t hot tonight.”
During the first half, fouls took key offensive players out of the game for both teams. Kiera Washpun ’14 got two fouls early in the first quarter and her third less than one minute into the second, forcing the team to make changes in their usual line up.
“We were pleased that we were able to not turn the ball over a lot even though we had Kiera out, because she’s our best ball-handler,” McTaggart said.
Despite Washpun’s absence, the team was able to run their offense successfully. Led by Florida recruit Haley Lorenzen ’14, the Little Hawks took a 36-20 lead into the locker room. City dominated in the second half, only allowing the Warriors to score seven points in the final two periods.
“To hold a team like that to 27 points, that’s impressive. We’re really happy about that,” McTaggart said.
Lorenzen led the team in scoring with 32 points, Courtney Joens ’16 followed with 13, Sam Blowers ’15 had nine, and Washpun added eight.
Friday the Little Hawks will face No. 3 Class 4A Cedar Rapids Xavier at home. McTaggart says before this game the team will need to work on their defensive intensity
“We need to keep improving on defense and rebounds,” McTaggart said. “If we can keep this tempo and intensity up I like our chances.”
By Annika Wasson and Emilie Burden