This Tuesday, February 24th, the City High girls basketball team faces off against West Des Moines Valley in a substate final game that will send the winner to Casey’s Center in Des Moines. 

For all students going to the game, admissions for students will be paid for by an unknown donor, per the City High girls basketball Instagram. This will help the girls compete at a higher level, knowing that they have the school behind them in the crowd. All you need to do is show your student ID at the door, and you will be allowed to enter without paying.

The Little Hawks enter the game with a record of 17-6 and are ranked 6th as of February 23rd, according to the power rankings on Bound IA. They are coming off of a dominant game against Ames winning 69-33, more than double Ames’ score. Tess Driscoll led the way for the Little Hawks, dropping 21 points and 5 assists, shooting 8/10 from the charity stripe.

The Valley Tigers have been hot lately, ranked 9th in the power rankings. They have racked up 2 key wins against Southeast Polk and Carlisle. The Tigers leading scorer Tylee Weite has been dominant in these last two games, scoring 22 and 16 respectively.

One of the keys to the game for the Little Hawks will be to limit Weite, and force others to try to pick up the slack. 

“As a team, we have to focus on doing what we do best, which is playing good defense, and playing together as a team. On the defensive side of things, we need to limit and contest their three point shooting.” Driscoll said.

Since 2018, Valley leads the series against City 4 games to 2. However, senior Tessa Driscoll has been heating up lately, recently scoring her 1000th career point on January 29th, against Prairie. The Little Hawks look to emerge from the Class 5A Region 7 as victors, and make a run at a state championship title. The last time the Little Hawk women made the state tournament was in 2022, and they are itching to go on a run to remember. 

“It’s always been a goal of mine to make the state tournament and it’s just a cool way to honor our school,” said senior Tessa Driscoll.

Besides City High, the Little Hawks are also playing for the late Parker Sutherland. Parker was a very well known City High athlete who graduated in 2025 and played 3 varsity sports for the Little Hawks. The City High girls team has honored him by wearing warmup shirts with his last name, Sutherland, and his Little Hawk football number-88, on the back of their shirts. Also on the shirts, is a quote saying, “Play like Parker”. Parker is being honored by the girl’s who are wearing yellow and purple bows in their hair and on their shoelaces; the colors represent UNI, which is where Parker was playing football.