(Story by Gabe Ploeger)
The Ankeny Centennial girls’ basketball team just couldn’t get the shots to fall.
Sixth-ranked Dowling Catholic outscored No. 2 Centennial in all four quarters and cruised to a 60-34 win over the visiting Jaguars on Friday. The Maroons bounced back from a 55-42 loss to No. 5 Valley on Tuesday, which could be a sign of things to come in the rugged CIML Conference–which boasts eight of the top 12 teams in Class 5A.
“We’re going to have these kind of games all year long,” said Centennial coach Scott DeJong, whose team shot just 25.5 percent from the field (12-of-47), including 0-of-9 from 3-point range. “We just have to stay composed and keep competing and keep it focused on the possession at the time.”
Dowling seemed to have everything go its way throughout the game. Guard Layla Trytten scored 14 points, going 3-for-8 from 3-point range for the Maroons, who finished with 12 treys.
Forward Ellie Muller had a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds. She also blocked six shots.
The Jaguars held Dowling star Ava Zediker to just 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting, about nine points below her average.
“Tillie Smith played really good defense on Zediker, about as good as we could’ve asked,” DeJong said. “We just had a tough night all the way around. We had some early foul trouble and just didn’t play with composure when we needed to.”
Jaeden Pratt led Centennial with 15 points and seven rebounds. But the Jaguars’ other top scoring threat, Mya Crawford, was held to four.
Dowling held a 25-13 lead at halftime. The Maroons increased their advantage to 37-21 after three quarters.
“When they’ve got Zediker going to the basket and they’re shooting like they did tonight…that’s a tough combination to stop, but give Dowling credit because they played tremendous tonight,” DeJong said.
Dowling improved to 1-1 in the conference and 2-2 overall. Centennial’s records fell to 1-1 and 3-1.
The Jaguars will be off until hosting Valley on Friday. The Tigers are 2-0 in the league and 4-0 overall after beating No. 12 Waukee Northwest, 53-38, on Friday.
