The Ankeny Centennial girls’ basketball team just couldn’t find the basket.
The fifth-ranked Jaguars shot just 21.7 percent from the field (10-of-46) and lost to No. 2 Valley, 35-24, in a CIML Conference game on Friday at Centennial. It was the team’s lowest offensive output in program history under coach Scott DeJong.
The previous low was 26 points in a loss at Dowling Catholic during the 2014-15 season.
“It was a real hard-fought defensive battle,” said DeJong. “We had a lot more fight in us than we did last Friday (in a 60-34 loss at Dowling), so that was a good sign. But we struggled to get points on the board, so we need to keep moving forward because it’s not going to get any easier.”
Mya Crawford led Centennial with 10 points. She was the only Jaguar to score in the second half until Jaeden Pratt drove for a layup with 1 minute 39 seconds left.
“We struggled a lot on offense this week,” said Crawford, who also had seven rebounds and three steals. “We held them to 11 points in the second half, and you can’t complain about that when they’re the No. 2 team in the state. That’s pretty good. We just really struggled on offense, and I think that’ll be the big thing we work on these next two days in practice to get ready for the games ahead of us.”
The Tigers took control of the game with a 9-0 run in the second quarter. Northern Iowa recruit Elise Jaeger scored off a rebound to ignite the run, then later completed the spurt when she made a scoop shot to give Valley a 24-11 lead with 1:59 remaining in the half.
Jaeger, a 6-foot-1 post player, provided a matchup problem in the paint for the shorter Jaguars.
“She’s been their whole team pretty much the last few games–she’s averaging like 23 points,” Crawford said. “Our main focus was to shut her down and keep her contained. I really think Jaeden did a great job on her. She’s a physical player, and she’s good–she’s a DI player. I thought we did the best we could considering that we don’t have the bodies or the height we probably need to defend her.”
A 3-point goal by Finley Blackmore pulled Centennial to within 24-14 at the half, but the Jaguars could get no closer than seven points in the second half. Freshman guard Tylee Weite made a 3-pointer for Valley’s only points of the third quarter, then later drove for a basket to seal the win with 1:18 to go.
“I thought we got better the second half, even though we didn’t score much,” DeJong said. “Valley’s got some strong kids, and they play really good defense. I know we can do it. We’ve got kids that can shoot the ball. We just have to keep working and get the confidence to do it in a game setting.”
Pratt finished with five points. Reserve Kylin Smith grabbed seven rebounds and also blocked a shot.
The Tigers kept pace with No. 1 Johnston in the conference race, improving to 4-0 in the league and 6-0 overall. Centennial’s records dropped to 1-2 and 3-2.
The Jaguars will travel to Johnston on Tuesday to face the Dragons (4-0, 5-0), who have won their first five games by an average of 27.8 points.
“We’ll take it,” Crawford said of the huge challenge that awaits her team. “In our conference it’s going to be a top-10 team about every night. We just look at everybody about the same, and we just try to get ourselves better to put us in a good spot before break and get us in a good spot before state, too.”
