The search for more offensive production continues for the Ankeny Centennial girls’ basketball team.
The fifth-ranked Jaguars shot just 31.8 percent (14-of-44) and dropped a 64-37 decision at No. 1 Johnston on Tuesday, suffering a third straight loss for only the third time in program history. They have averaged just 31.7 points over the last three games, resulting in a trio of double-digit losses.
“I thought we played a little better on the offensive end than we did the last game (against No. 2 Valley on Friday),” said Centennial coach Scott DeJong, whose team went 1-of-10 from 3-point range. “That was a little bit of growth, but it was certainly a whooping.”
Mya Crawford scored 13 points and Jaeden Pratt added 11 for Centennial, but it wasn’t nearly enough against a Johnston team that has won two state titles and played in four championship games since 2020. The Dragons are now 98-6 during that stretch.
“I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating (to play them), but you’ve got to know their persona and what they can do,” said Pratt, who also grabbed seven rebounds. “They’re a really good team with a lot of great players. We just need people to step up to be able to guard their girls.”
Johnston built a 29-16 halftime lead behind Des Moines North transfer Amani Jenkins, who scored 14 of her 20 points in the first two quarters. She went 7-for-9 from the field.
DeJong switched Pratt onto Jenkins in the second half, but then Aili Tanke and Jenica Lewis got going for the Dragons. Tanke had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds, while Lewis contributed 12 points, four assists and two steals.
Lewis erupted for seven straight points in the third quarter, capped off by a deep 3-point goal, to increase Johnston’s lead to 38-20.
“When they get rolling like that, they’re pretty tough to stop,” DeJong said. “Jaeden can’t guard everybody. If she could, we’d be able to stop them all. I thought she did a great job on (Jenkins), but we didn’t start Jaeden on her because she’s done a good job on Tanke over the past years, and then we went Jaeden on Jenkins and that helped. And we put Mya on Tanke, but then Lewis got going.
“We had a real matchup problem in our man-to-man,” he added.
The Dragons took their biggest lead, 62-29, after Tanke, Jaliyah Kinnetz and Lewis made three consecutive treys early in the fourth quarter. Kinnetz finished with 11 points.
“They were 7-of-19 on 3s,” DeJong said.
Johnston improved to 5-0 in the CIML Conference and 6-0 overall. Centennial’s records dropped to 1-3 and 3-3.
The Jaguars will host a conference game against No. 6 Waukee on Friday. The Warriors are 4-1 in the league and 6-1 overall after routing Urbandale, 81-33, on Tuesday.
This will be Centennial’s fourth straight game against a top-10 opponent.
“This is a tough stretch, and we do have a tough schedule,” Pratt said. “Everyone in our conference is good, and it’s going to go down to the wire with every team no matter who we play.”
