The Ankeny girls’ basketball team pulled away in the second half for a 50-29 victory over visiting Urbandale on Friday.
The seventh-ranked Hawkettes led by just 21-19 at halftime, but then outscored Urbandale in the third quarter, 19-5, to build a 40-24 advantage.
“It was close for quite a while,” said Ankeny coach Nate Tobey. “But credit to Urbandale. They’ve really improved since the beginning of the year, and they took advantage of a few things that we weren’t doing very well.”
Savannah Gage scored 25 points to lead Ankeny, including five 3-point goals. She picked up the slack as the Hawkettes played without leading scorer Jayla Williams, who sat out due to an ankle injury.
“Savannah just continues to inspire her teammates with the way she has come back from her (ACL) injury,” Tobey said. “Everybody was struggling with their shooting tonight, but she finally took the lid off for us.”
Karsen Jacks added 13 points in the win. Ainsley Kiene chipped in five.
Ella Schott had seven points to pace the J-Hawks, who kept the game close in the first half as Ankeny struggled to find the basket.
“We didn’t start the game very well,” Tobey said. “We were like 1-for-12 from 3. We were getting good looks, but they just weren’t falling. But we also weren’t executing very well defensively. We let our poor shooting affect some other areas at times.”
Ankeny improved to 4-4 in the CIML Conference and 8-4 overall, while Urbandale’s records dropped to 0-8 and 2-9. The Hawkettes are now tied for fourth place in the league with Ankeny Centennial and Valley following the Tigers’ loss at Waukee.
Ankeny will host another conference game against No. 1 Johnston (12-0) on Tuesday. Williams is expected to be back in the Hawkettes’ lineup.
The Dragons won the first meeting, 70-49, on Dec. 1.
