A desperate team can sometimes be a dangerous team.
That proved to be the case on Thursday at the Ankeny gym.
Trailing by double digits midway through the fourth quarter, the fourth-ranked Waukee girls’ basketball team slapped on a full-court press in an effort to get back into the game. The Warriors forced several turnovers down the stretch and closed out the contest with a 16-2 run to rally for a 54-50 victory over No. 7 Ankeny.
“We just struggle when full-court pressure is put on, and we just made some poor decisions with the ball as we had the lead,” said Ankeny coach Nate Tobey, whose team also lost to the Warriors, 62-57, on Nov. 28.
Emilie Sorensen scored 12 of her 23 points in the fourth quarter to spark Waukee’s rally. She made a driving layup to cut Ankeny’s lead to 48-40, then followed with a 3-point goal shortly thereafter to slice the deficit to 48-45 with 2 minutes 40 seconds left.
Sorensen converted a 3-point play at the 2:03 mark to tie the game at 48-48.
“Waukee’s a great team,” Tobey said. “You try to pressure them, and they just take advantage of driving lanes to the basket and got to the free-throw line a lot.”
A rebound basket by Sophia Hope gave Waukee the lead for good, 50-48, with 1:29 remaining. She finished with 13 rebounds.
Sorensen then made two free throws with 40 seconds left and two more with 28 seconds to go to seal the victory. The Hawkettes’ final basket was a driving layup by Karsen Jacks midway through the period.
“We just couldn’t get that one more bucket to get enough of a lead to secure it down the stretch,” Tobey said.
Jayla Williams led Ankeny with 22 points. Ainsley Kiene chipped in 15, and Savannah Gage added 11.
Williams scored the last four points of the first half to give the Hawkettes a 25-24 lead at the break. She then had five more points in a 7-0 run to open the second half that extended the margin to 32-24.
“The ball was moving well, and defensively we were locked in,” Tobey said.
After Waukee rallied to tie the score at 38-38 on a 3-pointer by Maryne Szalo with 1:19 left, Ankeny got a pair of free throws from Kiene and a 3-point play by Williams in the last 10 seconds of the period to regain a 43-38 advantage.
Kiene opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer, but Williams picked up her fourth foul at the 5:41 mark and eventually fouled out in the final minute.
“She was having a great game,” Tobey said. “It was too bad to have her foul out. She’s just such an impactful player at both ends.”
Waukee improved to 7-2 in the CIML Conference and 10-2 overall. The Hawkettes’ records dropped to 4-5 and 8-5.
Ankeny will play a non-conference game at Dallas Center-Grimes on Tuesday. Dallas Center-Grimes (10-1) is the No. 1 team in Class 4A.