Ava Martin wasn’t going to let a gash on her head take her out of the lineup for the Ankeny Centennial girls’ basketball team.
The junior guard made 4-of-7 3-point shots and scored 12 points to help the fifth-ranked Jaguars to a 64-30 victory over visiting Sioux City North in a Class 5A regional semifinal on Saturday. She wore a bandage across her forehead to protect a cut that she suffered during the regular-season finale against Waukee Northwest on Feb. 9.
“She’s a tough kid,” Centennial coach Scott DeJong said of Martin. “She had a good game, and we’re going to need her Tuesday (for the regional final).”
Martin was injured while going after an offensive rebound during the Jaguars’ 48-44 win over Northwest.
“I got elbowed by (teammate) Jaeden (Pratt) actually,” said Martin. “We were both going for the ball, and I had it and then it got fumbled out and her elbow hit my face. There was so much blood. I ended up getting it glued–no stitches.”
Martin returned to the court that night with a huge bandage wrapped around her head to stop the bleeding.
“We were calling her Rambo,” DeJong said of the infamous movie character portrayed by Sylvester Stallone. “She’d never heard of him.”
On Saturday, Martin and her teammates combined for 12 3-pointers against North’s zone defense. The Jaguars took more than 60 percent of their shots from behind the arc.
“Their matchup zone is a little bit different,” DeJong said of the Stars. “We don’t see that a lot. I thought we did ok with it, but we didn’t shoot great. We’ll have to shoot better on Tuesday.”
Finley Blackmore and Martin opened the game with a pair of 3-pointers as Centennial jumped out to a 9-0 lead. Blackmore went 3-of-7 from deep and finished with nine points.
The Jaguars later went on a 13-0 run that bridged the second and third quarters to break the game open. Martin capped the flurry with a 3-pointer that extended the margin to 36-13 less than a minute into the second half.
“We were ready for (the zone),” Martin said. “It’s a little different because we don’t play against zone a lot, but it’s fun because we can get a lot of open looks, especially in the corner for me. So it’s pretty nice.”
Reserve Rylyn Boeding added a pair of treys in the fourth quarter as Centennial (13-8) continued to pull away. The Jaguars led by as many as 35 points despite shooting just 32.8 percent from the field (19-of-58).
North (5-17) had no answers for Centennial point guard Mya Crawford, who nearly had a triple-double with 17 points, nine rebounds and 11 steals. She went 8-of-10 at the free-throw line and also dished out four assists.
Tillie Smith had 10 points and six rebounds in the win. Pratt added eight points and two blocks.
“It feels good to move on,” Martin said.
The Jaguars will host No. 10 Sioux City East (18-5) in the regional final on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Black Raiders advanced with a 75-29 win over Ames.
Senior Alexandra Flattery averages 17.4 points and 9.2 rebounds to lead East. Sophomore Hudsyn Ranschau averages 16.6 points and shoots 41.5 percent from behind the arc (68-of-164) for the Black Raiders, who had 13 3-pointers on Saturday and average about nine treys per game.
Two years ago, Flattery scored 13 points in East’s 46-41 loss at Centennial in a regional final.
“She’s one of two players who are back from that team,” DeJong said. “They shoot a lot of 3s–they really jack them up. They’ve got a really good team.”
Centennial is seeking its fourth consecutive trip to the state tournament.
“It’ll be a really good test,” Martin said. “They’re not in the CIML, but they play just like any other CIML team. It’ll be a good game.”
