The Ankeny Centennial girls’ basketball team is headed back to Wells Fargo Arena.
The fifth-ranked Jaguars advanced to the state tournament for the fourth consecutive year by defeating No. 10 Sioux City East, 53-25, in a Class 5A regional final on Tuesday at Centennial.
This time, coach Scott DeJong’s squad didn’t have to sweat out a close game in the final minutes. The Jaguars had won the previous three regional finals against Des Moines Roosevelt, Sioux City East and Linn-Mar (Marion) by a combined 10 points.
“I looked up (at the score) in the second half, and it was a little bit different,” said DeJong, who earned his 699th career victory. “The regional final is probably the most pressure-packed game of the year. You never know how you’re going to come out and play. That we played so well was certainly very satisfying. I’m very proud of the kids.”
Mya Crawford tied her career-high with 22 points as Centennial (14-8) won its fifth straight game in February. She also had nine rebounds, three assists and three steals.
“It feels very good to be back at state,” said Crawford. “Sioux City East was a very good team and has helped us along with all of the other top-10 teams we have played this season. Knowing that we get to compete with all the best teams in the state is a great feeling!”
Sioux City East finished at 18-6. The Black Raiders had won nine straight games by an average of 37 points before closing out the regular season with a 59-43 loss at Omaha (Neb.) Skutt Catholic.
“We knew going into the game that Sioux City East was a very good team who had many offensive weapons,” said Centennial’s Jaeden Pratt, who recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. “Our defense just locked down tonight and held them to one shot. Our team was shocked by the 25 points we held them to, but we knew if we played really good defense we could get the job done.”
Centennial led by just 16-14 midway through the second quarter. The Jaguars then closed out the first half with a 9-2 run, capped off by Ava Martin’s 3-point goal, to build a 25-16 advantage.
Martin finished with 10 points, going 2-of-4 from behind the arc.
“Ava had a really, really great game,” DeJong said. “And Mya just had an awesome game.”
Centennial survived some foul trouble in the first half. Crawford, Pratt and Tillie Smith each picked up a pair of fouls.
“We actually got a little push from our bench,” DeJong said.
In the second half, Centennial continued to pull away. The Jaguars held a 38-21 margin after three quarters.
“Our kids really stepped up and kept playing better and better throughout the game,” DeJong said. “We really had them locked down on defense. We were hoping we could do that, and it was better than we expected. We were elated with that.
“East is a good team, but we’ve been really tested through our schedule so I think that helped. And we kind of wore them down, too,” he added.
It was Centennial’s first win over a Class 5A top-10 opponent by more than 10 points. The Jaguars’ previous four victories against top-10 foes came by an average of six points.
Still, Crawford thinks her team can play better.
“After everything that we went through this season and the way we have fought back, and have seen everything that has put us in the position that we are in today, I do not think that we are playing some of our best because there are some areas that we can still work on,” she said. “But we are playing at a high level.”
Centennial will now face No. 4 Waukee (18-4) in the Class 5A quarterfinals on Monday at 11:45 a.m. The Warriors advanced to state with an 83-58 win over Iowa City West, getting 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting from Maryne Szalo.
Waukee won both meetings against the Jaguars during the regular season. The Warriors posted a 51-37 victory at Centennial on Dec. 15, then later won the rematch, 60-53, on Jan. 23.
In the last game, Waukee’s Emilie Sorensen went 5-of-7 from 3-point range and scored 19 of her 23 points in the second half. She is one of four Warriors averaging in double figures.
“It’s always exciting playing another CIML team, and we are super excited for the challenge at Wells!” Pratt said.
