(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
For junior forward Reagan Baldwin, it felt a little weird being the opposition rather than the home team inside the Valley High School gym.
Baldwin, who transferred to Ankeny from Valley after her sophomore season, stepped foot back in her old stomping grounds on Tuesday and played a key role in helping the eighth-ranked Hawkettes pull off a 53-43 victory in a top-10 matchup at No. 9 Valley.
“It was definitely a little bit weird,” Baldwin said of playing against her former teammates. “Especially just the environment, you just got used to it. But the shift in energy that we brought and the fans brought, it was really good.”
The transition from Tiger to Hawkette has been seamless as Baldwin continues to add a whole new dynamic to a preseason top-10 team that returned plenty of scoring.
After opening the season with 10, eight and nine points, respectively, in the Hawkettes’ first three wins of the year, Baldwin had her best showing thus far with 14 points against the Tigers. Teammate Ainsley Kiene led the way with 17 points.
Baldwin knocked down four 3-point goals over the course of the night and picked perfect times to hit big shots for the Hawkettes.
She cashed in her first trey of the game to help break Ankeny out of an offensive slump to start the game before knocking down a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter as the Hawkettes built a 25-17 halftime lead.
Despite Ankeny cruising with a double-digit advantage in the second half, the Tigers attempted to rally back on their home court. Baldwin added her only non-three pointer with a move down in the post to give the Hawkettes a 47-35 lead in the fourth quarter.
Valley cut the deficit down to eight points with Ankeny turning the ball over on three consecutive possessions in the final minutes. That’s when Baldwin cashed in on her fourth 3-pointer of the game to stop the Tigers’ momentum and ice the road victory for Ankeny.
“I was just ready for the shot,” Baldwin said. “I knew our team definitely needed some momentum to keep going with the game. I was just confident in my shot and thought it was going to go in. I was really excited for that.”
Baldwin couldn’t do it alone as Kiene proved to be just as big of a thorn in the side for the Tigers.
The junior guard got Ankeny’s first two points on the board before knocking down a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter that helped the Hawkettes take control. Kiene came out after halftime and scored seven points in a 10-3 Ankeny run that gave it a 15-point lead over the Tigers.
With Jayla Williams chipping in 12 points, Ankeny’s original three-headed scoring threat of Williams, Kiene and Savannah Gage have all scored in double figures in three of the team’s first four games. Baldwin joins that trio by averaging just over 10 points per game in her four-game career with the Hawkettes.
Ankeny coach Nate Tobey couldn’t have asked for a much better start to the 2024-25 season as the Hawkettes improved to 4-0 on the year and look to rise up the rankings from No. 8 with a top-10 road victory in their back pocket.
“We talked about dividing our season up in quarters, and this was the start of quarter two for us,” said Tobey, whose team avenged a 39-36 loss in last year’s regional final. “It’s great to get off to a strong start, but we’ve got six more games before the break that are going to be a grind.”
Ankeny’s schedule won’t slow down as the Hawkettes are set to face a trio of fellow top-10 teams out of the CIML Conference.
They return to Ankeny High School for their second home game of the season on Friday as they host No. 3 Ankeny Centennial (1-1) in the crosstown rivalry. They’ll stay home to host No. 1 Johnston a few days later before going back out on the road to face No. 10 Waukee.
“I know our girls will answer that call,” Tobey said. “But we’ve got to make sure we can do everything we can to support them and make sure, physically, they’re feeling as good as they can.”
