It wasn’t difficult for Ankeny Centennial girls’ basketball coach Scott DeJong to get the attention of his players following Tuesday’s overtime loss to Waukee Northwest.
The fifth-ranked Jaguars responded on Friday with a 44-33 victory at No. 7 Ankeny in a CIML Conference matchup. It was Centennial’s third straight win in the series after dropping two of the previous three meetings.
“You want to learn and grow,” said DeJong. “The season is young, so that was the only way to take that (loss) and I thought we did. We had two really good practices, and you could see the determination tonight. I thought our offense was better–we did turn the ball over (14 times)–but we shot a really good percentage (18-of-38). When they made runs at us, we had some answers. I thought we showed some maturity, and maybe we didn’t do that so much on Tuesday.”
Mya Crawford scored 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting as the Jaguars improved to 1-1 in the conference and 2-1 overall. Jaeden Pratt had 10 points and four rebounds, while Tillie Smith added eight points.
“I think we had a lot of motivation just to come back and get another win and obviously (against) our crosstown rivals, it feels good just to be able to pull this one off,” said Crawford, who also had three assists, four steals and a block. “I think it was a good win for us.”
Savannah Gage had 15 points to lead Ankeny, which shot just 29.0 percent from the field (9-of-31) and committed 18 turnovers. The Hawkettes dropped to 2-1 in the league and 4-1 overall.
“It was definitely difficult,” said Gage. “Centennial had a pretty good plan coming in. We knew they were going to play good defense; they’re a really good defensive team. We just couldn’t find a way to get going tonight.”
Only four players scored for Ankeny. Reagan Baldwin and Ainsley Kiene each had eight points, while Jayla Williams added two.
Williams, who was averaging 12.5 points, scored her only basket with 5 minutes 27 seconds left. She was defended by Crawford for most of the game.
“I think that was one of the main things that helped us win that game,” Crawford said. “She’s a very good player for their team so holding her to two was very important for us.”
Ankeny took its only lead of the game, 3-2, on the first of three 3-point goals by Gage in the first half. The Jaguars then answered with an 8-0 run that was capped off by six consecutive points from Crawford.
“I give a lot of credit to my teammates in creating those open shots,” Crawford said. “I think we slowed (our offense) down a little bit and actually got the ball moving so it created a lot of shots for all of us along the way.”
A 10-0 run in the second quarter extended Centennial’s lead to 22-8. Five different players scored during the run, while the Jaguars stifled Ankeny’s offensive attack at the other end of the court.
“I thought our defense was really locked in from the get-go,” DeJong said. “We rebounded better and we set the tone early with our defense. That was probably the biggest thing with the game.”
Centennial held a 26-15 advantage at halftime. The Hawkettes pulled to within 28-22 on a backdoor layup by Kiene midway through the third quarter, but that was as close as they could get.
Smith later made a pair of treys in an 8-0 run that sealed the win, giving the Jaguars a commanding 44-29 lead in the final period.
“We changed some of our (defensive) matchups, and Mya led the way,” DeJong said. “Ava (Martin) was really good early, and I thought our bench was good. I thought overall it was a good team win.”
Williams had a game-high seven rebounds for the Hawkettes. Kiene contributed five boards and four steals.
The Jaguars will travel to Dowling Catholic on Tuesday to face the No. 2 Maroons, who are 2-0 in the conference and 3-1 overall. After missing the previous two games, Dowling star Ava Zediker returned to the team’s lineup on Tuesday and scored 13 points in a 65-32 triumph at Urbandale.
Ankeny, meanwhile, will have to regroup before hosting No. 1 Johnston on Tuesday. The defending state champion Dragons are 2-0 in the league and 3-0 overall after rolling to a 68-28 win at No. 12 Waukee on Friday.
“Every game is a learning opportunity,” Gage said. “We have another tough test on Tuesday, but I know we’ll come back stronger Sunday and have a really good practice going into next week.”
