(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
Jaeden Pratt is playing with a lot of confidence, and it helps when she’s got the perfect team around her.
It was just a pair of free throws to begin Friday night’s contest that broke open the floodgates to a career-high 30-point outing for the Illinois State commit and a dominant 73-42 road win for the Ankeny Centennial girls’ basketball team at Valley.
“I was kind of shocked by it,” Pratt said about her scoring output. “I give all the glory to my teammates for finding me and giving me the ball. They’re the ones that give me the confidence to even be in the right positioning and getting shots up.”
One way or another, the Jaguars were able to get the ball into Pratt’s hands and the senior forward had little issues getting her shots to fall throughout the game, finishing 11-of-15 from the field.
Pratt reached double figures and scored 10 of Centennial’s 19 points during the first quarter after getting an offensive rebound and putback with just 3 seconds left in the period. She went into halftime with 17 points following a seven-point second quarter.
Valley’s hopes of Pratt cooling off during halftime were squashed as soon as she sank a 3-pointer and laid the ball up past a defender for the first five points of the second half. She scored once more later in the quarter to bring her total up to 24 points.
Pratt reached the 30-point threshold in the final period by scoring six straight points for Centennial. She cashed in on her second 3-pointer of the game, then scored through a shooting foul and converted the ensuing free throw.
Pratt set a new career-high in points just one game after tying her previous career best. Her original career-high of 22 points was set during last year’s Class 5A quarterfinal loss against Waukee; she then tied that mark by scoring 22 in Centennial’s 75-35 win at Des Moines Roosevelt last Saturday.
“(Pratt) is a very aggressive player. She’s moving well without the ball, and her teammates did a great job finding her,” said Centennial coach Scott DeJong. “She had some offensive rebound putbacks, and she was making threes. Her shot was floating up there tonight.”
But it’s not just Pratt that’s starting to heat up for Centennial. The whole team has taken big steps forward during its last couple of games.
Setting two career-highs in points is a good way to help lead a team to victory, but the Jaguars have been getting big contributions all around that have helped them win three straight games, which includes back-to-back contests with 70 or more points scored.
Rebounding has been a strong suit for Centennial in its recent games. The Jaguars outrebounded Urbandale 38-17 with 13 offensive boards during their 66-32 victory and tallied 28 boards in their win over Roosevelt.
Snagging rebounds was one of its biggest strengths against the Tigers as Centennial pulled down 34 rebounds with Mya Crawford leading the way with eight boards.
“(Rebounding) is something we’ve worked really hard on,” DeJong said. “Valley is a really good team–they just caught us on a night where we were making a lot of shots. I thought our overall play and our bench play has been really strong. We’re a lot deeper than we were last year.”
On top of winning on the glass, the team has been playing its usual tough defense against its opponents while also getting its own shots to fall.
Centennial shot nearly 50 percent from the field and 32 percent from behind the arc while holding Urbandale to 32 points during its win over the J-Hawks. The Jaguars proceeded to shoot 63.6 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3 while holding Roosevelt to 35 points during their last game.
Against the Tigers, the Jaguars converted 54.2 percent from the field and 40 percent from deep. Holding Valley to just eight points in the first quarter and six points out of half helped pave the way for the Jaguars to build up their double-digit lead.
Throw in seven other scorers outside of Pratt during the win, and you’ve got a fourth-ranked team that’s building a ton of momentum going into the holiday break.
Crawford and Ava Martin also scored in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Lizzie Beam added seven points off the bench.
“I think it was a great performance from everyone,” Pratt said. “Everyone stepped up and filled their roles. We shot a high percentage. A lot of shots going in builds the confidence of the team.”
Centennial improved to 3-2 in the CIML Conference and 5-2 overall. The Tigers’ records dropped to 2-5 and 3-5.
Before the Jaguars can enjoy the holiday break, they have one more big test ahead of them as they immediately turn around to play in the Johnston Winter Tip Off.
Centennial will get a top-five matchup against No. 5 Cedar Rapids Prairie at 6:05 p.m. The Hawks are 7-0 on the season with six straight double-digit wins.
“Tonight was definitely a momentum booster,” Pratt said. “We have a tough game against an undefeated team that has some very talented players. Once we get past (that game), hopefully we get a win and just keep building our chemistry, finding each other on the court and having unity throughout the season.”
