(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
Over the course of her career, Savannah Gage has scored countless baskets and accumulated many points in the process.
But her 14 points on Friday night gave the Ankeny girls’ basketball team more than one reason to celebrate. Gage not only helped the 15th-ranked Hawkettes snap a seven-game losing streak in a 52-49 win over Valley, but she surpassed the 1,000-point career milestone along the way.
“It means a lot,” Gage said of her accomplishment. “I’ve had a lot of mentors over the years, and my teammates have supported me the whole way. It wouldn’t be possible without them.”
It was only fitting that on the night where Gage reached the milestone, she played a big role as Ankeny’s leading scorer in its first win in just over a month.
Tied at 22-22 with under a minute left in the first half, Gage put the Hawkettes ahead by knocking down a deep 3-pointer nearly from the Ankeny logo, which was also the basket that put her over 1,000 career points.
She then drew a shooting foul from beyond the arc just before the halftime buzzer and made two of her three free throws for a five-point swing in Ankeny’s favor coming in the final 40 seconds.
Gage continued making shots to keep Ankeny ahead in a close second half, which included another 3-pointer and a pull-up jumper for five of the team’s 14 fourth-quarter points to help the Hawkettes close out their victory.
“It’s hard to even put into words what (Gage) has meant to our program, meant to us as the coaching staff and her teammates,” said Ankeny coach Nate Tobey. “She’s such an understated person and I know this attention isn’t her favorite thing, but it’s so well deserved. Not just because of the points, but her overall contributions to the program.
“Four years is a long time, she’s been a part of so many situations, we lean on her so much and are very proud to celebrate her tonight,” Tobey added.
But Gage wasn’t the only big contributor in helping Ankeny pick up its first win since previously beating Valley, 53-43, in West Des Moines back on Dec. 3.
Jayla Williams, Kyla Schaapveld and Ainsley Kiene helped the Hawkettes start the night on an 8-2 run. Once the Tigers got things going with a 9-0 run, Allison Hawkins snapped Ankeny out of its offensive slump with a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock.
Williams and Reagan Baldwin got back-to-back buckets to start the second quarter, and Jenna Halbrook made a trey to reclaim the lead for Ankeny after briefly losing it.
Baldwin, who scored 14 points in the win over her former team last month, scored Ankeny’s first seven points out of halftime. She finished with nine poins.
With the game tied at 38-38 going into the fourth quarter, Ankeny connected on a trio of 3-pointers thanks to Schaapveld, Gage and Kiene that put Tobey’s team in the driver’s seat down the stretch.
The Hawkettes made a big defensive stand in the final minute to secure the win, which included contesting and rebounding a shot that would’ve made it a one-point game, Kiene dodging a screen to get a hand on an inbounds pass to the corner, and Gage closing out on Valley’s last shot at tying the game.
“We were trying to pressure them, not foul on the three-point line, but also contest it,” Gage said of Valley’s last possession. “It was kind of a tough situation, but I’m glad we pulled it out.”
The win couldn’t have come at a better time for Ankeny, which started out the season 4-0 before stumbling into the seven-game losing skid. Some of the games that slipped away from them were when the Hawkettes got caught in a cold streak and were forced to claw their way out of a hole.
But on Friday, they only surrendered the lead a couple of times and never trailed by much in those stretches. Once Schaapveld knocked down a 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter, the Hawkettes never gave up the lead.
“It’s nice (to get the win), and it’s so much easier playing with a lead rather than playing from behind against these teams,” Tobey said. “Even though we’re confident in our players, it’s much easier to manage a game from being ahead for most of the game.”
Williams had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while also contributing three assists, three steals and two blocks. Kiene added eight points, going 5-for-6 at the free-throw line.
By completing a sweep of the season series, Ankeny moved ahead of the Tigers in the CIML Conference standings. The Hawkettes are now 3-6 in the league and 5-7 overall, while Valley’s records dropped to 2-7 and 3-8.
Ankeny will now prepare for a tough slate of games in the next week. The Hawkettes will host No. 8 Waukee on Tuesday before traveling on Friday to No. 1 Johnston, which moved up to No. 16 in Sports Illustrated’s latest national rankings.
Ankeny lost the first meeting against both of those teams last month.
“I think this was a really good momentum game for us,” Gage said. “Especially going into a tough week next week. We got Waukee and Johnston, so I know we’ll be ready for the challenge and we’ll come back to practice on Sunday ready to go.”
