(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
When it comes to a foot race, there’s just not a lot of girls’ basketball teams in the state of Iowa that can keep up with the top-ranked Johnston Dragons.
The No. 15 Ankeny squad felt like they played a much better game in their second matchup against the defending Class 5A state champions, but the Hawkettes’ firepower just couldn’t keep pace in the second half of Friday’s 66-32 loss at Johnston.
“I thought we played better than the first game (on Dec. 10) in most areas,” said Ankeny coach Nate Tobey. “We took better care of the ball, and we limited their transition looks a little better. We just couldn’t string together enough stops or easy looks at the basket and convert those easy looks for an extended stretch.”
Things didn’t exactly start the way Ankeny had hoped it would when the Hawkettes originally hosted Johnston last month. The Dragons outscored Ankeny in the first quarter, 20-4, and rolled to a 72-36 win.
They saw a much better start to their rematch with Johnston, despite a 12-point deficit in the first quarter.
Ainsley Kiene drained a 3-pointer to open the game to give Ankeny an early lead. The Hawkettes then fell into a bit of an offensive slump before Jayla Williams closed out the quarter with a couple of buckets, cutting their deficit to 17-7.
Between some 3-point shooting from Kiene and Savannah Gage, a trip to the free-throw line for Reagan Baldwin, and Williams serving as Ankeny’s leading scorer, the Dragons weren’t able to get much separation like the first matchup.
“Just her aggression again,” Tobey said of Williams’ performance. “She starts the game really strong and maintains that energy throughout. It makes us so much more effective as a group and makes her teammates better when she’s willing to get downhill and be aggressive for us.”
Johnston capitalized on a late basket to hold a 32-20 lead at the break and used an 8-0 run out of the half to put the Hawkettes in a deep hole. Williams and Kyla Schaapveld gave Ankeny its best sources of offense, but it wasn’t nearly enough to keep pace as the Dragons outscored them by a 34-12 margin in the second half.
Williams led the Hawkettes with 14 points on 6-of-14 shooting. She also had two assists and two steals.
Kiene chipped in eight points and Gage grabbed five rebounds for Ankeny, which lost the battle of the boards, 33-18.
A big problem Ankeny faced was stopping some of Johnston’s dynamic playmakers, including four-star recruit and Virginia Tech commit Amani Jenkins. Jenkins poured in 16 of her 22 points in the first half and also finished with a game-high nine boards.
Jenica Lewis matched Jenkins with a pair of 3-pointers and added 19 points for the Dragons, who extended their winning streak to 39 games. They are now 11-0 in the CIML Conference and 13-0 overall, while Ankeny’s records dropped to 4-7 and 6-8.
“We tried to limit (Jenkins’) touches of the basketball, but that’s easier said than done, especially when they’re playing really fast,” Tobey said. “I felt at times, we executed pretty well and credit Jade Moser for really battling physically. We tried to bring two to the ball, but even then, she’s still very effective. Credit to Amani for a great game and a great career overall.”
With the end of the regular season getting closer by the day, the Hawkettes don’t have much time to dwell on their loss.
Ankeny will get another tough matchup on Tuesday when it travels to face Dallas Center-Grimes in a non-conference game. The Mustangs, ranked No. 5 in Class 4A, are 12-2 and lead the Little Hawkeye Conference at 6-0.
