(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
There are some days where everything just seems to be clicking, and the Ankeny Centennial girls’ basketball team picked a perfect time to do so.
The Class 5A fourth-ranked Jaguars were locked in on both ends of the court, and it led to a 20-point victory during their top-five showdown with Class 4A No. 2 North Polk as Centennial cruised to a 60-40 road win on Saturday afternoon.
It may have been a non-conference game, but for all intents and purposes, it was treated just like any other CIML matchup.
“(North Polk) is a great team,” said Centennial coach Scott DeJong. “They were in the finals two years ago, the semifinals last year, and they’ll be right in there knocking on the door again. For us, it was like another CIML team.”
Centennial was geared up for a tough matchup against a North Polk team that averaged over 65 points per game while holding its opponents to just 39 points a contest on its way to compiling a perfect 15-0 record on the season.
So even though the Jaguars were more than confident in their ability to pull out a win over one of the top teams in the state, the style in which they did so wasn’t something they fully expected.
They opened up the game by holding the Comets to just four points in the first quarter and went on to build a 33-16 halftime advantage. Four points in a quarter, 16 points at halftime and 40 total points were all season-lows for North Polk.
“They’re a great team, and they have some great players playing at a really high level,” said Centennial senior Jaeden Pratt. “It was great getting a solid team win. Everyone did their part, shot the ball well and executed the little details well tonight.”
On the other hand, the Jaguars were hot from beyond the arc as they shot 50 percent from deep and connected on 11 3-pointers as a team.
Pratt and Tillie Smith each went 3-of-5 from 3-point range, Ava Martin went 2-of-4, and Rylyn Boeding and Maize Smith both connected on their only 3-point attempts. Finley Blackmore connected on a trey as well.
“We shot the ball really well tonight, and we haven’t shot like that all year long,” DeJong said. “We were capable of it, we knew we could do it and tonight, the shot was going in–especially the 3-point shot.”
Pratt led the way for the Jaguars, racking up a game-high 20 points and 14 rebounds to finish with a double-double. She also had four steals.
The first quarter was one of Centennial’s best with Tillie Smith cashing in from deep to open the floodgates for the Jaguars. Smith scored eight consecutive points before Pratt closed out the quarter with a pair of buckets to hold a 17-4 lead over the Comets.
Pratt, Boeding, Tillie Smith and Maize Smith all knocked down shots from deep to extend Centennial’s lead in the second quarter. Martin sent them into half with a 17-point lead by breaking up a brief 6-0 Comets’ run on a fast break.
“It was a good look for us with the 3-point game,” Pratt said. “It’s been hot and cold for us, so it was great to have some people come out here and hit some timely shots. It wasn’t just one person, it was here and there with everyone shooting, so it was really good seeing those shots go in.”
North Polk attempted to claw its way back into the game after trailing by as many as 18 points. But the Jaguars got some timely 3-pointers from Pratt, Martin and Finley Blackmore to break up the Comets’ run.
The Jaguars closed out their victory by holding North Polk to another rare single-digit scoring quarter as Centennial moved to 10-5 on the season.
Centennial was able to spread the ball around with seven of its eight players logging minutes helping contribute offensively.
On top of Pratt’s output, Tillie Smith scored 11 points and Martin chipped in 10 to finish in double figures. Mya Crawford added eight points and four assists.
This is Centennial’s first time recording back-to-back victories since closing out 2024 with wins over Valley and Cedar Rapids Prairie.
The Jaguars are in the home stretch of the regular season as they’re still set to get their first looks at No. 8 Waukee and Southeast Polk with one more game against top-ranked Johnston and a non-CIML game with Ames in the mix.
“We’ve got to keep going,” DeJong said. “We got Waukee up next, they’re rated in the top 10, and they’ve been playing really well. We’re just going to take it one game at a time, but the chapters are moving and we’re getting toward the end of the season. We want to stay healthy and keep working.”
