Hot-shooting Hawkettes celebrate their Senior Night with rout over Urbandale

Ankeny’s Ainsley Kiene drives to the basket for a layup during Friday’s game against visiting Urbandale. Kiene scored 19 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds as the Hawkettes rolled to a 79-36 victory. (Photo by Nicholas Ambrosecchia)

For the second time this season, the Ankeny girls’ basketball team used a fast start to ignite a rout over Urbandale.

The 15th-ranked Hawkettes raced out to a 23-5 lead at the end of the first quarter and went on to post a 79-36 victory Friday on their Senior Night. The win snapped a two-game losing skid for Ankeny, which shot 52.0 percent from 3-point range (13-of-25).

In the first meeting between the two teams on Nov. 26 at Urbandale, Ankeny stormed out to a 24-9 advantage and went on to beat the J-Hawks, 67-25.

“The big thing we wanted to establish was just getting off to a good start offensively and playing our tempo and making sure that we’re taking the shots we want to take,” said Ankeny coach Nate Tobey. “Urbandale has definitely improved. They’ve had some closer games against Southeast Polk and Valley, and I think that made the girls feel more urgent about the situation.”

**Ankeny’s Savannah Gage shoots a 3-pointer during Friday’s game. She scored a season-high 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-4 from behind the arc. (Photo by Nicholas Ambrosecchia)**

Ankeny got a huge game from its big three of Savannah Gage, Ainsley Kiene and Jayla Williams. The trio combined for 59 points and 20 rebounds.

Gage scored a season-high 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-4 from behind the arc. She also had five rebounds and five assists.

“It was great to see her perform really well,” Tobey said. “I think she’ll really turn it on here the last few weeks.”

Kiene finished with 19 points and a team-high eight boards. She went 4-of-5 from deep.

Williams racked up 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists, five steals and two blocks. Kyla Schaapveld added eight points and five assists.

**Ankeny’s Jayla Williams goes up for a shot during Friday’s game. She scored 17 points for the Hawkettes. (Photo by Nicholas Ambrosecchia)**

Senior reserves Jade Moser, Grace Buch and Faith Spoelstra also saw some action in the win. Spoelstra made a 3-pointer and scored the first four points of her varsity career.

“That was really exciting to see,” Tobey said.

The Hawkettes improved to 5-10 in the CIML Conference and 9-11 overall. Urbandale’s records dropped to 0-15 and 4-16.

Ankeny will host No. 2 Dowling Catholic in its regular-season finale on Tuesday. The Maroons are 13-2 in the league and 17-3 overall after routing No. 3 Waukee Northwest, 83-50, on Friday.

The Hawkettes lost the first meeting at Dowling, 60-40, on Jan. 31.