(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
For just the third time since Ankeny split into two high schools, the Ankeny Hawkettes defeated their crosstown rival in girls’ basketball.
Sixth-ranked Ankeny stayed a few steps ahead of a young, scrappy Ankeny Centennial team for a 55-39 road victory on Friday night. It snapped a four-game losing streak in the series and gave third-year coach Nate Tobey his first win over the Jaguars.
The Hawkettes’ last win against Centennial also came on the road, 48-43, on Feb. 3, 2023.
“I’m just happy for our girls,” said Tobey. “This is an important game for them. They’re friends with all the girls on (Centennial), and I have a lot of respect for coach (Chris) Harken. We’ve known each other a long time and coached together in the boys’ program.”
The Jaguars were coming off a 65-31 loss at No. 2 Waukee Northwest in their season opener on Tuesday.
“We’re proud of the improvement,” said Harken, who is in his first season at Centennial. “We were talking in the locker room that we don’t think the score reflected how we played. Shots will eventually fall, but the effort is there and that’s the hard one to teach.”
In the 12-year history of the rivalry, it’s been dominated by Centennial as the Jaguars went into Friday’s game with a 22-2 record against Ankeny.
Centennial swept both games against the Hawkettes for eight consecutive seasons before Ankeny earned its first victory over the Jaguars during the 2021-22 season, which came on its home court.
The Hawkettes then won at Centennial for the first time ever a year later. That team featured then-freshmen and current seniors Jayla Williams and Ainsley Kiene.
“It was great (getting another win),” said Williams. “Especially when we’ve been battling back and forth, and we’ve had close games with them pretty much every year in high school. It was really nice my freshmen year when they wanted to play us for their Senior Night, and we actually got that win.”
Even though history tended to side with Centennial, the Hawkettes knew they had a very strong case to come out on top in the latest edition of the rivalry.
Ankeny was already off to a 3-0 start behind a veteran-laden team. The Jaguars, meanwhile, were trying to rebound from the 34-point loss in Harken’s debut with the program.
Ankeny may have retained four starters from last season with Williams, Kiene, Reagan Baldwin and Kyla Schaapveld, but it was newcomer Ali Aguirre that helped them early on.
Aguirre knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter and ended the first half with 12 points while Ankeny built a 31-18 advantage. She scored another pair of baskets in the third quarter to finish with a team-high 16 points.
“She is just scratching the surface of what she can be, which is scary,” Tobey said of Aguirre. “She’s just such a worker and just wants to win. That’s her biggest concern and everything comes secondary to that, which is rare for a young player. She has just a mature mindset and work ethic. She’s been such a great addition to these older girls.”
Williams and Kiene later helped Ankeny close out the victory. The pair combined for all 10 of the Hawkettes’ points in the fourth quarter and finished with 14 points apiece.
“They’re still a great team, and they have a great new coach,” Williams said of the Jaguars. “They played very hard and made it difficult for us to score. It didn’t matter if they had new girls. They played hard, made our offense a mess, and we still tried to do what we could.”
Centennial certainly wasn’t going down without a fight. If the team’s progress from Tuesday to Friday is any indication, the program is trending in the right direction.
The Jaguars kept finding a way to stay within striking distance. A big part of the team’s success was junior guard Lizzie Beam, who poured in a career-high 18 points.
“Props to Ankeny, they have a phenomenal squad and I could see them at state with how they’re playing right now,” Harken said. “They have a really good rotation, especially with their starters. Lizzie is a good spark for us. She hones in, but we’ve got to have a couple more people around her. She’s great to have for that leadership role, and she’s starting to own that.”
Beam had just four points in the first half, but then erupted for eight points in the third period and six more in the fourth. She scored 14 of her team’s 21 points after halftime.
Maizie Smith, Rylyn Boeding and Mylie Hatfield also contributed for the Jaguars, combining for 10 points in the first half. Boeding and Hatfield also had six rebounds and two assists apiece.
“All of them are owning their roles,” Harken said. “We told Mylie pregame that her main goal was defense, and we really needed her to focus on lockdown defense. I felt like she owned that a little bit. She can be timid at times to take on roles, but if we have a thing for her, she knows that we trust her.
“I think Rylyn has really stepped up as that leader that we hoped she would be, and Maizie is starting to feel a bit more confident with that as well. Just having them as leaders helps us,” he added.
Ankeny (4-0) will play four ranked opponents in its next five games, beginning with Tuesday’s trip to No. 1 and two-time defending state champion Johnston (3-0).
“It’s nice beating our crosstown rival, but it’s another game on the schedule,” Williams said. “We have (Johnston) in a few days, so it’s great we beat our rivals and we’ll celebrate tonight, but we can’t linger on this game because we have some more big games ahead of us.”
Centennial (0-2) will host No. 3 Dowling Catholic (4-0) on Tuesday.
“(The girls) have got to understand that we have a gauntlet to start the season and just the whole season in the CIML Conference,” Harken said. “I think if we see a little bit of growth every time, we’ll get over that mountain. Once that goes, we’ll see mass improvements.”
