The target on their backs is only going to get bigger for the Ankeny girls’ basketball players.
The Hawkettes moved up one spot to No. 3 in the latest Class 5A rankings after posting a 52-38 victory over visiting Southeast Polk on Tuesday. It is the program’s highest ranking since the community of Ankeny split into two high schools in 2013.
“Every game teams are heavily motivated in the CIML (Conference),” said Ankeny coach Nate Tobey. “I’m not paying much attention to the rankings, it’s still so early and we still have some really good teams left to play. Friday is an enormous game for us, and we are looking forward to that challenge traveling to (eighth-ranked) Cedar Falls.”
Jayla Williams and Ali Aguirre combined for 45 of Ankeny’s 52 points in the win. Williams had a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds while also contributing three assists, three steals and two blocks.
Aguirre, a freshman, had a career-high 22 points on 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range.
“I think teams are going to realize that we’re better than the past years,” said Aguirre. “We’re hungry this year. We want to come out and prove that we’re a good team and that we have what it takes to go very far.”
Ankeny played without senior forward Reagan Baldwin, who was averaging 9.0 points per game and leads the team with 16 3-pointers on 45.7 percent shooting from behind the arc. She suffered an injury during Friday’s win over No. 13 Waukee.
“It was just a minor injury with her neck and head,” Tobey said. “We just wanted to be cautious, and we’re hoping she’ll be available for us on Friday.”
Aguirre helped pick up the slack. After scoring 11 points in the first half, she scored 11 more in the third quarter–including a trio of treys–as the Hawkettes went on a 13-4 run to build a 42-27 advantage.
“She had a mismatch regardless of who was guarding her,” Tobey said. “She identified that and attacked it with intelligence and patience. We really needed that, especially in the third quarter.”
Aguirre said she tried to be more aggressive offensively in Baldwin’s absence.
“Reagan is one of our top shooters, and so I know since she’s not playing one of us is going to have to step up, and I think as a team we all did really well,” Aguirre said. “I think I did (well) on my shooting tonight, and so did everybody else just finding the open person.”
Allison Hawkins started in place of Baldwin and contributed five points. She made a 3-pointer on the game’s first possession, then later scored a basket in the fourth quarter to give Ankeny its biggest lead of the night at 48-32.
“She started for us all summer when Ali wasn’t quite playing with us yet due to her injury,” Tobey said of Hawkins. “It’s just so great to have a senior who understands our system and plays so hard to be able to step in there and start for us.”
Ainsley Kiene grabbed a game-high 11 boards as Ankeny dominated the rebounding battle by a 41-23 margin. The Hawkettes moved into second place in the conference, improving to 4-1 in the league and 6-1 overall.
Halle Clark led Southeast Polk with 13 points, while Brooklyn Ruddy added seven points, six rebounds and four steals. The Rams, who took over the No. 15 spot in the latest rankings, are now 0-4 in the conference and 2-5 overall.
Ankeny will now head to Cedar Falls for a non-conference game against the Tigers, who are off to a 5-1 start. The only loss for both teams came to No. 1 Johnston.
