Ainsley Kiene wasn’t supposed to take the final shot for the Ankeny girls’ basketball team.
But with time running out and the ball in her hands from well beyond the arc, Kiene knew that she had no other choice.
The senior guard banked in a 3-point goal from the top of the key as time expired to give the third-ranked Hawkettes a 50-47 victory at No. 8 Cedar Falls in a non-conference game on Friday.
“We were looking to get (Jayla Williams) the ball in the post, but Cedar Falls just packed the lane so I passed it to Ali (Aguirre) for a better angle and it still wasn’t open,” Kiene said. “So she passed the ball back to me, and I knew I had to shoot it before time went out.
“I didn’t mean to bank it!” she added.
Ankeny coach Nate Tobey called a timeout with 11 seconds left to devise the Hawkettes’ strategy for the final possession.
“Jayla was huge for us offensively in the second half, driving to the basket against a great Cedar Falls defense,” he said. “We tried to get the ball to her at the end, but they did a nice job of taking that away and Ainsley had to fire up a 3 and it went in for us. I’m just so happy for her that she got that moment. She’s worked so hard to be in that position. It was great to see her have that success.”
Ankeny overcame a 27-23 halftime deficit to improve to 7-1 on the season. The loss ended a four-game winning streak for the Tigers, whose record dropped to 5-2.
The only defeat for both teams prior to Friday came to No. 1 Johnston.
“We had to come from behind a little bit, and we just figured some things out at the end,” Tobey said. “It was fun to see the girls respond to a number of different issues throughout the game.”
Kiene led all scorers with a season-high 20 points, while Williams finished with 17. Aguirre chipped in eight.
Tobey also praised the play of sophomore guard Callie Stull.
“Callie stepped in for us and played quite a bit–it was her first extended varsity action,” he said. “I was really proud of her. We just had so many girls who came through in the clutch tonight.”
Cedar Falls got 16 points from Taylor Vore, 12 from Ayla Suiter and 10 from Drake recruit Karis Finley. Finley recently became the 11th player in Tigers’ history to reach the 1,000-point career mark.
The Hawkettes will return to action on Jan. 2 with a huge CIML Conference showdown against No. 2 Dowling Catholic (8-1). The two teams are currently tied for second place in the league at 4-1.
“This is right where we needed to be,” Tobey said. “We’ve been able to learn a lot about our team, and now it’s nice to be able to give the girls a break mentally and physically before we reload for most of our conference games after the break.”