A fast start by freshman guard Faith Perpich ignited the Ankeny Centennial girls’ basketball team to a 53-41 victory on Tuesday at Southeast Polk.
Perpich scored nine of her career-high 17 points during a 13-0 run in the first half that erased Southeast Polk’s early 6-5 lead. The Rams could get no closer than nine points the rest of the way.
“I was looking to be aggressive because we knew Southeast Polk was going to come out hard,” said Perpich, who also had a pair of steals. “If we were determined and came out hard enough, it was going to set us up for the rest of the game.”
Perpich scored off her own miss and then converted an and-one to start the run. She later had back-to-back baskets to open the second quarter before Lizzie Beam capped the flurry with another bucket, giving the Jaguars an 18-6 advantage.
“That’s what we see in practice,” Centennial coach Chris Harken said of Perpich. “She likes to take it to the rim, and she’ll take the 3 when she’s open. It’s good to see her continue to flourish, especially at the beginning of the game.”
Centennial held a 25-12 margin at halftime, then took its biggest lead of the game, 33-15, when Beam grabbed a loose ball and put it back in early in the third quarter. Beam later made a 3-pointer to give the Jaguars a 41-27 lead after three periods.
Beam eventually scored six straight points in the fourth quarter to help seal the victory. She had 12 of her game-high 18 points in the second half.
“I think they had a game plan to try to deny Lizzie (the ball) early on, but then they saw Faith was doing a lot of scoring so they kind of switched their roles, so we switched as well and Lizzie was able to carry us out to the end,” Harken said. “But props to Southeast Polk for putting up a fight; they have got some really good talent. They’ve been competing with a lot of teams, and they showed that again tonight.”
Mylie Hatfield grabbed 14 rebounds and dished out three assists for Centennial, which also got a boost from the return of senior forward Rylyn Boeding, who contributed four points in limited action. Boeding had not played since taking a hard fall during a loss to then-No. 3 Dowling Catholic on Dec. 9.
“It felt so good,” said Boeding. “I feel like I’ve been waiting for this moment forever. It’s been such a long journey, but I’ve been doing (physical therapy) for awhile and I started back to practice this week and it’s all been going great.”
Boeding sprained her neck and also hurt her back while hitting her head on the court.
“I’d say my back is about 75 percent healed,” she said. “I’m still on that healing journey, but it’s so great to be back on the court with everyone.”
Boeding connected on all four of her free throws, including two in the final seconds of the game.
“She’s still limited a little bit time-wise, but every time she came out she said she was feeling good,” Harken said. “She did a great job.”
The Jaguars improved to 3-4 in the CIML Conference and 3-5 overall. It was the fourth consecutive loss for Southeast Polk, whose records dropped to 0-7 and 2-8.
The Rams were coming off a loss Friday at Urbandale, which ended the J-Hawks’ 53-game losing skid in the CIML.
“We had a ton of confidence coming in after that Waukee (win on Friday),” Perpich said. “We’ve been playing really well together as a team on offense, and we just need to work on our defense a little bit. But we’ve been doing a really good job in practice of preparing for all these games.”
Centennial will travel to Johnston on Friday for another conference game against the No. 1 Dragons, who are 7-0 in the league and 10-0 overall. Perpich is hoping that Boeding can provide another lift for the Jaguars.
“It’s really nice having her out there because she’s a really good rebounder, and she’s always a burst of energy for us,” Perpich said.
