Visiting North Polk pulled away in the third quarter and went on to post a 56-42 victory over Ankeny Centennial in a matchup of rated girls’ basketball teams on Saturday.
The Comets, who are ranked eighth in Class 4A, extended their winning streak to nine games while raising their record to 14-2. Centennial, the No. 11 team in Class 5A, dropped to 6-8 on the season.
“Kudos to them,” Centennial coach Chris Harken said of the Comets. “They’re well coached, and they came out very strong. They shot really well and played aggressively, and their defense caused us some fits.”
North Polk used a 16-2 run in the third period to break away from a 28-28 tie. Campbell Schulz scored a basket in the lane to ignite the run, putting the Comets ahead to stay, and later capped the flurry with another hoop.
North Polk’s run also included 3-point goals by Sophia Bouchard and Harper Lincoln.
“We had a couple droughts there where we just couldn’t see the shot go in,” Harken said. “It was just a rough shooting night all around. We just didn’t make the shots that we thought were good looks, but then we also have to keep fighting for rebounds to give us second chances in those cases.”
Centennial later closed the gap to 48-39 on a basket by Rylyn Boeding midway through the fourth quarter, but the senior forward then fouled out on the Comets’ next possession.
North Polk eventually made six straight free throws to seal the win.
“Rylyn is used to that pressure, so not having her on the court at times certainly didn’t help us,” Harken said.
Lizzie Beam led Centennial with 17 points, three assists and six steals. She had all nine of the Jaguars’ points in the third quarter.
Boeding finished with nine points, including her second 3-pointer of the season. Mylie Hatfield added six points and seven rebounds.
The first half was a seesaw affair. Centennial took a 17-15 lead on a rebound basket by Alana Newman to end the first quarter, but Schulz then scored six consecutive points in the second period to erase the Jaguars’ 24-20 advantage.
Hatfield drove the length of the court for a layup at the buzzer to tie the game at 26-26 at the break.
In the end, Centennial could not overcome its cold shooting. The Jaguars shot just 30.6 percent from the field (15-of-49) and 11.1 percent from behind the arc (2-of-18).
The Jaguars will travel to Dowling Catholic on Tuesday for a CIML Conference game against the No. 3 Maroons. This contest was postponed from Friday due to the weather.
Dowling is 8-2 in the league and 13-2 overall.
