There’s something about the Southeast Polk gym that brings out the best in Ankeny senior Jayla Williams.
Perhaps…it’s the smell.
Williams poured in a career-high 34 points on 12-of-16 shooting to lead the fifth-ranked Hawkettes to a 72-40 victory at Southeast Polk in a CIML Conference girls’ basketball game on Monday.
“I really do like this gym,” said Williams, who also had nine rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocks. “I don’t know, maybe there’s a special aroma here I guess. I did my get career-high here my sophomore year and then again today.”
Williams has averaged 30.3 points a game in her last three visits to Southeast Polk. She scored 32 points in a win there during her sophomore season, then had 25 in a loss last year.
Williams set a new career-high when she converted a layup to give Ankeny a 70-32 lead in the fourth quarter. She departed shortly thereafter, having outscored the Rams all by herself.
“I don’t get tired of watching her. She’s amazing!” said Ankeny coach Nate Tobey. “She just brings so much to the table for us when she’s aggressive, and she makes everyone’s life easier. She had some great passes tonight out of the double team, and that will be a big factor for her moving forward.”
Ankeny bounced back from a 65-57 loss a week ago to Dallas Center-Grimes, the No. 4 team in Class 4A. The Hawkettes improved to 8-4 in the conference and 12-5 overall, while Southeast Polk’s records dropped to 0-11 and 3-14.
“We just had to get back to what was working for us in the past defensively, even earlier this season,” Tobey said. “But as we know, teams get better as the season goes on and you have to add some things. Our girls really responded well to the last week of practice.”
Ali Aguirre scored seven of her 19 points in the first 4 minutes of the game as Ankeny jumped out to a 10-0 lead. The Rams didn’t get on the board until Halle Clark drove for a basket with 3:34 left in the first quarter.
The Hawkettes held a 30-15 advantage at halftime. Williams had 15 points at the break.
“We mainly focused on defense, because that’s what we struggled with the most when we lost to Ankeny Centennial and DCG,” Williams said. “Our defense was lacking those games, so that was our main focus tonight. And we shot really well, so that helped too.”
The margin continued to grow in the second half. Allison Hawkins had a pair of 3-pointers for Ankeny, while Reagan Baldwin made the last of her three treys to finish with nine points.
As a team, the Hawkettes shot 58.5 percent from the field (24-of-41). They went 11-of-23 from behind the arc (47.8 percent).
Clark had 12 points to lead the Rams, who shot just 26.9 percent overall (14-of-52).
“Southeast Polk is way better than their record,” said Tobey, whose team posted a 52-38 win over the Rams on Dec. 16. “I think they could knock some highly-ranked teams off, especially ones that aren’t in the CIML, during regional play. We just brought it on both ends, and we haven’t seen that for awhile. It was great to put a full game together on both sides of the ball.”
Ankeny will travel to Dowling Catholic on Friday for a showdown against the No. 3 Maroons, who are coming off a 49-43 loss to No. 1 Johnston on Monday. Dowling is 10-3 in the league and 15-3 overall.
The Maroons won the first meeting at Ankeny, 64-57, on Jan. 2.
