The Ankeny girls’ basketball team got another big game from senior guard Jayla Williams, but it wasn’t enough to knock off one of the state’s top three squads.
The fourth-ranked Hawkettes traveled to No. 3 Dowling Catholic on Friday for a showdown against the Maroons and dropped a 63-45 decision in the CIML Conference contest.
Williams scored 22 points for her seventh consecutive game with 20 or more, but none of her teammates had more than six.
“I was really happy with some of the shots that we got from Reagan (Baldwin), Ali (Aguirre) and Ainsley (Kiene),” said Ankeny coach Nate Tobey. “I’m sure they will continue to stay hot throughout the course of the year. It’s just tough to make shots against an elite team with a lot of length on the floor.”
Aguirre and Kiene made back-to-back 3-point goals in the first quarter to give Ankeny a 7-6 lead, but the Maroons then answered with an 18-2 run to take control of the game.
Katie Muller started the run with a 3-pointer. Her sister, Ellie, finished it with a pair of baskets to put Dowling ahead, 24-9.
The Hawkettes pulled to within 30-18 at halftime on a trey by Baldwin, but that was as close as they could get.
“Even the good shots that we got were tough because they can contest everything with their length,” Tobey said. “You just can’t get down to a team like that that is so well coached and talented. That was our big takeaway from this game.”
In the third quarter, the Maroons got a pair of 3-pointers from the third Muller sister, Nikki. Katie then followed with a deep triple to extend the margin to 45-26.
“You have to help from somewhere, especially on Ellie Muller,” Tobey said. “And unfortunately they have two really good shooters in the corners, and they’re really good at finding those girls, too.”
Katie Muller finished with 21 points, while Ellie had 13 and Nikki added nine. Freshman Adrienne Sears chipped in 10 for Dowling, which improved to 11-3 in the league and 16-3 overall.
Aguirre, Baldwin and Kiene each had six points for Ankeny, whose records fell to 8-5 and 12-6. The Hawkettes also lost to Dowling, 64-57, on Jan. 2.
Ankeny is now a combined 0-4 against No. 1 Johnston, No. 2 Waukee Northwest and Dowling with the average loss by 18 points. The Hawkettes are 12-2 against the rest of their opponents.
Ankeny will play another conference game against Urbandale on Saturday at the Casey’s Center. Tip-off is at noon.
The J-Hawks are 2-12 in the conference and 3-15 overall after earning their second league win against Southeast Polk, 56-48, on Friday. They lost the first meeting against the Hawkettes, 59-45, on Jan. 6 at Urbandale.
Ankeny needs to avoid an upset with a brutal final week of the regular season coming up. The Hawkettes will play at Waukee Northwest on Tuesday before hosting Johnston on Friday.
