When the Ankeny Centennial girls’ basketball team got a 3-point goal from Faith Perpich to cut Johnston’s lead to 17-12 with 3 minutes left in the second quarter of a Class 5A quarterfinal on Monday, the 12th-ranked Jaguars had reason to believe that they might be able to pull off the biggest upset in the history of the state tournament.
“It felt really good,” said Centennial senior Rylyn Boeding. “We had a little bit of hope.”
Unfortunately, the hope didn’t last much longer.
Johnston closed the first half with a 10-2 run to build a 27-14 advantage. The No. 1 Dragons then scored the first seven points of the third quarter and cruised to a 54-30 victory at the Casey’s Center.
It was the 77th consecutive win for coach Chad Jilek’s squad, which is looking to capture its third straight championship.
“I think our game plan worked to a T in that first half,” said Centennial coach Chris Harken, who guided the Jaguars to a 12-12 record in his first season with the program. “We knew we had to fight defensively in order to stay in the game, and we did a really good job. We just couldn’t get the rebound and hold them to one possession all the time, and that’s where they kind of pulled away.”
The Jaguars held Johnston star Jenica Lewis to just 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting, but the McDonald’s all-American had three of her team’s 10 steals. The Dragons scored 25 of their points off Centennial’s 16 turnovers and also had 15 second-chance points.
“The number of turnovers that we had was pretty consistent with where we’ve been most of the time, but it was what they produced out of those turnovers,” Harken said. “They got a lot of transition baskets, and that was something that decided the game today.”
Lizzie Beam scored 12 points to lead Centennial, which shot just 20.8 percent from the field (10-of-48) and was outrebounded by a 39-35 margin. Perpich had nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from behind the arc, grabbed six boards and dished out two assists.
Kelli Kalb had 10 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks for Johnston (25-0), which defeated the Jaguars for the third time this season. Jaliyah Kinnetz also finished with 10 points.
Centennial got the Dragons’ attention by upsetting No. 4 Cedar Falls in a regional final.
“We definitely were not super surprised,” Kalb said. “They’re a really good team, and we just tried to work hard and do the best that we can. It 100 percent made the preparation easier because we all know their individual players and how each one works, and we also had a lot of film on them so we could see their areas of growth.”
Kalb made a 3-pointer in the second quarter to give Johnston a 17-7 lead before Boeding scored off a rebound and Perpich followed with her second triple of the first half. But reserve Mariah Dixon answered with five consecutive points to ignite the Dragons’ 17-2 run that bridged the two halves.
Centennial never again got to within single digits. The Jaguars simply couldn’t generate enough offense to stay within striking distance.
Harken’s team shot a respectable 25 percent from 3-point range (5-of-20), but connected on just 5-of-28 attempts (17.9 percent) from inside the arc.
“I think some of that was the inexperience of being here,” Harken said. “Johnston struggled a little bit early on too with making shots, but with their experience they eventually started to shoot better and they caused us some fits with their length on defense, especially at the end of the shot clock.”
Boeding had four points, three steals and a block in her final game as a Jaguar. She went to state four times in her career–and three of those tournament runs ended with losses to Johnston.
“I’m so proud of my team,” Boeding said. “It’s just going to be hard, but we had a really good season.”
Fellow senior Mylie Hatfield finished with three points and six rebounds. The Jaguars will also have to replace Maizie Smith, who contributed one point and three boards, as well as Elise Benning.
“We’ll definitely miss those seniors,” Harken said. “They’ve been the glue for us this year, but with a few starters back and the growth of some of the girls who didn’t see much varsity time, I think we have an exciting future.
“We anticipate being back here next year,” he added.
