SIOUX CITY NORTH 51, AMES 45

Sioux City North has done it again.

Led by Jalyssa Ceasar's 17 points and Brittni Donaldson's clutch fourth-quarter shooting. second-ranked North beat No. 4 Ames 51-45 Saturday night to win its second Class 4A championship in three years.

North jumped to a 13-point lead in the first half, fell behind, then recovered behind Donaldson, who finished with 12 points.

Donaldson was 1-for-10 from the field before swishing a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give North a 39-37 lead with 4:01 left. Her spinning layup made it 41-39 and she swished another 3 from the top of the key for a 44-41 edge with 2:27 to play.

That gave the Stars enough of a cushion to hold on. They made seven of eight free throws in the final 56.5 seconds to finish it off.

Trisha Nesbitt's 15 points led Ames, which had upset top-ranked Linn-Mar to reach the title game.

Ames looked as if it might pull off another upset once the Little Cyclones collected themselves after falling behind 20-7 at the start of the second quarter. They put together a 17-3 run to take a 24-23 lead on a layup by Nesbitt, who missed her first six shots, then made seven in a row to rally her team.

The Little Cyclones eventually built a 34-31 lead early in the fourth quarter before Ceasar nailed a 3 from the left wing to tie it. Ames led for the last time at 37-36 when Nesbitt scored on a drive, but Donaldson answered with her first 3 and North never trailed again.

Maura Owings added 11 points for Ames, while Kionna Kellogg had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

North became the first school from Sioux City to win a girls basketball championship when it beat Des Moines Roosevelt for the 2007 crown. The Stars lost in the first round last year, but found the right combination this season to get back to the top and finish 25-1.

Their only loss was to Lincoln Southeast, the runner-up in the Nebraska state tournament.

Ames wound up 23-3.

Ceasar was voted captain of the all-tournament team, which also had Donaldson, Nesbitt, Kellogg, Kiah Stokes of Linn-Mar and Jade Rogers of Cedar Rapids Kennedy.