A
second-half shooting blitz sent Iowa City West back to the Class 4A
championship game.
The second-ranked Women of Troy
shot 74 percent in a second half filled with impressive offensive basketball
and beat No. 6 Waukee 64-50 in semifinal action. West will take a 24-1 record
into the championship game at 8 o'clock Saturday night.
In their first state tournament
appearance a year ago, the Women of Troy lost to Des Moines East in the title
game.
Ally Disterhoft,
the only senior in West's otherwise all-senior starting lineup, led her team
with 18 points. Mckenzie Piper and Tatum Klein each
scored 11 points, while Jessica Shull scored nine on perfect shooting --
3-for-3 from the field and 3-for-3 at the free throw line.
Disterhoft,
who is getting attention from Division I universities, added three assists and
two steals. Piper led the Women of Troy with seven rebounds.
Britney Boland led Waukee with 16
points and Megan Shryack scored 11.
Waukee used a 17-3 run to build a
19-10 lead early in the second quarter and led 22-15 at halftime. West made
only five of 21 shots in the opening half, but found the range quickly in the
third quarter, hitting Waukee with a 26-8 run to open a 41-30 lead. The lead
was never below nine points after that.
West made 16 of its first 20
shots in the second half and finished the half 17-for-23. The Women of Troy
pushed the ball up the court for fastbreak layups,
hit mid-range jumpers and knocked down their first 3-point shots of the half
after going 0-for-6 from long range in the first two quarters.
It was similar to Waukee's
sizzling shooting in a first-round victory over Mason City. The Warriors made
13 of 14 shots in the second half of that game and won 49-47.
Waukee, in the state tournament
for the fifth straight year, finished 20-6.