Mary Crompton scores 39 points in Regina’s 78-59 win over Cascade

IOWA CITY - Early in No. 1 Iowa City Regina's 78-59 win over No. 10 Cascade in Class 2A girls' basketball action, it was obvious the Regals' Mary Crompton was feeling pretty good about her shooting.

The 5-8 junior scored 22 points in the first half, hit four triples and looked like the best player on the floor from the moment the ball tipped. It didn't matter if she had a hand in her face or was wide open, she made the Cougars pay numerous times, finding holes in their defense over and over again

'I knew right from the beginning that I needed to get my team going and hit a couple shots,” Crompton said. 'Shots started falling and everything just built on that through the rest of the game.”

The sharpshooter finished with 39 points - the fifth highest mark in Iowa high school girls' basketball this year - and a school-record 10 3-pointers made. Incredibly, Crompton missed just two shots, going 12-of-14 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line. As a team, the Regals hit 16 triples, which was also a school record.

Sophomore Kennedy Wallace had five treys, as well, and scored 17 points, which certainly helped space the floor.

It was an impressive shooting display against once of the better teams Regina will face this season and further solidified its place as the front-runner for the 2A state title.

Defensively, however, Regals head coach Jeff Wallace wants to see a little more. Even late in the game, he was hounding his players to get back into their defensive sets.

The 57 points Cascade scored were the most an opponent has put up against Regina this season and well above the 35.4 mark the Regals were allowing coming into the contest.

'The old slogan is that defense wins championships and all the way back to the first week, we put a lot of emphasis on defense,” Wallace said. 'We're playing good basketball, but there's still things we need to work on.”

The girls' game was the first of a doubleheader. The Regina boys next took on No. 5 Cascade, which was not nearly as nice to the Regals. The Cougars jumped on Regina early and held on for a 59-44 win.

Cascade led 19-9 after just one quarter, which set the tone of the game early.

Junior Jocoa Kerschen keyed a 10-0 Regina run in the third quarter, but it just wasn't quite enough to pull the upset.Cascade's Brock Simons led all scorers with 19 points.