No. 2 City High 'loses composure' in regional final loss to Southeast Polk

IOWA CITY — Southeast Polk ended No. 2-ranked Iowa City High's season with a 59-56 victory Tuesday night in a Class 5A regional final at City High. The ninth-ranked Rams (18-5) will return to the state tournament where they have become a fixture in recent seasons.

'We lost our composure,' City High Coach Bill McTaggart said. 'That was one of our worst games, but tribute to them. They were able to push the ball up and down the floor, and we didn't get back as well as we should have. We had some fouls and some poor possessions. We didn't do the little things right today.'

Southeast Polk won despite missing a load of close-in shots and despite being out-rebounded by 17. What the Rams had in their favor was superior depth, ball-handling and the presence of senior guard Casey Stuart, who finished with a game-high 29 points.

Stuart sat much of the first half with foul trouble, but she accounted for 27 of her team's 38 second-half points. She made 7-of-9 shots from the field and 12 of 16 free throws in the second half. When the Rams weren't pushing the pace they were spreading the court, allowing Stuart and others free reign to create off the dribble.

'I fouled and I knew I was going to sit the rest of the first half and I knew we were going to need it down the stretch, so I just said I'm the least tired and could attack,' Stuart said.

'She was great; she's been great for us all year,' Rams Coach Tracy Dailey said. 'It always hurts us to get her in foul trouble, but the nice thing is we were able to keep it close.'

And that was one of the keys to the game in McTaggart's analysis. City led 22-21 at halftime.

'We should have taken advantage when one of their best players was sitting on the bench in the first half,' McTaggart said. 'We should have been up double digits. Poor passing and poor shot selection.'

The game was close the whole way. City's biggest lead was five and Southeast Polk's biggest was eight. That came during a run midway through the fourth quarter where the Rams got their transition game in gear to take a 55-47 lead.

'That was kind of the game plan all along,' Dailey said. 'We knew that their depth was kind of a question, and we should have been running the ball more the whole game. That was kind of a criticism at halftime.'

Foul trouble for senior point Sydney Schroder hurt City's offensive continuity. Kenya Earl was an offensive force in the second half for City and finished with 15 points, 13 of which came after intermission. Ashley Joens led City with 18 and Courtney Joens had 15.

City finished the season at 19-4.