Top-ranked Johnston too much for Washington in second half

JOHNSTON — Cedar Rapids Washington coach Frank Howell knew his team's energy level was there. He could easily see it and for most of the game against No. 1 Johnston, that energy level looked good enough to win.

It was the blunders in the latter part of the second half and the slim margin for error that denied his team the chance to make its way across town for the state tournament.

'It's razor thin sometimes the difference from being able to put a little bit more of a scare into somebody or not quite pulling that out,' Howell said.

Johnston beat No. 15 Cedar Rapids Washington 66-54 in the Class 5A Region 2 final and handed the Warriors (15-8) just their second loss in the last 10 games to end their season. Senior Joniqua Clark had 17 points to lead Wash, which also got 16 points — including four 3-pointers — from senior Anne Visser.

Clark made her first four shots of the night and powered the Warriors to a 34-33 lead at halftime. The Dragons had a significant size advantage against Wash, with the 6-foot-4 Taryn Knuth as the centerpiece, but Clark was able to do most of her damage early on from inside the paint and said the size didn't shock her too much.

'The last two weeks we had boys come in to prepare for them in our practice,' Clark said. 'We got going pretty good against them, but we just try to leave it all on the court. We lost this game and it's over, but I just tried to do everything I could to score.'

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The Dragons (20-3) got Knuth going early with her 26 points and eight rebounds in the first 16 minutes, but Wash held the junior to just two points and one board in the second half. Johnston started to make its push in the middle of the third quarter and snagged a 41-40 lead, but that's when the shots started to fall in transition.

Elle Brown and Jennah Johnson combined to score 14 points in the third quarter and lead the Dragons to an 8-0 run that stretched into the fourth for a 49-40 lead. Just when the Warriors figured out how to slow down Knuth, it was the other offensive weapons that started to find an offensive rhythm.

'Sometimes we were putting ourselves in a position where we had a few shots that were two-foot shots that we just missed,' Howell said. 'Maybe with some other teams we might be able to get away with that.

'Just some simple type of plays that they were able to capitalize on that we didn't quite execute to our fullest ability.'

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