Iowa City West wakes up, edges Pella

CEDAR RAPIDS — Rachael Saunders has a thick skin. She understood.

'Coach (B.J. Mayer) tore us up and got us ready to go,' Saunders said. 'We needed a reality check. We weren't going to beat (Pella) just because they're a 4A school.'

Down by as many as nine points in the first half, Class 5A third-ranked Iowa City West shot 60 percent after intermission and rallied past 4A No. 1 Pella, 57-53, as part of Rivalry Saturday at the U.S. Cellular Center.

West (9-1) shot to a quick 7-0 lead, then spent most of the rest of the first half in a fog, and Pella pounced.

Down 11-9, the Dutch scored 11 consecutive points for a 20-11 advantage, and took a 25-19 lead into the locker room.

'We just talked over some things,' Mayer said. 'They were beating us up and down the floor. We just wanted ot make sure we got back on defense and stopped their fast break.'

It wasn't as if the Women of Troy hadn't been in this sort of predicament before. They rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit earlier this season.

'We knew we were good enough to come back,' Mayer said. 'We didn't quit. We threw some things out that we hadn't done since the second week of practice. We did a 1-2-2 zone, and the kids executed it.'

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Cailyn Morgan and Saunders got the Women of Troy level at 36-36, then a drive by Maddie Huinker gave the Women of Troy a 38-37 edge. They led the rest of the way.

A junior and a Creighton commit, Saunders led the Women of Troy with 16 points. Logan Cook added 12.

Emily Holterhaus notched 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Dutch (8-1), the 2016 4A state runner-up. Ciara Buchheit tallied 13 points.

IOWA CITY WEST 57, PELLA 53

At U.S. Cellular Center

IOWA CITY WEST (57): Lauren Zacharias 2-3 0-1 6, Rachael Saunders 5-10 4-6 16, Maddie Huinker 1-9 2-4 4, Logan Cook 5-12 2-3 12, Emma Koch 2-5 0-0 4, Cailyn Morgan 1-1 4-4 7, Paige Beckner 2-4 0-0 5, Ali Tauchen 1-1 1-2 3, Katie McGrane 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 19-48 13-20 57.

PELLA (53): Annika Pingel 0-2 2-2 2, Kiara Bradley 4-9 0-0 8, Ciara Buchheit 4-10 2-2 13, Katie VanderMolen 1-9 1-2 3, Emily Holterhaus 4-13 11-15 19, Chloe Van Vliet 2-4 3-7 8, Kara Wichhart 0-1 0-0 0, Kloe Lambert 0-1 0-0 0, Caroline Bradley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-49 19-28 53.

Halftime: Pella 25, West 19. 3-point goals: West 6-23 (Zacharias 2-3, Saunders 2-5, Huinker 0-7, Cook 0-2, Koch 0-1, Morgan 1-1, Beckner 1-2, McGrane 0-2), Pella 4-14 (Pingel 0-1, Bradley 0-1, Buchheit 3-5, VanderMolen 0-4, VanVliet 1-2, Lambert 0-1). Team fouls: West 21, Pella 13. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: West 40 (Huinker, Koch 7), Pella 29 (Holterhaus 10). Assists: West 7 (Huinker 2), Pella 11 (Buchheit, VanderMolen 3). Steals: West 11 (Saunders, Koch 3), Pella 6 (VanVliet 3). Turnovers: West 16, Pella 12.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com