Second half belongs to West girls

IOWA CITY -- A first-half offensive fog settled over the West High School gymnasium.One team -- the home team -- navigated its way out of it, and lived to play another day.Iowa City West negated Cedar Rapids Jefferson's imposing inside game, pulling away after intermission for a 50-30 Class 5A girls' basketball regional quarterfinal triumph."We wanted to be the more aggressive team, cause some turnovers and get up in their faces," said West senior Mollie Mason.Check, check and checkmate.A participant in the last three state tournaments (including a championship in 2012), West (12-10) advances to face Linn-Mar (14-8) on the road in a regional semifinal Saturday. The Lions earned a first-round bye.West prevailed despite a 23-percent shooting display in the first half. The Women of Troy did so behind a strong rebounding effort (winning the board battle 40-28) and because they warmed up and Jefferson (9-13) did not.The J-Hawks made just 10 of 41 field goal attempts, for 24.4 percent."We just couldn't find the basket," said Jefferson Coach Jason Edwards. "We had some good looks early, but we couldn't convert."Jefferson's Amanda Ollinger, who led all players with 16 points and 10 rebounds, said, "There really aren't any words (to explain it). They were really aggressive defensively. We didn't do a good job boxing out."It's as if they wanted it more than we did."West led the entire game, but the margin was just 18-16 at halftime."You're playing with fire if you do that too often," said West Coach B.J. Mayer. "We did a good job getting to their shooters and at least contesting their shots."The Women of Troy broke it open in the third quarter, opening it with a 12-2 run to move the margin to double digits at 30-18.At 26-18, Edwards called timeout and exhorted the J-Hawks: "One play! One play!""Our body language wasn't good at that point," he said. "It was still a three- or four-possession game. We just needed to get it going. But we couldn't."The J-Hawks cut it to 31-25, but West quickly answered again.Mason converted an offensive rebound into a basket, then Jessie Harder drained a 3-pointer just before the third-quarter horn to put the lead to 36-25.And it was all West from there.Grace Tafolla led the winners with 12 points. Mason posted 11 points and nine rebounds. Leading scorer Mikaela Morgan settled for eight points, but contributed six boards and four assists.Kennedy Dighton scored eight points for Jefferson, Maddy Blietz collected five steals. 

IOWA CITY WEST 50, CEDAR RAPIDS JEFFERSON 30

Class 5A Regional Quarterfinal, at Iowa City West

C.R. JEFFERSON (30): Maddy Blietz 1-10 2-2 4, Avery Guy 0-1 0-0 0, Erin Kuba 1-2 0-2 2, Kieley Brathwaite 0-4 0-0 0, Kennedy Dighton 3-10 1-5 8, Amanda Ollinger 5-12 5-5 16, Sam Kitterman 0-1 0-0 0, Autume Starks 0-1 0-0 0, Cassandra Veglahn 0-0 0-0 0, Alexis Dahlen-Zeck 0-0 0-0 0, Emma Rolwes 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah Carter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 10-41 8-14 30.

IOWA CITY WEST (50): Bella Lozano-Dobbs 2-8 0-0 4, Grace Tafolla 3-8 5-6 12, Mollie Mason 5-9 1-2 11, Mikaela Morgan 2-10 4-7 8, Emily Halverson 2-6 0-0 4, Ali Tauchen 2-3 0-0 4, Jessie Harder 1-4 4-4 7, Maddie Huinker 0-1 0-0 0, Kristina Bauer 0-0 0-0 0, Paige Parker 0-0 0-0 0, Kelsey Sehr 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-50 14-19 50.

Halftime: West 18, Jefferson 16.

3-point goals: Jefferson 2-11 (Blietz 0-2, Kuba 0-1, Brathwaite 0-2, Dighton 1-3, Ollinger 1-3), West 2-16 (Lozano-Dobbs 0-4, Tafolla 1-4, Morgan 0-3, Harder 1-4, Huinker 0-1).

Team fouls: Jefferson 17, West 13.

Fouled out: none.

Rebounds: Jefferson 28 (Ollinger 10), West 40 (Mason 9).

Assists: Jefferson 1 (Guy), West 9 (Morgan 4).

Steals: Jefferson 8 (Blietz 5), West 8 (Tafolla, Halverson 2).

Turnovers: Jefferson 17, West 11.