Surges key No. 5 Warriors in win at Prairie

CEDAR RAPIDS -- Sluggish at times. Explosive at others.Class 4A fifth-ranked Cedar Rapids Washington constructed two big surges and pulled away from Cedar Rapids Prairie, 67-51, in a Mississippi Valley Conference girls' basketball game Tuesday night at Prairie High School.The Warriors (11-2 overall, 8-2 MVC) used a 21-3 run in the first half to erase an early five-point deficit, then scored 15 points in a row after the Hawks (3-10, 2-8) had snuck within 41-36 midway through the third quarter."It wasn't that great (a performance), but we still got it together," said Washington's Jazz Royster. "We overlooked them a little."Still, those two spurts kept the Warriors out of trouble. They can credit their rebounding (a 55-36 advantage on the boards) -- particularly on the offensive end -- as well as a press that created 25 turnovers."One thing this team has done as well as any team I've had, is get offensive rebounds," said Washington Coach Frank Howell. "That's probably the biggest reason we are where we are."Washington took 72 shots from the floor. That's a lot."We kept it close, but we just gave them too many opportunities," said Prairie Coach Steve Doser. "But I loved our effort and I loved our fight."Prairie led, 12-7, through the first 3 1/2 minutes before the Warriors got untracked.Washington scored 10 in a row, led 20-14 after one quarter, extended it to 28-15, then settled for a 36-28 halftime advantage.Mackenzie Blaha's 3-pointer midway through the third quarter got the Hawks within 41-36, but Prairie went cold and Washington pulled away for good.Tia Dawson led the Warriors with 19 points and 12 rebounds. She scored Washington's first nine points of the game.Royster added 13 points and Ashley Piper registered 11 points, eight boards and five steals.Blaha paced Prairie with 14 points; Madison Dellamuth tallied 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists.Washington hosts Iowa City High on Friday; Prairie travels to Iowa City West.

AT C.R. PRAIRIE

C.R. WASHINGTON (67): Ashley Piper 3-9 4-4 11, Alissa Oney 1-6 0-0 2, Jordon Pilcher 2-5 0-0 4, Jazz Royster 3-12 7-10 13, Tia Dawson 9-17 1-3 19, Janay Pritchett 4-7 0-0 9, Latasha Roundtree 1-2 0-0 2, Brooke Foreman0-0 0-0 0, Madison Kramer 1-6 1-2 3, Abigail Herb 1-3 0-0 2, Jordan Carr 0-0 1-2 1, Layloni Beard 0-2 1-2 1, Kelli Klaus 0-1 0-0 0, Gail Barnum 0-0 0-1 0, Chelsey McMahon 0-1 0-0 0, Callie Stone 0-1 0-0 0, Lauren Goodlove 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-72 15-24 67.

C.R. PRAIRIE (51): Katie Carver 1-2 1-3 3, Alisa Weiland 3-19 0-0 9, Kaitlyn Wieland 1-2 1-2 3, Mackenzie Blaha 4-7 2-3 14, Madison Dellamuth 5-14 1-1 12, Courteney McCrary 2-5 0-0 4, Kaitlyn Yanacek 0-1 0-0 0, Shelby Crist 3-6 0-2 6, Cyerra Hutchins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-56 5-11 51.

Halftime: Washington 36, Prairie 28.

3-point goals: Washington 2-14 (Piper 1-3, Oney 0-3, Pilcher 0-1, Royster 0-2, Dawson 0-1, Pritchett 1-2, Kramer 0-1, McMahon 0-1), Prairie 8-21 (Weiland 3-11, Blaha 4-7, Dellamuth 1-3).

Team fouls: Washington 16, Prairie 17.

Fouled out: Carver, Yanacek.

Rebounds: Washington 55 (Dawson 12), Prairie 36 (Dellamuth 8).

Assists: Washington 11 (Roundtree 4), Prairie 9 (Dellamuth 5).

Steals: Washington 17 (Piper 5), Prairie 11 (McCrary 3).

Turnovers: Washington 19, Prairie 25.[gallery order="DESC"]