In Year 6, Iowa City Liberty has a girls’ basketball championship crew

Jaime Brandt has been with the Iowa City Liberty girls’ basketball program since its infancy.

The climb has been slow, maybe slower than Brandt would have preferred.

But in Year 6, the Lightning are a championship outfit.

“To start this program from scratch, to where we are now ... it means a lot,” Brandt said. “This group of seniors has worked extremely hard.

“They’ve grown so much. They’re playing really good basketball now.”

Liberty (13-6 overall, 11-2 Mississippi Valley Conference) wrapped up a share of the Mississippi Division championship Tuesday. The Lightning defeated Cedar Rapids Jefferson, 51-35, at home, while Cedar Falls (13-6, 10-3) stubbed its toe at Dubuque Wahlert, 56-49.

A win at Cedar Rapids Prairie on Friday locks up the title solo for the Bolts.

“We’ve really tried to focus on ourselves,” Brandt said. “But, yeah, I look around the conference and see what everybody else is doing.

“We talk about playing our best in February.”

Liberty has won four straight games, six of its last seven. It’s a far cry from the early days, when the Bolts compiled a total of 16 wins in their first four seasons.

Thanks in part to Jasmine Barney’s move from Cedar Falls, they jumped to 12-11 last year. And now, a championship breakthrough.

“The team has really bought into defense, and they hadn’t in the past,” Brandt said. “We live and die with the 3-pointer, and we can play with anyone when we shoot the ball well. But they’ve realized we can still win when we’re not shooting well.”

Liberty averages 27.3 3-point attempts per game and is shooting 29.0 percent from long range.

Barney, a senior, averages 16.5 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. Sophomore Madeline Casey adds 9.1 points per contest.

Cue the postseason

Despite losing roughly 73 percent of its scoring punch from last year’s state-tournament team, Springville remains highly relevant.

The Orioles (17-4) are one of the top area Class 1A teams that begin regional play Thursday. They take a seven-game winning streak into their home contest with Easton Valley (5-13).

Freshman Rowan Jacobi has made an immediate impact, averaging 12.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.

Among other area notables, South Iowa Cedar League West Division co-champion Montezuma (17-3) opens at home with Hillcrest Academy (0-19), and SICL East champ Iowa Valley (14-6) welcomes Belle Plaine (2-18).

The area’s most highly ranked 1A teams — No. 3 North Linn (19-1) and No. 9 Elkader Central (19-2) — earned first-round byes and start regional play next Tuesday.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com