Grace Fincham scores 33, West pushes past City High late, 63-57

IOWA CITY — His troops had just been stung with an 11-0 run and surrendered the lead.

Nate Frese didn’t like their body language.

“Their shoulders were forward, their heads were down,” said Frese, girls’ basketball coach at Iowa City West. “That’s what I focused on in the timeout ... get your chins up.”

Everything else fell into place.

Class 5A 14th-ranked West soon answered with a 12-0 surge of its own and topped No. 15 Iowa City High, 63-57, in a highly entertaining intracity girls’ basketball game Friday night at West High School.

Sophomore Grace Fincham netted a career-high 33 points, and the Trojans (5-4) climbed above .500 for the first time this season; they started 0-3.

“I was super excited to play this game,” Fincham said. “I love playing with this team, and our coaches give us so much confidence, even when we were 0-3.”

Fincham hit 13 of 21 shots from the floor, including 3 of 7 from long range. She made all four of her free-throw attempts and provided seven rebounds and three steals.

She had six points in the pivotal run at the end.

“I used to be taller than everybody, but they caught up to me, so I have to rely more on my physicality,” she said. “And my teammates give me really good passes.”

Fincham, who came into Friday averaging 14.4 points per game, got untracked early, scoring 13 in the first quarter.

“We have a lot of contributors on this team, but Grace is clearly one of out best scorers, Frese said. ”We said, let’s get it into her hands and see what she can do.“

She did plenty.

The Trojans led by as many as eight points in the first half, then Fincham’s run of eight straight pushed the advantage to 43-34 late in the third quarter.

City (3-6) closed within 43-41 by the end of the period, then back-to-back buckets by August Palmer put the Little Hawks in front, 45-43, before Frese called time.

Palmer’s 3-pointer gave City a 48-45 advantage before West made its final, decisive surge.

Sasha Baldwin added 11 points for the winners.

Palmer paced City with 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Tessa Driscoll tallied 13.

The rematch — Jan. 30 at City High — will count in Mississippi Valley Conference standings, and might play a significant role in the Valley Division title chase.

BOYS: West 68, City 57

Down by nine points early in the third quarter, the Class 4A 10th-rated Trojans awakened and avoided a home upset.

An 11-0 run in the fourth quarter finally sprung West (6-1) free. Jacob Koch had a 3-pointer and a steal for a basket in that run, and led the Trojans with 21 points.

Julian Manson added 17 points, Jack McCaffery 16.

Trey Wright scored 15 points to lead City (3-5).

Iowa City West 63, Iowa City High 57

At Iowa City West

IOWA CITY HIGH (57): August Palmer 6-15 3-6 16, Hattie Galloway 3-4 0-0 7, Kaitlin Loria 4-6 1-2 9, Emmy McComas 3-4 2-2 8, Tessa Driscoll 5-10 0-0 13, Maeve Obermueller 0-0 0-0 0, Avyana Lindsey 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 23-44 6-10 57.

IOWA CITY WEST (63): Lucy Wolf 2-10 0-0 5, Ava Frese 0-2 7-10 7, Elle Barnett 1-4 0-0 3, Grace Fincham 13-21 4-4 33, Alyson Skala 0-1 0-0 0, Sasha Baldwin 4-11 1-2 11, Kate Van Waning 1-3 0-0 2, Abby Neumiller 1-2 0-1 2. Totals 22-54 12-17 63.

Iowa City High 18 11 12 16 — 57

Iowa City West 20 12 11 20 — 63

3-point goals: City 5-11 (Palmer 1-3, Galloway 1-1, Driscoll 3-6, Lindsey 0-1), West 7-20 (Wolf 1-3, Barnett 1-4, Fincham 3-7, Baldwin 2-5, Van Waning 0-1). Team fouls: City 19, West 9. Fouled out: Driscoll. Technical foul: Palmer. Rebounds: City 30 (Palmer 7), West 27 (Fincham 7). Assists: City 11 (Palmer, Driscoll 3), West 9 (Frese 4). Steals: City 4 (four with 1), West 6 (Fincham 3). Turnovers: City 17, West 7.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com