Young Cedar Rapids Washington girls’ basketball team keeps improving, keeps picking up Ws

CEDAR RAPIDS — As difficult as last season was, this season has been better. Way better.

And the future for the Cedar Rapids Washington girls’ basketball program appears to be way bright.

It was three sophomores and a freshman that started Friday night for the Warriors in their 51-43 victory over Cedar Rapids Jefferson on the westside of town. Wash has won four of its last five games to move its record to 6-8.

Might not sound that great, but consider the Warriors were 1-21 a season ago. This youth deal plus this competitiveness deal equals this bright future deal.

“I would agree with that,” said Washington Coach Chris James. “It was hard last year because the kids kind of had to grow up on the floor. We’d lost so much from the year before, 11 seniors, and we played nine of them.

“We’ve still got a long way to go. We still make some mistakes ... It’s some learning stuff, stuff that maybe could have helped us come out of here with a 20-point win or something instead of eight.”

The best of this young Washington group appears to be Samantha Becker. The sophomore guard — whose twin sister, Hailey, also starts — leads her team in scoring at 15.5 points a game.

She went off for 26 here, including 18 in a first half that concluded with Washington on top, 27-24. She can score from inside and outside and has handles.

“She leads us this year in basically every statistical category,” James said. “Rebounding is an area I think she has really improved on. She’s stronger. She doesn’t talk much to the team, isn’t that vocal. But when she does, it carries more weight, if that makes sense. More than anything, she leads by example.”

Jefferson (3-10) led after the first quarter, 15-9, but Wash went into a press defense that turned over the J-Hawks time and time and time again. Actually both teams turned it over time and time and time again in this one: 51 total, 27 by Jefferson and 24 by Washington.

The other predominant theme here was fouls. There were a ton of them: 43.

Rare was a trip down the floor not including either a foul or a turnover.

Washington gradually increased its margin in the third quarter to as many as 11. Freshman guard Elysionna Westerfield had a trio of treys in the quarter and finished with 13 points in the game.

A Becker 3-pointer made it a 46-32 game early in the fourth and things went from there. Jefferson didn’t go away at all, as the margin settled in at the 10 to 11-point range, with the J-Hawks closing within eight in the final minute.

Speaking of freshmen, another good one is Jefferson center Lillie Spicer. She had 10 points and seven rebounds.

The only senior who played Friday for the J-Hawks was forward Madi Mercil. Junior guard Ava Erger tied Spicer for team scoring honors with 10.

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Photos: Cedar Rapids Washington at Cedar Rapids Jefferson girls’ basketball

Cedar Rapids Washington 51, Cedar Rapids Jefferson 43

AT CEDAR RAPIDS JEFFERSON

CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON (51): Ava Sales 0-3 0-0 0, Hailey Becker 0-2 0-4 0, Bily Belle Barker 2-8 2-4 7, Samantha Becker 8-15 8-9 26, Elysionna Westerfield 4-12 1-2 13, Jamiah Malone 1-4 2-4 4, JaeCis Wright 0-3 1-2 1, Lillie Dostal 0-0 0-0 0, Gabi Pedroso 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-47 14-25 51.

CEDAR RAPIDS JEFFERSON (43): Madi Mercil 2-5 0-0 5, Sophia Kevitt 0-1 4-6 4, Lillie Spicer 4-10 1-2 10, Danielle Boche 1-4 5-10 8, Ava Erger 3-10 3-4 10, Morgan Hewitt 0-1 2-2 2, Ryiah Nickell 1-1 0-0 3, Angeline Troh 0-1 1-2 1, Lexi Haller 0-5 0-0 0, Lillian Ulrich 0-1 0-0 0, Kymara Atwood-Mayes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-39 16-26 43.

Halftime - Washington 27, Jefferson 24. 3-point goals - Washington 7-17 (Barker 1-4, S. Becker 2-4, Westerfield 4-7, Wright 0-2), Jefferson 5-14 (Mercil 1-2, Spicer 1-1, Boche 1-3, Erger 1-4, Hewitt 0-1, Nickell 1-1, Troh 0-1, Ulrich 0-1). Rebounds - Washington 35 (Malone 9), Jefferson 31 (Spicer 7). Total fouls - Washington 23, Jefferson 23. Fouled out - H. Becker. Turnovers - Washington 24, Jefferson 27.

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com