Waukee Northwest tops Prairie 63-56, clinches an all-CIML 5A final four

DES MOINES — Cedar Rapids Prairie accomplished its three primary goals.

* Claim a Mississippi Valley Conference divisional championship.

* Win 20 games.

* Advance to the state tournament.

Once the Hawks got here, though, they learned an age-old lesson:

The Central Iowa Metro League is just built different.

Young and long, third-ranked Waukee Northwest came on strong in the second half and toppled the No. 6 Hawks, 63-56, in a Class 5A quarterfinal at the girls’ state basketball tournament Monday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena.

“It’s like a dream,” Northwest’s Vana Bilic said. “We’ve been watching Waukee for a long time, and it was like, ‘When are we going to be there? Are we going to be here?’”

They’re going to be here, this year, for a while. The Wolves (19-4) made it an all-CIML semifinal fiesta; they’ll face No. 2 West Des Moines Dowling (21-3) in a 5A semifinal at 11:45 Thursday morning.

Dowling dropped No. 7 Davenport North, 64-38, in the first round.

Prairie finished 20-5 in Bruce Dall’s first season as head coach, won the MVC Valley Division and advanced to Des Moines for the first time since 2020.

A quality season, for sure.

“We had three goals, and we reached them,” Prairie junior Emily Larsen said. “We just didn’t have the outcome today that we were hoping for.”

Dall said, “The whole season, the whole body of work ... it stinks to get beat, but what we accomplished, not many teams can say that.”

Prairie led 23-20 after a half in which Northwest turned it over 11 times. The Wolves coughed it up just twice the rest of the way, and everything else followed.

Northwest scored the first seven points of the second half, and maintained a slim lead until a 9-0 fourth-quarter run made it more comfortable at 50-40.

Sophomore KeaOnna Worley led Prairie with 23 points, and Larsen added 19. The rest of the Hawks combined for 14.

“They’re a good team,” Bilic said, who scored 24 to lead the Wolves. “We wanted to stop two of their double-digit scorers, and we did a good job with that.”

Northwest’s starting lineup consists of four sophomores and a junior. Sadie McCann, who provided 16 points off the bench, is a freshman.

Prairie got out to a 9-2 lead and led throughout the first half.

“We fought hard, but they came out hard in the second half,” Worley said.

“Playing this season with my best friends, it was a good experience.”

Waukee Northwest 63, Cedar Rapids Prairie 56

Class 5A State Quarterfinal, at Des Moines

C.R. PRAIRIE (56): Neva’eh Diaz-Doolin 2-5 1-4 5, KeaOnna Worley 7-12 8-11 23, Brynlie Hadenfeldt 0-9 3-6 3, Emily Larsen 7-15 0-2 19, Asia Beale 2-8 2-4 6, Presley Estrada 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 18-51 14-27 56.

WAUKEE NORTHWEST (63): Leah Janulewicz 2-7 0-2 4, Vana Bilic 9-16 4-4 24, Logan Vogt 2-6 0-0 4, Romey Croatt 4-11 2-3 10, Cassidy Danburg 2-3 1-1 5, Kennedy Princehouse 0-0 0-0 0, Sadie McCann 4-5 6-12 16. Totals 23-48 13-22 63.

C.R. Prairie 13 10 13 20 — 56

Waukee Northwest 11 9 21 22 — 63

3-point goals: Prairie 6-22 (Diaz-Doolin 0-1, Worley 1-4, Hadenfeldt 0-4, Larsen 5-11, Beale 0-1, Estrada 0-1), Northwest 4-14 (Janulewicz 0-1, Bilic 2-4, Vogt 0-3, Croatt 0-3, McCann 2-3). Team fouls: Prairie 18, Northwest 20. Fouled out: Larsen, Croatt. Rebounds: Prairie 33 (Hadenfeldt 10), Northwest 34 (Vogt, Danburg 6). Assists: Prairie 7 (Worley 3), Northwest 10 (Croatt 3). Steals: Prairie 5 (Larsen 4), Northwest 5 (Vogt 3). Turnovers: Prairie 11, Northwest 13.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com