Girls’ basketball is ascendant again all over town in Iowa City

Before we get carried away, let’s start by insisting this isn’t 2018.

Don’t bank on an all-Iowa City state championship final. That’s not the point here.

This is: Iowa City girls’ basketball is ascendant again. And in one case, potentially spectacular.

The three ICCSD public schools — City High, West and Liberty — are a combined 11-4. And Regina is 4-0 and has the look of a Class 2A title contender.

“Our goals and expectations are high,” Regals Coach Mary Rogers said. “But I tell them, be where your feet are. Don’t look ahead.”

The first act of the City/West/Liberty round-robin is Friday, when No. 13 Liberty (3-1) visits City High (3-1).

“It’s the best of high school basketball, a Friday night against your rival,” City Coach Lynsey Barnard said.

“There’s such an emotional aspect to (the intracity games). It’s going to come down to who can handle their emotions the best.”

All three of the public school teams are on track to bettering their records from 2023-24, when West went 13-10, Liberty 11-9 and City 8-15.

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* West is off to a 5-2 start (2-0 in the Mississippi Valley Conference) and ranked 12th in 5A behind a starting lineup that consists of four juniors and a sophomore. One of those juniors, Grace Fincham was a third-team all-stater last year and leads the Trojans at 15.6 points per game.

* This is the eighth year of Liberty’s existence, and this could prove to be the school’s best team yet. The Lightning suffered their first loss of the season Tuesday to Dubuque Wahlert, an elite 3A team. Junior Natalie Ramsey is scoring at a 23.0-point clip, and has missed just one of 29 free-throw tries.

* City dropped its season opener to 4A top-five Central DeWitt, but has won three straight since, all by 20 points or more. Senior August Palmer (16.3 ppg) and junior Tessa Driscoll (14.6 ppg) pace the Little Hawks.

“It’s always hard to speculate on your own team, but yes, the other three teams in town are really good,” Barnard said.

Regina might be the best of the four, regardless of enrollment size.

Led by senior Morgan Miller (27.0 points per game), the Regals are averaging nearly 75 points per game and own a scoring margin of 41. They are shooting 42 percent from 3-point range.

“It’s been a great start. We’re playing really well,” Rogers said. “Our defense has taken a big jump since last year. We’re able to compete every possession.”

The Regals are the class of the River Valley Conference South Division, but do have some quality non-league post-holiday competition against Mount Vernon (Jan. 4), Cascade (Jan. 18) and Solon (Feb. 1).

South Tama snaps a skid

Considering its fortunes of the past five years, the results of South Tama’s first three games — three competitive losses — resembled progress.

Then, Monday, came the breakthrough.

Sophomore Oliva Hala registered 14 points and 12 rebounds, leading the Trojans to a 34-28 non-conference home win over Union Community.

That ended a 46-game losing streak, dating back to the first game of the 2022-23 season (37-35, over Marshalltown).

Trailing after a quarter, South Tama built an 18-15 halftime lead Monday, and maintained the advantage the rest of the way.

Freshman Dyan Keahna added seven points, and the Trojans forced Union into 29 turnovers.

In the last five seasons, South Tama lost 101 of 104 games. The Trojans lost their first three games this season by a combined 20 points.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com