Balanced West thumps Washington, 77-43

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union releases girls' basketball regional pairings in about two weeks. Class 5A teams from the Cedar Rapids/Marion metro area have one mutual wish:

Avoid the dual roadblock from Iowa City.

Five players reached double-figures as 5A third-rated Iowa City West handled Cedar Rapids Washington, 77-43, in a Mississippi Valley Conference battle Friday night at Washington High School.

'We're working hard to work together,' said senior Katie McGrane, the fourth West player off the bench and the leading scorer with a season-high 15 points. '(Coach B.J.) Mayer knows we're all able to contribute.'

Stuff like this goes in cycles, but right now, West (11-1 overall, 8-0 MVC) and No. 2 Iowa City High are a good distance ahead of the rest of the league.

Washington (5-8, 2-5) faced both of them this week, and most likely is overjoyed to have them in the rear-view mirror, for now.

'They've got all the weapons,' Warriors Coach Chris James said of the Women of Troy. 'We got down 11-0, and that's hard enough to come back from against a good team. A team like this, and it's almost impossible.'

Maddie Huinker and Logan Cook added 11 points apiece for the Women of Troy. Lauren Zacharias and Emma Koch supplied 10 each. Rachael Saunders tacked on eight more.

'Nice balance,' Mayer acknowledged. 'We'll take that every single night. We got a lot of different contributions from everybody.'

After that early blitz, Washington played the Women of Troy nearly even for the rest of the first half. The Warriors got within 17-13 midway through the second quarter, then McGrane got in a groove.

She hit a 3-pointer to get started, then added a conventional three-point play and ended the half with another trey as West took a 35-21 lead into the locker room.

'I figured today was my day,' McGrane said. 'In the middle of the season, I kind of shied away. But I hit that first one and made it, so I said, 'I'm hot, I'm going to keep going.''

West gradually pulled away in the second half, then scored the final 10 points of the contest.

Cook snagged eight rebounds, leading West to a 37-28 advantage on the boards.

Sammy Mia led Washington with 13 points. Caitlin Riley added eight.

IOWA CITY WEST 77, C.R. WASHINGTON 43

At C.R. Washington

IOWA CITY WEST (77): Lauren Zacharias 3-4 4-4 10, Rachael Saunders 3-7 1-2 8, Maddie Huinker 3-8 3-4 11, Logan Cook 5-14 1-1 11, Emma Koch 4-7 2-4 10, Cailyn Morgan 2-4 0-1 4, Paige Beckner 3-3 0-1 6, Ali Tauchen 0-0 0-0 0, Katie McGrane 5-7 3-4 15, Sydney Allen 1-2 0-0 2, Carrie Callahan 0-0 0-0 0, Brianna Faulkner 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-56 14-21 77.

C.R. WASHINGTON (43): Caitlin Riley 2-14 2-2 8, Brittany Hoeger 2-5 0-0 4, Jessi Puk 2-4 0-1 4, Sammy Mia 4-12 5-6 13, Jayla Johnson 1-3 3-8 5, Isa Truemper 2-3 0-0 6, Aubrey Moore 1-2 0-2 2, Grace Carey 0-0 1-2 1, Devon O'Donnell 0-0 0-0 0, Lindsay Parks 0-0 0-0 0, Sarah Altemeier 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-43 11-21 43.

Halftime: West 35, Washington 21. 3-point goals: West 5-15 (Zacharias 0-1, Saunders 1-3, Huinker 2-5, Morgan 0-2, McGrane 2-4), Washington 4-16 (Riley 2-7, Hoeger 0-3, Puk 0-2, Mia 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Truemper 2-2). Team fouls: West 16, Washington 18. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: West 37 (Cook 8), Washington 28 (Johnson 7). Assists: West 11 (Zacharias, Saunders, Morgan 2), Washington 5 (Johnson 3). Steals: West 10 (Huinker 4), Washington 8 (Hoeger, Truemper 2). Turnovers: West 13, Washington 18.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com