West clamps down, stays unbeaten

IOWA CITY - The big-school girls' basketball power base has shifted back to the center of the state.

If anybody's going to wrestle it away, Iowa City West is the primary hope.

The Class 5A fourth-ranked Women of Troy owned the first half, and forced No. 5 Linn-Mar into 34-percent shooting in a 51-42 Mississippi Valley Conference triumph Friday night at West High School.

'We did a really good job to slow them down,” said UNI recruit Mikaela Morgan, who scored 11 of her game-high 13 points before intermission. 'They have a really good set-up, and we got on (Amanda) Ollinger and provided a lot of help against her.”

West (12-0 overall, 7-0 MVC) already has matched its win total from last year, when Dani Craig was sidelined with a torn ACL. The Women of Troy took a 13-point lead into the locker room, and the margin remained in double figures until the final minute.

'I think we put pressure on people that they're not used to,” said West Coach B.J. Mayer. 'We might have made them set up their offense a little bit further out than they'd like.”

West won the 2012 big-school state championship behind Ally Disterhoft, but the CIML has claimed the last two titles, and has the top three teams in this week's 5A rankings. West will see where it stacks up next Saturday, when it hosts No. 1 West Des Moines Valley.

'I think we'll be ready,” Morgan said.

Linn-Mar (10-2, 7-1) took its only lead of the game at 4-2, then West scored the next seven points.

'We struggled a little bit offensively,” said Lions Coach Jaime Printy Brandt, whose team saw a five-game win streak come to an end. 'There were some times in which we could have hit a shot to make it closer, and it just didn't fall our way.

'We held Morgan to two points in the second half and we held (Craig) to five points all game, but they still managed to find a way.”

Grace Tafolla added 11 points and six rebounds for the winners. Ali Tauchen posted eight points and six boards.

The Women of Troy made it tough for University of Iowa recruit Amanda Ollinger, who finished with six points (on 2-of-12 shooting) and six rebounds. Olivia Montague paced the Lions with 11 points, hitting three 3-pointers.

The Lions are at Ankeny Centennial on Saturday.

IOWA CITY WEST 51, LINN-MAR 42

At Iowa City West

LINN-MAR (42): Lexi Frese 1-4 1-3 3, Brittney Lancial 3-5 0-0 7, Olivia Montague 4-10 0-0 11, Niki Sharma 2-5 2-3 6, Kamryn Finley 1-2 2-2 4, Claire Larson 1-2 0-0 3, Amanda Ollinger 2-12 2-2 6, Lannie Nietert 1-3 0-0 2, Megan Murphy 0-2 0-0 0, Allie Noggle 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-44 7-10 42.

IOWA CITY WEST (51): Bella Lozano-Dobbs 1-3 0-0 3, Grace Tafolla 3-8 4-4 11, Ali Tauchen 4-5 0-0 8, Dani Craig 2-10 2-5 6, Mikaela Morgan 4-6 3-7 13, Logan Cook 2-3 0-0 5, Jessie Harder 1-1 0-0 2, Rachael Saunders 1-3 0-2 3. Totals 18-38 9-18 51.

Halftime: West 27, Linn-Mar 14. 3-point goals: Linn-Mar 5-18 (Lancial 1-2, Montague 3-7, Larson 1-2, Ollinger 0-6, Murphy 0-1), West 6-14 (Lozano-Dobbs 1-1, Tafolla 1-3, Craig 0-4, Morgan 2-3, Cook 1-1, Saunders 1-2). Team fouls: Linn-Mar 16, West 14. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Linn-Mar 31 (Frese 8), West 27 (Tafolla, Tauchen 6). Assists: Linn-Mar 8 (Frese, Ollinger 2), West 10 (Craig 5). Steals: Linn-Mar 8 (Ollinger 3), West 10 (Lozano-Dobbs, Tafolla, Craig 2). Turnovers: Linn-Mar 20, West 12.

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