The girls basketball team has had many successes this season and in a few weeks hopes to travel to the state tournament.
February 18, 2014
Watching the girls basketball team this year, there were many games where they made winning look easy. The Little Hawks, with few exceptions, have breezed to a spotless 21-0 record. This makes City High the first Class 5A team to finish a regular season undefeated. They have an average 29.0 point margin of victory over their opponents so far this season. Captain Haley Lorenzen ‘14 says she attributes their success to her team’s extra efforts.
“We worked hard, therefore the hard work is paying off,” Lorenzen said. “We knew we were going to have our challenges during the year. You have to work hard to be dominant, I feel like with all the hard work we put in we became that dominant team.”
Some of these challenges include games against top ranked teams such as Waterloo West and Cedar Rapids Kennedy. At the Kennedy game, more than just their spotless record was on the line. They were also competing for a conference title. The Little Hawks went on to win that game 67-44.
“We came out ready to play against Kennedy,” Lorenzen said.
Last Tuesday, City travelled across the river to face off with rival West High. Even though the Little Hawks have already defeated the Women of Troy by a score of 53-37 earlier this season, captain Haley Lorenzen ‘14 says the team did not take this game lightly.
“We know obviously from the way that we ended last year that you can’t just expect to beat a team two times,” she said. “Honestly it’s West High and anything can happen.”
After last Friday’s game against Dubuque Senior, the Little Hawks switched their focus to the regional tournament. Their road to state will begin with a home game against the winner of the Clinton (3-14) vs. Davenport Central (2-15) game on February 22nd at 7:00. If they are to win that game they will advance to the regional final to face the winner of the Bettendorf (11-7) vs. Pleasant Valley (11-7) game. The winner of the region will become one of eight teams to travel to Des Moines for the state tournament.
Lorenzen says she’s glad City High will be hosting the semi-final game because the larger crowd and a vocal student section gives her team more motivation and intensity.
“When we get a huge crowd that’s interactive in the game, it changes all the momentum, it gives you so much energy and it’s just fun,” she said.
Head coach Bill McTaggert is making sure the Little Hawks don’t shift their thoughts to the postseason and the Regional tournament quite yet though. McTaggart says the team wants to focus on the rest of their regular season games first.
The coach says he’s proud of the way his team has handled most of the season, especially their intensity in the third quarter. While their scoring has been strong throughout the season, he says the Little Hawks can still make improvements in their offensive game and on the other side of the court.
“We need to continue to get better on the defensive side, and continue to cut down on our turnovers,” McTaggart said.
Lorenzen agrees and adds that if her team can clean it up, she believes they can go far in the rest of their season.
“We’re a very aggressive team so we need to fine tune [our passing], but then when we make the right pass it’s going to be a good play. We just have to take it game by game,” she said. “If we do our jobs for what we have to do, it shouldn’t matter what [the other team] does.”
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