After winning two back to back games against Burlington and Muscatine over winter break, the Little Hawks were eager to get another win against Cedar Rapids Washington and earning a 4-3 record. City High, going into the game 3-3, but Cedar Rapids could not miss from the 3 point line, sinking more than half of their shots with a total of nine opposed to the four City High made.

“We played well for the first three quarters, but they outscored us in the 4th because it seemed like they wanted it more than we did. We played a hard fought game, but we just didn’t finish it the way we wanted too,” said Evan Grace ‘15

City High failed to crash the boards, grabbing a total of only 20 rebounds, a season low for the Little Hawks.

“Rebounding has always been an area that we have needed to work on since day one,” said coach Showalter, “we continue to emphasize this constantly in practice and we will improve in this area,”

Although with fast pace drives in transition, captain, Emmanual Hooper ‘15, put up a total of 12 points and led the team in assist with a total of four. Both sophomores Chuck Johnson and Nate Wieland put up double digit points again with a combined total of 25 points as City High fell to Washington 63-79.

Players off of the bench for City High also contributed greatly to the 3rd quarter run the Little Hawks made. Nile Ringen ‘16 played well on both sides of the court with a total of 5 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds and 1 steal and Naeem Smith ‘17 and Henry Mulligan ‘16 both played well on offense for a combined total of 11 points.

“What affected our play the most was the bench. They came in, brought high intensity and they got us up by 1 at the start of the 4th quarter and that’s exactly what you want to see out of your second team,” said Evan Grace

City High takes on their rivals Iowa City West on Friday 1/9. The game will be a double header with both the boys basketball team and girls basketball team playing on the same night. City High took a loss to West twice last year losing by at least 20 points in both games. Coach Showalter is preparing his team for a tough battle on Friday and also focusing on getting his players better every game.

“I know that my players will play hard and battle West for every possession,” said Showalter, “this is the game that will show how much we have improved since the first game of the season against the number one team in the state.”