Friday Night: Winning In Style

<!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Dowling Catholic VS Johnston</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On Friday night #4 Dowling Catholic high school did what seemed to be the impossible by defeating the #1 Johnston Dragons by a final score of 62-48. The Maroons played efficiently, didn't turn the ball over, and rebounded well from start to finish as they led the game ever since the beginning tip-off of the contest. Behind the leadership of point guard [player_tooltip player_id='311396' first='Ava' last='Zediker'] they ended up winning the first quarter by 6 points, the second quarter by 5, the third quarter by 3, and they played the last quarter even, leading to a 14 point victory overall. The attack came from all angles, as DC has an intense pace of play in which opponents become uncomfortable, giving them easy buckets, as the game goes on. From the Johnston's point of view, this game isn't a loss but more-so a lesson and motivation going into the playoffs. Some of the best times to lose a game is right before the playoffs begin so that the whole team can mentally reset for a big successful playoff run. If a team doesn't lose all year then at times it becomes harder for them to win once they make it to state and play prestigious programs with real star power. In this case I don't think that would happen as this Dragons squad is stacked to the max with talent but they would rather take the L now than once the playoffs begin. In the big picture of everything I really like both these teams to make it to state depending on their regional and substate assignments. Dowling Catholic has to prove to everyone that they can win big games against big named opponents on the road while the Dragons need to come back locked in after this loss and the focus on going 1-0 in every game they play until the end of the season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Linn-Mar VS Iowa City-West</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The #10 Iowa City-West Trojans went into Friday evening against the #13 ranked Linn-mar Lions with the hope of recording another top ranked win to add to their resume before the end of the season gets here but the Lions had different plans. The usual contributors for Linn-Mar did their thing and came out on top VS Meena Tata and the Trojans. The Lions were led by their "top dawg" in Zoe Kennedy who had 23 points on 6/11 shooting and 14 rebounds. To help her out she had senior [player_tooltip player_id='63014' first='Taylor' last='Brunson'] add 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. On the Trojans side of things you had Dartmouth basketball commit [player_tooltip player_id='63070' first='Meena' last='Tate'] put up 12 points, and 1 assist in the loss. This game was one that I happened to feature before it occurred last night siting it maybe a close one and it was. Home court advantage went to play a much bigger factor than I originally considered. If this game is played again on a neutral site court I would say it would be a one score affair, as this one ended in a 10 point Lions victory. Another big factor that went into this victory is the discussion of quality VS quantity. [player_tooltip player_id='63070' first='Meena' last='Tate'] is the best player on the floor in this game but can only do so much by herself and other teams are starting to take notice in that. In this case the amount of players and scoring that the Lions had was ultimately just too much in the end. When taking a step back and seeing the whole picture I know both of these teams can put together a good run once the regular season comes to an end but it's going to take a lot for both programs. They have the pieces, coaches, and systems in place to make some big noise but must put it all together first.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Ballard VS Boone</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The #4 Ballard Bombers have put together quiet a season thus far by starting off at an impressive 12-2 after coming off of a big 60-23 victory against Boone high school on Friday night. The Bombers are led by star junior forward [player_tooltip player_id='314114' first='Alliyah' last='Thompson'] and a plethora of other upperclassmen. Thompson is currently on track to have one of the most impressive high school seasons we have seen in a long time. The lengthy and athletic baller scored a game high 26 points on 12/16 shooting along with tailing some other stats in the win. Following Thompson in the score book was senior Lily Hillbrand who had 9 points on 2/5 from behind the three point arc and junior Alise Van Pelt who had 6 points on 3/3 shooting. This group can go as far as Thompson can take them. Once the playoffs start things won't be so easy for herself and the bombers as teams will scout and have a clue on how to slow them down offensively. It should and will get to a point where the other team will force the ball out of Thompson's hands, making everyone else on their team score and win it for them in the long run. This program is 100% capable of making the happen but they are going to need quite a few things to fall into place before the end of the year for that happens. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Pleasant Valley VS Davenport North</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In what I thought would be the biggest and best matchup of the season thus far for both of these two programs didn't disappoint on Friday as the #2 Pleasant Valley Spartans took care of business at home against [player_tooltip player_id='311365' first='Journey' last='Houston'] and the #5 Davenport North Wildcats by a final score of 55-46. This win keeps the undefeated season alive and moves PV to an overall record of 15-0 to start this season. The Spartans led with their usually attack which prevailed to be too much for North in the long run of the game. They played under the leadership of Marquette basketball commit [player_tooltip player_id='545645' first='Halle' last='Vice'] while receiving some key contributions from sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='311385' first='Reagan' last='Pagniano'] and junior Jessie Clemons. This "big three" combined for 43 of their teams total 55 points while shooting 13/27 from the field in total as a group. While moving toward the end of the regular season and into playoffs I'm sure that this team has some big goals in their heads of what they would like to accomplish but my advice would be to take it one game at a time and to attempt to maintain the chemistry they have shown all season up until this point. This is a program that does have a standout star but they play very well as a team in general. They communicate, work off of each other, and most importantly they show that in big situations they are willing to trust one another. When you combined all that, this team comes off as one that can make a deep run into the post season and shock the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->