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A key to winning basketball games: Limit the opposing team’s best player.
And that’s exactly what Waukee Northwest did to Iowa City West on March 2, with fouls relegating the Trojans’ leading scorer, Grace Fincham, to the bench for large portions of the game.
With Fincham on the bench, the Wolves (18-5) marched to an 80-49 victory over West and into the Iowa high school girls basketball state semifinals, where they’ll take on Dowling on Thursday, March 5 at 11:45 a.m.
“We had a great week of practice,” Northwest coach Sam Powell said postgame. “It’s easy to lose focus during this time … it’s easy to get comfortable. These girls kept grinding it out, so I’m very, very happy with how they came out and played hard today.”
The Wolves delivered the most convincing win of the Class 5A quarterfinals, thanks to three high-scoring starters and all-around strong defense.
Sadie McCann led all Northwest players with 18 points – going 8-of-11 overall – and six rebounds. Vana Bilic scored 15 points, Romey Croatt added 12, and that duo combined for seven rebounds and seven assists.
Offensively, Northwest was far-and-away the dominant team. The Wolves scored 31 points off turnovers to West’s three. Northwest – with two starters over 6-foot – took control down low, scoring 44 points in the paint to the Trojans’ 14 points.
“Obviously, Sadie is a special player,” said Powell. “I really think the play of our two post players was pivotal. We got 18 points between (Victoria) Burpo and (Cassidy) Danburg, that kind of loosened up the perimeter. … I really think that enabled our perimeter players.”
The Wolves’ defense-first, physical style of play also impacted Iowa City West’s game plan.
Fincham – who averaged 19.4 points per game ahead of Monday’s matchup – was called for three fouls in the first quarter, and she sat for a couple of minutes before returning late in the opening frame. She received her fourth foul with 6:03 left in the second quarter and, once again, sat for an extended period of time.
She managed to finish out the second half without another foul. Fincham finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists, but Northwest took advantage of every moment that she was out of the game, and West couldn’t recover.
“Fincham is an outstanding player,” said Powell. “I don’t want to take nothing away from that kid. …However, we knew they would have to go at our post, and we knew that the potential of them getting into foul trouble with those two big, strong posts was high.”
The Trojans finished the season with a 17-8 overall record, ending this season’s campaign in the state tournament for the first time since 2021.
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at [email protected] or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Waukee Northwest basketball eases past Iowa City West in quarterfinals