For the past couple of years, Iowa City has been the home of two of the top girls’ basketball teams in the state. Twice every season the Women of Troy and Little Hawks face off for a well-played, intense matchup.

Highly-ranked City High took down the Women of Troy 75-56 at City on Dec. 13. From the start, it seemed to be all Little Hawks as they went up 13-4 early in the first quarter. Flustered by the Little Hawk’s full-court press and ability to knock down threes, West High’s deficit continued to increase. Matchups between Matayia Tellis ’21 and Rose Nkumu ’20 and Audrey Koch ’21 and Aubrey Joens ’20 didn’t disappoint at all. Both Tellis and Koch continued to chip away at City High’s lead with some and-ones and scrappy defensive plays.

At halftime, it seemed to be getting out of reach for the Women of Troy down 46-31. Brief sparks including a three from Jenna Saunders ’21 hyped up the West High bench toward the end of the third quarter but the team couldn’t rally enough points together to get past City High’s early lead. By the fourth quarter, City High resorted to running out the clock by holding the ball at the top of the key. Koch led the Women of Troy in scoring with 29 on the night but it wasn’t enough to get past the highly ranked Little Hawks.

The Women of Troy will have another shot at the Little Hawks on Jan. 31 at West, but will be back in action at Dubuque Senior on Dec. 17 and back at West as part of another doubleheader against Linn-Mar on Dec. 20.

Gallery • 20 Photos

Owen Aanestad

Cora Saunders '20 drives baseline against City on Dec. 14.