On Feb. 9, the West High girls basketball teams competed against Cedar Rapids Washington at West High’s Main Gym.
The girls junior varsity team defeated CR Washington 60-56 for their third win of the season. In between the junior varsity and varsity games, the team celebrated their seniors Angelina Forte, Melae Lacy, Gabriella Moniza, Ijin Shim, Alyson Skala and Lucy Wolf. Coach Nate Frese introduced the seniors and their families, with the underclassman handing them flowers.
“It is great to send our seniors out with a win the last time we play on this floor because we won’t be coming back here for any of the playoff games. I thought that that was really special for them,” Frese said.
The girls varsity team may have been slow to warm up, with CR Washington taking the first lead and ending the first quarter with a 15-15 tie, but they trudged on.
“We started off a little shaky, but we picked it up in the end,” Skala said.
West turned the tides at the start of the second quarter, with Grace Fincham ’26 scoring to lead the team 16-15. Taking charge, the team heads into halftime with a score of 25-21.
“Our goal before every game is to play as a team and have fun. And we did that. We were like a well oiled machine, we played really well,” Fincham said.
The third quarter began with Elle Barnett ’25 scoring three more points for West, along with Abby Neumiller ’26 and Wolf following, to bring the score 40-30 at the start of the fourth quarter. Sasha Baldwin ’27, Barnett, Ficham, Neumiller and Wolf scored in the remaining time to secure their win against CR Washington with a final score of 52-41.
“It was good to beat a quality team like that [and] kind of give us some confidence. And we’ve, you know, played a gritty style of basketball and came out with a ‘W’,” Frese said.
The varsity girls team looks forward to the coming week to fight against Southeast Polk in the Class 5A Region 4 Semifinal on Feb. 17 at Southeast Polk High School.
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