DES MOINES, Iowa – Waukee Northwest and Dowling Catholic will get a rubber match and it will come in the Class 5A semifinals.
Third-seeded Northwest completed the semifinal pairings with an 80-49 romp past No. 6 seed Iowa City West behind an impressive display of offensive balance and dominance around the basket.
The Wolves (18-5) will meet Dowling Catholic (21-3) at 11:45 a.m. Thursday after the two split their regular-season meetings, each winning at home. Second-seeded Dowling advanced with a 55-48 victory over No. 7 seed West Des Moines Valley.
Northwest returned everyone from the team that made the school’s first state tournament appearance a year ago and the Wolves sure looked like they benefited from that experience, shooting 47.5 percent, outrebounding the Trojans 36-22 and coming up with 15 steals. The 80 points are the most the Wolves have scored in a game this season.
Sadie McCann led the charge to the semifinals with 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting. Vana Bilic had 15 points to go with seven steals and four assists, while Romey Croatt added 12 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists. Cassidy Danburg chipped in nine points, three rebounds and two assists.
With Northwest in control, no one played more than 23 minutes and coach Sam Powell had all of his starters out of the game for the final 5 ½ minutes. The Wolves outscored West 44-14 in the paint, getting numerous layups off steals and drives to the basket, and 31-3 in points off turnovers. Northwest forced 20 turnovers while committing only six of its own.
Grace Fincham, who has signed with Drake, led West (17-8) with 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists despite early foul trouble. She was whistled three times in the first quarter and went to the bench after picking up her fourth at the 6:02 mark in the second quarter. She never got her fifth, but her absence was felt when Northwest finished the first half with a 13-3 run for 37-15 lead.
Sasha Baldwin added nine points for the Trojans, who kept falling farther behind despite shooting 50 percent in the second half. They finished at 42 percent for the game.
Northwest hit four layups in a 9-0 run – the final three by McCann – that stretched its lead to 48-20. An 11-2 burst that included nine points from Bilic gave the Wolves their biggest lead, 64-37, in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.
Northwest’s previous single-game high came in a 76-23 victory over Urbandale on Jan. 27 that launched a six-game winning streak, a run halted by a 58-49 loss to Dowling in the regular-season finale. The Wolves won’t have to wait long to try to avenge that loss.
