Overtime Upset Puts Iowa City West In 5A Semifinals

Iowa City West never gave up and that effort is being rewarded with a trip to the Class 5A semifinals at the 2018 Iowa High School Girls State Basketball Tournament.

West rallied from 12 points down in the fourth quarter to get the game into overtime, then pulled away to upset West Des Moines Dowling Catholic 63-53 on Monday afternoon (Feb. 26, 2018). Steady free throw shooting in the extra session did it for the ninth-ranked Women of Troy, who'll take a 17-7 record into the next round at 11:45 a.m. on Thursday.

Third-ranked Dowling could not hold on after building a 37-25 lead with six minutes left and finishes with a 20-4 record.

Cailyn Morgan and Lauren Zacharias each hit a pair of 3-pointers to key the comeback, and Zacharias scored on a drive to put West up 47-45 with 43 seconds left. Dowling tied it on Caitlin Clark's drive to the hoop with 31 seconds to go and the Maroons got the last shot, but Zacharias came through again by blocking Anna Wanek's layup just before the buzzer.

West then dominated the overtime, getting a jumper from Rachael Saunders to take the lead for good and sinking 13 of 16 free throws to pull away.

Morgan led West with 20 points, including an 11-for-12 effort at the line. She's the latest member of her family to play a big role for West, following brother Jeremy and sister Mikaela. Jeremy starred at UNI and Mikaela plays there now.

Saunders finished with 13 points, six rebounds and five steals, while Zacharias had nine points. Emma Koch also scored nine and grabbed nine rebounds.

This is the sixth trip to state for West, which also reached the semifinals last year and won it all in 2012.

Clark, one of the nation's top sophomores, led Dowling with 22 points. She also had nine rebounds, six assists and two steals. Josie Filer and Mia Cataldo scored 12 each for the Maroons.

Story Courtesy of IGHSAU