Washington Girls Basketball

Stokes Miss Basketball; Dawson 1st team

The awards from a great high school basketball career continue to be reaped by Linn-Mar's Kiah Stokes.  The latest is the ultimate honor a senior girls basketball player in Iowa can receive.

Stokes has been named Miss Iowa Basketball by the Iowa Newspaper Association, the INA announced Tuesday. She was voted the honor by a panel of sportswriters from newspapers across the state.

Stokes is the first player from Linn-Mar and the fifth from a Metro high school to win the award, which has been presented annually since 1981.  She is only the second Metro athlete to win the award since the entire state switched to playing five-player basketball in 1994. Kennedy's Anne O'Neil won in 2000. The other three Metro winners all came from Jefferson -- Karen Schulte in 1993, Kate Galligan in 1992 and Lisa Becker in 1982.

Stokes led the state in scoring with a 25.0 average and was second in rebounding, averaging 14.9. She also was second in blocked shots with 141. She holds the state record for career blocked shots with 515 and finished No. 4 on the career rebound list with 1,239. She also scored 1,704 points.

Stokes also was named to the INA Class 4A all-state first team, her third such honor is as many days. She was named to the Des Moines Register all-state team Sunday and to the Iowa Girls Coaches Association (IGCA) first team Monday.

Last month Stokes was named a McDonald's All-American. 

Joining Stokes on the INA Class 4A first team are Washington's Tia Dawson, Virginia Johnson from Iowa City High, Ally Disterhoft of Iowa City West, Markisha Wright and Shronda Butts from state champion Des Moines East, Brittni Donaldson of Sioux City North and Maddie Manning from Ankeny.

Dawson, who is headed to Dartmouth, also was named to the IGCA first team. She averaged 12 points and 10 rebounds per game, and blocked 91 shots. She played the best game of her career in her last game, scoring 27 points and grabbing 14 rebounds in a 67-58 loss to Iowa City West in the state tournament quarterfinals.

Read more...

Coaches select Dawson, Stokes all state

Kiah Stokes from Linn-Mar and Tia Dawson from Washington have been named to the Class 4A first team all-state girls basketball team announced Monday by the Iowa Girls Coaches Association (IGCA).

Stokes and Dawson led their respective teams to the state tournament. Stokes' team lost in the semifinals, Dawson's in the first round.

Stokes led the state in scoring with a 25.0 average, and was second in rebounding (14.9) and blocked shots (141). She set the career state record for blocked shots with 515. Stokes is a top candidate for the Miss Basketball Award that will be announced Tuesday.  She also has signed to play college basketball at two-time defending NCAA champion Connecticut.

Dawson saved her best game for last. She scored 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the Warriors' 67-58 first round tournament loss to Iowa City West. She averaged 12 points, 10 rebounds and blocked 91 shots. Dawson is bound for Dartmouth.

State champion Des Moines East had two members of the first team -- Markisha Wright and Shronda Butts.  Virginia Johnson of Iowa City High and Ally Disterhoft of Iowa City West, Sioux City North's Brittni Donaldson and Southeast Polk's Caitlin Ingle also were named to the first team.

Read more...

Tia terrific, but Warriors lose

DES MOINES -- Tia Dawson played a magnificent game for Cedar Rapids Washington in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A state basketball tournament Wednesday morning.

Unfortunately for Dawson and the Warriors, it will be the last high school game she'll ever play.

Iowa City West blitzed Washington in the fourth quarter with a 28-point barrage and topped the sixth-ranked Warriors, 67-58, at the Wells Fargo Arena.

Dawson, a 6-foot-2 senior who is bound for Dartmouth, poured in 27 points, grabbed 14 rebounds (setting another school record), and blocked three shots. But it wasn't enough.

Washington (19-4) committed 19 turnovers, shot 3-for-17 on 3-pointers and gave No.3 Iowa City West (22-2) too many open looks at critical times.

The Warriors led after three quarters, 45-39, but Coach Frank Howell elected to rest all five of his starters -- including Dawson -- at the start of the fourth period. It came back to haunt him.

Iowa City West opened the final stanza with an 11-2 blitz to grab a 50-47 lead before Howell could get a timeout and put his starters back in the game. Washington never led again.

Howell acknowledged he might be kicking himself for having all five starters on the bench -- and then see them waiting helplessly at the scorer's table -- as the game turned in Iowa City West's advantage.

"A little bit," he said. "Maybe a lot later."

Read more...

'Jazz'-ed up Warriors headed to state

The Washington Warriors got all “Jazz-ed” up on Tuesday night. As in senior forward Jazz Royster.

Royster responded to a second-quarter tongue-lashing from Coach Frank Howell and spearheaded her team to a 70-51 regional final victory over No. 7 Pleasant Valley at Prairie High School.

The sixth-ranked Warriors (19-3) will face No.3 Iowa City West (21-2) next Wednesday at 10 a.m. in the first round of the girls state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

It will be Howell’s fifth trip to Des Moines in eight years at the helm of the Warriors. He also made two appearances as head coach at Audubon High School.

Royster said she took Howell’s comments in stride.

“I kind of like it when I get yelled at because it makes me work harder,” she said. “I have never been to state before. It feels great.”

With his team leading by eight points, Howell removed Royster from the game early in the second quarter. He angrily scolded the junior for several seconds and then sent her back in the game.

Royster immediately responded with a three-point play, then banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key, followed by a offensive rebound and a put-back. In a span of just three minutes, Royster had ignited the Warriors with eight key points, giving her team a 20-point lead (37-17).

Washington led 39-17 at halftime and Pleasant Valley (18-4) never threatened again.

Read more...