The West High Wahawks traveled from Waterloo on Friday night and brought their newly acquired top-10 ranking in the newly invented Class 5A rankings to the Cedar Rapids Jefferson gym.

Waterloo West edged the Jefferson J-Hawks, 57-47, behind the double-digit scoring of Blaire Thomas and Haley Puk with 18 points each in a Mississippi Valley Conference game.

Only four players were in the scoring column for Coach Anthony Pappas’ Wahawks, but they were all meaningful offensively for West High. Sammie Sproul, the shortest player on the floor but most persistent on defense, had 15 points that were aided by five free throws down the stretch.

The No.7 Wahawks had a 5-3 record going into the contest and they are one of three MVC teams in the Class 5A rankings, along with Iowa City High and Cedar Rapids Prairie.

“I don’t spend a lot of time with rankings, although it is an accomplishment,” said Pappas.

He did remark they have been ranked in the top 10 at least 18 years of his 23-year coaching career at West.

For a good share of the game it was a nip-and-tuck battle. Jefferson led 9-6 at the quarter and 22-20 at half. It was tied, 37-37, after three quarters.

It was a tough fourth quarter for the J-Hawks,  and West High pulled away. Seven players tallied points for Jefferson and first-year Head Coach Jason Edwards.

Jefferson was outscored 20-10 in the final stanza.

Maddie Koolbeck tallied 13 points for Jefferson and Taylor Jacobson scored nine points, all in the second half. Freshman Amanda Ollinger also scored nine.

Jacobson, a longtime mainstay for Jefferson, considers herself a leader in this year’s campaign.

“We are way faster on the court and put a lot of energy into our play and the program. It is completely different with our faster pace,” she said.

You can tell Jacobson enjoys it and keeps her enthusiasm up on the floor and with all her teammates. “We play together and have a good passing game and work hard on defense,” she said.

Jacobson said that with all the energy exerted Friday, she and her J-Hawk teammates are glad they have a week off to prepare for city-rival Washington next Friday at Wash.

Pappas said West has signature wins over Iowa City High and Iowa City West, but he was pleased to add this to the win total.

“Give Jefferson a lot of credit. We had a big-time spurt in the fourth quarter that helped us in the end," he said.

West High moves to 6-3 overall and faces Waterloo Columbus at home on Saturday night.

WATERLOO WEST (57): Sammie Sproul 5 5-8 15, Makayla Stokes 3 0-1 6, Haley Puk 5 5-10 18, Hannah Swartzendruber 0 0-0 0, Blaire Thomas 8 2-7 18, Jaclyn Spencer 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 12-26 57.

CEDAR RAPIDS JEFFERSON (47): Kaitlyn Davidson 1 0-0 2, Madison Blietz 4 0-0 8, Kiely Brathwaite 0 0-0 0, Danielle Stromert 1 0-3 2, Taylor Jacobson 3 3-4 9, Rachel Broghammer 2 0-0 4, Maddie Koolbeck 3 2-2 9, Amanda Ollinger 3 2-2 9. Totals 18 10-15 47.

Halftime - Jefferson 22, Waterloo West 20. 3-point goals - Jefferson 1 (Koolbeck 1), Waterloo West 3 (Puk 3).