It took a massive comeback in the third quarter to rally Linn-Mar from an 18-9 halftime deficit and send the Lions past Iowa City West Friday night in girls basketball at Linn-Mar.

Linn-Mar outscored Iowa City West 26-9 in the third quarter, and used a deliberate offense down the stretch to salt away a 42-32 victory over the Women of Troy.

“They made a run in that third quarter and we didn’t respond.  They made some key outside jumpers and we forced some things on our end of the floor,” lamented Iowa City West Coach B.J. Mayer.

Linn-Mar scored all five of its 3-pointers in the third period.

It was a tale of two halves.  Iowa City West shut out the Lions in the first quarter. Kristie Sommer's three-point play put Linn-Mar on the board at the 5:03 mark of the second stanza.

The Lions went on an 11-0 run in the third quarter that propelled them into a lead they never gave up.

“We improved our inside to outside game.  Katie, Kristie, and Olivia got more patient, our post play improved and we had some good finishes, and we did a much better job of crashing the boards in the second half,” said Linn-Mar Coach Mike Brandt.

“We had good assists and we were very unselfish, and that I really like about our team!” Brandt said. “We really have our new group working together well and there are no starters back from last year for this team."

Seven players got in the scoring column for Linn-Mar. The only player in double figures was Kristie Sommer with 10 points.

Grace Tafolla and freshman Emily Halverson both had nine points to lead West High.

“We preach working on defense and as poorly as we shot in the first half, and only being down by nine, it was our defense that made a difference.  We did come to play in the third quarter though," Brandt said.

Olivia Montague nabbed seven rebounds to lead the Lions.

Next up for Linn-Mar will be a big test at Kennedy next Tuesday evening.

IOWA CITY WEST (32): Grace Tafolla 2 4-5 9, Ali Tauchen 0 0-0 0, Kristina Bauer 0 1-3 1, Mollie Mason 0 2-2 2, Jesse Harder 1 0-0 3, Mikaela Morgan 2 4-4 8, Bella Lozano-Dobbs 0 0-0 0, Emily Halverson 3 3-9 9. Totals 8 14-23 32.

LINN-MAR (42): Kristie Sommer 4 1-3 10, Katie Sommer 2 2-3 7, Aryn Jones 2 1-1 5, Brittney Lancial 0 0-0 0, Taylor Robertson 1 0-0 3, Emily Makinster 2 0-0 4, Olivia Montague 3 1-2 9, Nikita Sharma 2 0-0 4. Totals 16 5-9 42.

Halftime - Iowa City West 18, Linn-Mar 9. Fouls - IC West 15, Linn-Mar 18. Fouled out - Lozano-Dobbs. 3-point goals - IC West 2 (Tafolla, Harder), Linn-Mar 5 (Kristie Sommer, Katie Sommer, Robertson, Montague-2).