Ellie Hughes

ANKENY — Ankeny Centennial made sure, and then it made sure some more.

The fourth-ranked Jaguars jumped out to a big lead on the Marshalltown girls’ basketball team and drove it home for a 68-17 victory over the Bobcats in Saturday night’s Class 5A Region 4 semifinals.

Centennial (15-7) advances to within one of its fifth-straight trip to state, as the Jaguars will host No. 13 Southeast Polk (10-12) in Tuesday’s regional finals.

Marshalltown, meanwhile, made off with nine wins — its most since getting 10 in 2007 — and showed continuing improvement after consecutive one-win seasons in 2021 and 2022.

“We got blitzed by Division I and CIML speed and physicality,” said MHS head coach Brian Murphy. “The girls adjusted eventually, but we had dug too deep a hole already to respond.”

Centennial scored eight points in the first 90 seconds and eventually held a 33-2 lead after the first quarter. It was 54-6 at halftime as the Jags ran away with their 13th win in as many meetings with Marshalltown.

Jaeden Pratt scored a game-high 19 points to go with nine rebounds, six steals and four assists to lead Centennial. Finley Blackmore and Mya Crawford added nine points apiece as the Jaguars accumulated 22 steals to account for most of Marshalltown’s 27 turnovers.

Senior forward Ellie Hughes had team-highs of six points and five rebounds to lead the Bobcats (9-14) in their final game. Kinsley Bowie and Morgan Hilderbrand both had five points and Millie Heitmann had one point.

“Looking back at the season, I feel very similar to the way I did last year,” said Murphy. “I am proud of the individual and group growth as a team. Statistically we improved in virtually every category and cut our season turnovers by essentially 100. Our 3-point shooting improved immensely, and our points allowed improved despite it already being a strength last year.

“At the same time, we once again left some meat on the bone when it comes to missing out on gettable wins. As we look at our returning players for next year, I want them to take pride in our progress while staying hungry for improvement next year.”

Ankeny Centennial 68, Marshalltown 17

MARSHALLTOWN (9-14) — Amairra Johnson 0 0-0 0, Kinsley Bowie 2 0-0 5, Millie Heitmann 0 1-4 1, Ellie Hughes 3 0-0 6, Frankie Long 0 0-0 0, Morgan Hilderbrand 2 0-0 5, Jorja Janssen 0 0-0 0, Sydney Kapayou 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 7 1-4 17.

CENTENNIAL (15-7) — Ava Martin 4 0-0 8, Finley Blackmore 4 0-0 9, Jaeden Pratt 7 4-5 19, Mya Crawford 4 0-0 9, Tillie Smith 0 0-0 0, Zoe Giger 0 0-0 0, Rylyn Boeding 3 0-0 6, Emma Hunger 0 0-0 0, Lizzie Beam 2 2-4 8, Maclaine Kelly 1 0-0 3, Maize Smith 0 0-0 0, Kylin Smith 2 2-3 6. TOTALS 27 8-12 68.

MHS 2 4 9 2 — 17

CENTENNIAL 33 21 4 10 — 68

3-Point Goals–MHS 2 (Bowie, Hilderbrand), Centennial 6 (Beam 2, Blackmore, Pratt, Crawford, Kelly). Team Fouls–MHS 13, Centennial 8. Fouled Out–none.