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Iowa City West is back at the Iowa High School Girls State Basketball Tournament after a two-year absence and the Trojans are going to stick around.

Emma Ingersoll-Weng hit a 3-pointer for the go-ahead basket in the final minute, Matayia Tellis followed with a layup off a steal and West beat Waterloo West 65-63 Monday afternoon to complete the Class 5A quarterfinals at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Waterloo West had won the regular-season game between the two back on Jan. 8 and had an eight-point lead in this one before the scrappy Trojans rallied behind their 3-point shooting and defense to end the Wahawks' winning streak at 18.

Meena Tate led the Trojans with 21 points, including 16 in the first half to keep her team in it. The 5-foot-8 sophomore made all seven of her shots in the opening half, including a pair of 3-pointers, and finished 9-for-11 from the field.

Ingersoll-Weng went 5-for-10 from 3-point range in scoring 17 points, while Tellis had 12 points and five steals.

West, which starts three sophomores and a junior, got 22 points and four steals from sophomore Halli Poock and 18 points from sophomore Sahara Williams. Gabby Moore, the only senior who starts for the Wahawks, scored 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting and handed out five assists.

An 8-0 run gave Waterloo West a 43-35 lead late in the third quarter of the back-and-forth game and it seemed the Wahawks had the momentum. But the Trojans would not go away.

They fought back to a tie at 47 and pulled ahead 58-55 when Ingersoll-Weng fed Tate for a layup with 2:40 left. Waterloo West twice regained the lead after that, the last time at 60-59 when Williams knocked the ball away at the Iowa City West end, raced down the court and took a pass from Poock for a layup with 1:04 remaining.

Ingersoll-Weng then hit her big 3 from the left wing -- the Trojans' fourth long-range basket of the quarter -- and Tellis followed with the defensive play of the game, intercepting a crosscourt pass and taking it in for a layup and a 64-60 lead with 23 seconds to play.

Poock made all three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point shot with 12.5 seconds remaining and the Wahawks got the ball back after Tate sank the second of two of free throws with 10 seconds remaining. But Poock missed a floater in the lane and Tellis came out of a scramble with the ball as the buzzer sounded.

Iowa City West, the state champion in 2012 and 2018, will play defending champion Johnston in the semifinals Thursday at noon. Waterloo West, a semifinalist last year, finishes 19-2.

Story By: Chuck Schoffner - Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union

Class 5A Quarterfinal: #6 Iowa City West - 65, #3 Waterloo West - 63 (March 1, 2021)

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