Girls' state basketball: Waukee rolls past Dowling Catholic in Class 5A quarterfinal

Waukee girls’ basketball coach Chris Guess made sure his team was going to set the tone early against Dowling Catholic  in Monday’s Class 5A girls' basketball quarterfinal round. That much was obvious with about a minute left to play in the first quarter. 

Dowling Catholic, which had already dug itself in a big hole, planned to let the clock wind down and hold for the last shot of the quarter. Instead of waiting for the quarter to finish out, Guess yelled to his team attack. So with 26 seconds left, all five of Waukee’s defenders sprinted to their assignments and started pressuring the Maroons' offense.

"We just extended and went up and tired to get a quick trap in to get another possession," Guess said. 

It worked.

The Maroons defense crumbled to the pressure, forced up an errant shot and gave the ball back to Waukee. Waukee set the tone Monday and may have set the standard for the remaining girls’ state basketball tournament Monday. The top-seeded Warriors had little trouble disposing of No. 8 seed Dowling Catholic in the opening game of the tournament, beating the Maroons 60-37 at Wells Fargo Arena.

"Tempo is everything for us," Guess said. "We really like to play a transition style of basketball." 

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It's a style that has worked perfectly for the Warriors during their near-flawless season. Waukee used its fast-paced offense and relentless defense again Monday to outrun, outshoot and overwhelm Dowling Catholic. The Maroons (11-7) couldn't keep up, falling into a 20-7 deficit by the end of the first quarter and a 41-14 hole at halftime. Katie Dinnebier scored a game-high 23 points for the Warriors. Peyton Kelderman added 16 for Waukee. 

"Our team just likes to get up and run and shoot 3's all the time," Kelderman said.

Waukee wasted little time showing that, as the Warriors connected on their first four 3-point attempts on the morning and shot 6-for-9 from beyond on the arc in the first quarter. They finished the day 13-for-28 from 3-point range. And they put the pressure on the Maroons early on offense and even on defense, keeping Dowling from establishing a rhythm.

The end-of-first-quarter move when the Maroons tried holding for the last shot was proof. Instead of letting Dowling milk the clock, Guess called on his defense to move in on the Maroons. After forcing a bad shot, the Warriors got the rebound, quickly moved up court and got a basket with two seconds remaining. 

"That was fun," Kelderman said. 

The Maroons rallied with a 10-0 run in the third quarter and cut the lead to 51-26 on a pair of free throws by Lexi Boles. But it wasn't a big enough of a dent with Waukee, playing in its eighth straight state tournament, rolling the rest of the way. Boles finished with a team-high 13 points for Dowling Catholic. Margaret Tobias and Emma Gipple both added six points for the Maroons, who had overcome a double-digit deficit to Cedar Rapids Washington just to get to state.

"I'm so proud of this team and everything we've accomplished," Boles said. "I don't think I've ever been on a team with this much fight as this one." 

Waukee returns four starters from last season's Class 5A runner-up team. The experience showed Monday. And so did Waukee's preparation, practicing in the morning. Guess said the Warriors, who have fall and summer workouts in the morning, had early-morning workouts last week to prepare for Monday's 9 a.m., tip. 

"We like the mornings," Guess said. 

Tommy Birch, the Register's sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He's the 2018 and 2020 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468. Follow him on Twitter @TommyBirch.