The culmination of a season registered once the game clock hit zero. The high school careers for four Iowa City West seniors reached their conclusion at the Iowa high school girls state basketball tournament on March 2.
The Trojans made their first state tournament appearance since 2021, only for it to serve as an abrupt curtain call to their 2025-26 season.
West suffered an 80-49 loss to Waukee Northwest in the Class 5A state quarterfinals at Casey’s Center in Des Moines.
“We talked a little bit about it in (the locker room), how coach (B.J.) Mayer had set the standard for women’s basketball at West,” said West coach Nate Frese. “It had fallen off a little bit, that sounds really negative, but it’s really hard. Basketball got better in the state of Iowa, and then with (Iowa City) Liberty opening, we just had a little adversity. I told them, I think we’ve kind of reset the standard.
“We have so many freshmen in this group and they now see what this is like. They’ve got a taste for it. It was really important that this senior group got to enjoy the experience but (it was) also something that whetted the appetites of the younger players.”
The No. 6 Trojans held up as long as they could, determined not to let the No. 3 Wolves run through them in the state quarterfinals. Despite early evidence that West could match Waukee Northwest’s firepower in quarter one, the more experienced Wolves widened their double-digit lead in quarter two and never let up.
Early foul trouble put West at a disadvantage.
Grace Fincham, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, drew four personal fouls before the halftime break — which limited her time on the floor. Three of those fouls were assessed in the opening frame.
“She knew that if she couldn’t help us out there, that she had to do something,” Frese said. “She wasn’t going to sit and pout. Another player might have done that or maybe grousing about the referees or whatever. But that’s not her character, that’s not what she’s made of.
“So, it didn’t shock me that she stayed in that leadership role. Also, from that role model perspective, I think that some younger players saw that this is how I act if we’re up against it and there’s adversity. This is what we do, this is how we respond to it, so I really appreciate that from her.”
The Trojans couldn’t shake their first-half turbulence, and poor shooting compounded their problems. They went 5-for-16 from the field and went down 22 points by halftime.
A dominant first half by the Wolves gave way to a forceful second half, a stretch where the Trojans flashed their grit but couldn’t overcome the challenge. By the final buzzer, they were limited to 16-of-38 shooting from the field, which included seven made 3-pointers.
West closed its season with a 17-8 record.
Fincham led West with 13 points on 4-for-7 shooting with eight rebounds and four assists. Junior Sasha Baldwin followed with nine points, while senior Kat Van Waning added six points and four rebounds.
Despite a season-ending loss to the Wolves, the Trojans orchestrated a 2025-26 campaign that cultivated them to state title contention. From 2022-2025, the women in gold and green lost in the regional championship stage, only to break through to state this season with four seniors pacing the way.
Fincham, a Drake women’s basketball recruit, has been a quintessential Trojan over the past four seasons. The leading scorer and rebounder over the last three campaigns, Fincham was a Swiss army knife every time she stepped on the court.
Ava Frese, the daughter of coach Nate Frese, was a tenacious guard. A willing passer and supporter who impacted both ends of the court.
Van Waning was a defensive nightmare for opponents who could also drop clutch buckets. Abby Neumiller was West’s top flamethrower from long range.
“They are the gold standard,” Nate Frese said. “If you saw them every day, the love and care that they show for those ninth-grade girls … I don’t have the words to explain how important they made those new players feel and how much they integrated them into what we wanted to do, which is build community, which is to be a team that truly plays together. That’s the thing we say coming out of timeouts – ‘Trojans play together’ – and they really exemplify that.”
This season’s West bunch was motivated by their shortcomings in the regional finals, arriving at the state tournament stage that once eluded them. The Trojans secured 17 wins — their most since 2022 — in a schedule that featured some of the toughest competition.
Raising a state trophy would’ve been an ideal conclusion to West’s superb run. Instead, its state title dream was dashed in the opening round of the 2026 state tournament.
However, their brand of excellence has been golden this season. Once the dust settled on March 2, this Trojans team had reached a new checkpoint to their state championship ambition.
The inevitable raw emotion that comes with a season-ender ran high for the Trojans after the game. The realization sunk in that their postseason run was squandered too soon, too early.
In due time, their stellar 2025-26 campaign will be appreciated by everyone in the West program, while their latest heartbreak will add to their motivational fire.
Marc Ray is the high school sports reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. He can be reached at MARay@gannett.com , and on X, formerly Twitter, at @themarcszn.
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa City West girls basketball toppled in state quarterfinals
Reporting by Marc Ray, Iowa City Press-Citizen / Iowa City Press-Citizen
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
