(3-10-16) For the first time in Iowa Class 5Agirls basketball history, one team has claimed the state title in three-straight years.
Johnston (27-0) beat Waukee Northwest, 51-37, on Friday, March 6, adding to the championship trophies from 2023 and 2024. The Dragons last lost a game in the 2022 title game against Pleasant Valley, they now have a 79-game consecutive win streak.
Jenica Lewis leads Johnston to third state title in a row
Game Story Courtesy IGHSAU
Johnston 51, Waukee Northwest 37
March 6th, 2026
DES MOINES, Iowa — Her team was struggling and could not get a shot to fall. Its long winning streak and championship run were in jeopardy.
Then Jenica Lewis took over and everything changed.
Lewis scored 14 points in a game-changing 15-3 run and finished with 22 as Johnston rolled past Waukee Northwest 51-37 to win its third straight Class 5A championship.
It was the fifth title overall for the Dragons (27-0), who went unbeaten for the third consecutive season and ran their winning streak to 79, the longest in state history.
Johnston is the second large school to win as many as three titles in a row — Ankeny once had a four-year streak — and its five championships are topped by only two other schools. Ankeny has nine and Cedar Rapids Xavier six.
Lewis, who has signed with Notre Dame, concluded her high school career with a memorable game. She made 8-of-16 shots, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range, grabbed seven rebounds, handed out two assists and made three steals. All four of her 3s came from well beyond the arc and she was just as effective taking the ball to the basket. She was voted captain of the all-tournament team.
Arianna Phillips added 11 points and five rebounds for Johnston, which beat Northwest (19-6) twice during the regular season, Jaliyah Kinnetz scored eight and Paige Andernacht delivered five points off the bench.
Northwest, which has been open only since 2021, got 11 points from Romey Croatt and 10 from Sadie McCann. The Wolverines never got into any kind of offensive rhythm, missing 10 of their 11 first-quarter shots and shooting just 27.7 percent for the game. Their 37 points were a season low.
Even with its shooting woes, Northwest led for much of the first quarter by making free throws. When Croatt swished a 3 from the right corner for the first points of the second quarter, Northwest led 11-3 and forced Johnston coach Chad Jilek into calling a timeout.
The Dragons were a different team when they emerged from the huddle, mostly because of Lewis.
She hit a deep 3 from the left side, followed with another from the right wing, then stole the ball and took it in for a layup to tie the game at 11. After Northwest’s Leah Janulewicz interrupted the Lewis show with a trey, Lewis converted an old-fashioned three-point play off a layup, Andernacht made a free throw Lewis buried yet another triple, this one from way out on the left side for an 18-14 lead.
A Kinnetz 3 gave Johnston a 23-16 halftime lead and the Dragons controlled the game from then on. A final Lewis three-ball made it 31-22 at the 3:07 mark in the third quarter. She didn’t score again, but she had left her mark and the Dragons were state champs again.
Kinnetz, Croatt and Northwest’a Vana Bilic also were voted to the all-tournament team, along with Dowling Catholic’s Ellie Muller and Ankeny’s Jayla Williams.
BOX SCORE
The Dragons became the ninth program in Iowa state history to win three championships in a row…Ankeny, Assumption, Dike-New Hartford, Lynnville-Sully, Newell-Fonda, Springville, Washington and Western Christian.
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