BELL CITY —  Iowa trailed early in the first quarter, but the Yellow Jackets kept pushing the tempo and ran away with a 70-32 win over Reeves to open the Bell City Bruin Classic on Friday.

With 4:30 left in the first quarter, Reeves’ Lailah Williams hit a game-tying, 5-5, 3-pointer and then a fastbreak layup for a 10-9 lead a minute later.

Iowa (9-0) retook the lead on the first of Aubrey Young’s three 3-pointers and closed the first quarter with a 9-1 run.

“That is what I was yelling and coaching,” Iowa head coach Courtnee Hollins said. “Let’s go, push the ball because I felt like if we did that, they would get tired, and (we) would possibly pull away. And that is what happened.”

Senior point guard Jaya Grandey led Iowa with 24 points. Sophomore Kamylle Jones added 12 points on four 3-pointers.

Iowa crashed the boards in the third quarter, outrebounding the Raiders 14-8, to push its lead as high as 31 points.

“That is what we talked about at halftime,” Hollins said. “I felt like we outmatched them with size and speed, but we had to go get second-chance points because our shots weren’t really falling in the first half. Go get second and third opportunities and they did, and it worked out.”

Iowa will play Bell City for the second time this season today at 2:30 p.m. in the championship game. Iowa won the first meeting 49-37 on Nov. 18 at the Lacassine tournament.

Bruin Classic

at Bell City HS

Boys

Thursday

Game 2 — Lacassine 68, Reeves 48

Friday

Game 6 — Bell City vs. Fairview, 7 p.m.

Saturday

Third place

Game 8 — Reeves vs. Game 6 loser, 11:30 a.m.

Championship

Game 11 — Lacassine vs. Game 6 winner, 4 p.m.

Girls

Thursday

Game 1 — Reeves 52, Lacassine 48

Game 3 — Bell City 63, Grand Lake 23

Friday

Game 4 — Iowa 70, Reeves 35

Game 5 — Bell City 66, Caldwell Parish 40

Saturday

5th place

Game 7 — Grand Lake vs. Lacassine, 10 a.m.

3rd place

Game 9 — Reeves vs. Caldwell Parish, 1 p.m.

Championship

Game 10 — Iowa vs. Bell City, 2:30 p.m.