Linn-Mar Girls Basketball

Linn-Mar girls open with win

KEOKUK - Mykaela Brandt scored 18 points and Sara Strauel added 12 to lead Linn-Mar past Keokuk, 58-43, Tuesday night in a girls basketball season opener.

Linn-Mar led 31-26 at halftime, then used a 14-5 spurt in the third quarter to pull away for the win.

Courtney Major added eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Lions.

Rachel Dunlap led Keokuk with 14 points and nine rebounds.

LINN-MAR (58): Hannah Yearling 0 2-4 2, Mykaela Brandt 6 4-7 18, Sara Strauel 6 0-0 12, Jenna Harms 2 2-2 7, Aryn Jones 1 0-0 2, Kristen Eiles 2 0-0 6, Courtney Major 2 4-6 8, Alexis Libenguth 1 1-1 3. Totals 20 13-20 58.

KEOKUK (43): Alyson Hughes 2 0-0 5, Lakyn Boltz 1 5-6 8, Brooke Wade 0 0-0 0, Chelsea Deyo 0 0-1 0, Trinity Jeffers 0 1-2 1, Bailey Roth 0 0-0 0, Paige Kayvan 2 2-2 7, Rachel Dunlap 4 6-10 14, Bella Lozano-Dobbs 4 0-0 8, Chelsea Washburn 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 14-21 43.

Halftime - Linn-Mar 31, Keokuk 26. 3-point goals - Linn-Mar 5 (Brandt 2, Eiles 2, Harms), Keokuk 3 (Hughes, Boltz, Kayvan).

Stokes performs well in UConn's defeat

DENVER - Kiah Stokes played well in the semifinals of the NCAA women's basketball tournament Sunday, but it wasn't enough to save the Connecticut Huskies.

Notre Dame defeated UConn, 83-75, in overtime before 19,028 fans and a national television audience on ESPN.

Stokes, a 6-foot-3 freshman from Linn-Mar High School, played 16 minutes as a reserve and contributed four points, four rebounds, two blocked shots and an assist. She saw extended playing time because Stefanie Dolson, UConn's starting center, ran into foul problems.

Baylor defeated Stanford, 59-47, in the other semifinal Sunday and will face Notre Dame for the national title Tuesday night.

Connecticut finished the season with a 33-5 record.

Supporting cast sends Cougars past Lions

It’s no secret who has been carrying the Kennedy girls all season.

The key to their 63-50 regional basketball quarterfinal win over Linn-Mar at home Wednesday night was having others take some of the load off senior star Courtney Strait.

“We had some girls really step it up tonight, particularly in the third and fourth quarters,” said Cougars Coach Dennis Roloff, whose team will try to avenge an early-season overtime loss to Xavier on Saturday night in the Saints’ gym in the Class 4A regional semifinals.  “Jordan Holmes and Paige Hendrickson both hit some big shots when we needed them. “And when (5-foot-4) Kaylese Johnson drove right down the middle against their big kids and scored, that was a big, big basket.”

The diminutive senior speedster’s coast-to-coast drive came with six minutes to go in the game, right after Lions sparkplug Mykaela Brandt inched her team back to a 41-35 deficit with a looping 3-pointer.

“Sometimes Kaylese is too quick for her own good and needs to turn down a shift,” Roloff said. “But that drive changed the momentum.”

With a little cushion, the quietly efficient Strait hit a lay-up and then her fourth 3-pointer of the night.

A long two-point jumper by Johnson with 3:10 left gave Kennedy a seven-point lead.

After fighting back all night, Linn-Mar could get no closer.

The Cougars sank nine of 12 free throws down the stretch to preserve their lead.

“I was very proud of the way our kids battled all the way through,” said Linn-Mar Coach Michael Brandt, whose post-Kiah Stokes squad will miss a state tournament for the first time since 2007.  There are only two seniors on his roster. Rachel Thrune was out most of a month, and Shanice Cheatham tore her ACL in December.

“We’ve got a lot of young kids,” said Brandt, “and they’ve had to adjust  to new positions. But they battled all season, and they did it again tonight.”

For a while on Wednesday, it was a game of spurts.  Linn-Mar (10-12) started off 7-0, but the Class 4A 12th-ranked Cougars (13-9) responded with an 11-0 run of their own.  The Lions scored six straight, then Kennedy went on an 11-2 surge.

Strait had 15 points by halftime with her team ahead 30-23.

“We had to do something to stop her,” Brandt said afterward.

Using a box-and-one defense to bottle up the senior sharpshooter, Linn-Mar limited her to a single free throw in the third quarter.

So Strait merely set up her teammates.

Sophomores Hendrickson and Holmes scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, to go along with Strait’s game high 23.

“Courtney’s an all-stater,” Roloff said. “She always puts the team first. When they were stopping her, she opened things up for others.”

Hendrickson said Strait is the team leader who keeps things under control.

“We knew Linn-Mar would come out with fire in their eyes,” she said. “We got down,, but we stayed positive and didn’t give up.

“We stayed calm and collected and just took it to ‘em. It was a a good team win.”

For his part, Brandt said his very young squad gave it their best. But it wasn’t enough.

“Their kids stepped up and knocked down a couple more shots than we did when it counted.”

LINN-MAR (50): Mykaela Brandt 3 2-7 9, Hannah Yearling 1 2-2 4, Sara Strauel 4 4-5 12, Jenna Harms 2 0-0 4, Courtney Major 4 3-4 13, Lannie Nietert 1 4-6 6, Rachel Thrune 0 0-0 0, Kristen Eiles 0 0-0 0, Kelsey Duggan 0 0-0 0, Carly Ryder 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 15-24 50.

KENNEDY (63): Kaylese Johnson 2 1-2 5, Paige Hendrickson 2 7-9 11, Madison Meier 1 0-0 3, Stephanie Botkin 1 1-2 3, Courtney Strait 6 7-8 23, Capria Davis 1 0-0 2, Mariah Simmons 1 0-0 2, Jordan Holmes 3 2-4 10, Taylor Wagner 2 0-0 4, Sarah Zinser 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 18-25 63.

Halftime – Kennedy 30, Linn-Mar 23. 3-point goals – Linn-Mar 3 (Major 2, Brandt), Kennedy 7 (Strait 4, Holmes 2, Meier). Total fouls – Linn-Mar 21, Kennedy 19. Fouled out – none.

Herb leads Warriors by Linn-Mar, 55-33

Abby Herb wasn’t surprised when she swished her first 3-pointer of the season Thursday night. After all, she’s been doing everything else for Cedar Rapids Washington.

Herb scored 10 of her team’s first 24 points and had a game-high 14 markers, seven rebounds and two blocks to spearhead a 55-33 victory by the Warriors at Linn-Mar.

It was the final regular-season game for both teams. Washington heads into postseason play 13-7 overall and 11-5 in the Mississippi Valley Conference. Linn-Mar dipped to 10-11 overall and 6-10 in the league.

Washington gets a first-round bye in the tournament, then faces the Clinton/North Scott winner in a Region 5 semifinal Feb. 18 at the Warrior gym. Linn-Mar travels to play at Kennedy in Region 3 on Feb. 15.

The Lions missed their first 10 shots, had no players score in double figures and trailed 43-21 after three quarters. Both coaches cleared the benches midway through the fourth quarter. All 17 players for the 10th-ranked Warriors got playing time.

Linn-Mar was 3-for-21 shooting in the first half (14 percent) and finished the game at a frigid 22 percent. The Warriors hit just 1-of-12 3-point goals, but shot at a 43-percent clip.

Herb played one of her best all-around games and was laughing about the long shot she hit from the right side of the floor — her team’s only 3-pointer of the night.

“I just shot it without thinking,” Herb said. “I play with my dad in the driveway and I do it on him all the time.”

Abby’s father, Dennis, was an outstanding player and the starting center on the 1980 Warrior team that was 21-4, finishing third in the state tournament.

“We kind of trash talk each other and we have fun,” Herb said of playing against her 6-foot-6 father.

The 6-foot junior has developed into one of the best interior defenders and rebounders in the conference. She’s averaging 9.2 points per game (second best on the team) and almost seven rebounds, among the leaders in the MVC. She’s been one of her squad’s most consistent performers.

Coach Frank Howell likes what he’s seen all season long in the workmanlike Herb.

“She has been pretty consistent,” he said. “I think that her heart is always into it. She always brings passion to the floor and always plays hard. When you do those things, good things follow.”

Howell also called Herb’s defense outstanding.

“She is probably the best hedge defender in the United States for high school girls basketball,” he said. “She does a good job on both ends of the court. When a shot goes up she crashes, and on the defensive end when a shot goes up, she blocks out.”

Even though she plays mostly inside, Howell said Herb has the green light to step out and shoot the long ball. He was glad to see her finally get one to fall.

“We have seen her shoot those before,” he said. “I didn’t even hold my breath when she shot it. I had some confidence in her. It was good to see because that is another threat.”

Herb hasn’t really shot many 3-pointers this season. She was just 0-for-6 from behind the arc before Thursday, but she’s shooting a solid 44 percent from the floor and has grabbed more than 50 offensive rebounds. She also leads the Warriors in blocked shots.

“Rebounding well makes me feel good about myself,” Herb said. “My dad tells me that girls don’t box out, so just go after every ball. Most of this comes from him.”

Herb hit 6-of-12 shots from the floor. Jazz Royster was the only other Washington player to hit double figures with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting. She also had five boards.

Howell said he was pleased to be able to play everyone.

“We’ve had so many knock-down, drag-out games this year,” he said. “We’ve had a slew of tough, competitive games, so that was good to give everyone a chance to play in the last regular-season game of the year.”

The Warriors cost themselves a shot at the conference championship with a 55-54 home loss against Cedar Falls on Tuesday, but Howell said he used it as a teaching point.

“We got outscored by Cedar Falls 21 to 9 in the third quarter on Tuesday night, so it was a good teachable moment for us tonight at halftime,” he said. “I thought we came out and played a really good third quarter and a really good game.”

WASHINGTON (55): Abby Herb 6 1-2 14, Lauren Goodlove 0 0-0 0, Brooke Foreman 1 0-0 2, Colby Bjornson 0 0-0 0, Devin Glenski 2 0-0 4, Madison Kramer 2 0-3 4, Jazz Royster 4 2-3 10, Tasha Roundtree 3 0-0 6, Callie Stone 0 0-0 0, Danielle Franklin 3 0-0 6, Aleena Hobbs  0 2-2 2, Kelli Klaus 2 2-2 6, Aalyiah Campbell 0 0-0 0, Annie Detweiler 0 0-0 0, Shanay Gonder 0 0-0 0, Renee Runge 1 0-0 2, Sophie Malcolm 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 10-12 55.

LINN-MAR (33): Leah Kremer 0 0-0 0, Hannah Yearling 1 1-1 3, Mykaela Brandt 1 1-3 3, Sara Strauel 1 0-0 2, Rachel Thrune 2 0-0 4, Jenna Harms 1 1-1 4, Kristin Eiles 2 1-1 6, Kelsey Duggan 0 0-0 0, Courtney Major 1 0-0 2, Lauren Koelker 0 0-0 0, Carly Ryder 1 0-0 3, Lannie Nietert 1 4-5 6, Alexis Libenguth 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 8-13 33.

Halftime - Washington 24, Linn-Mar 11. 3-point Goals - Washington 1 (Herb 1). Linn-Mar 3 (Harms 1, Eiles 1, Ryder 1).