Xavier Girls Basketball

Washington tops Saints

Washington Coach Frank Howell wanted to enjoy Monday night's 47-37 victory over Xavier before thinking about what's coming up next.

The Warriors host Kiah Stokes and No. 3 Linn-Mar on Thursday, but Howell wasn't ready to peek ahead.

"I'll try not to think about it until tomorrow morning, because I want to try and get some sleep," he said. "And if I think about that too hard, I probably won't be well-rested by Thursday."

The Warriors took care of business Monday to set up Thursday's big showdown for the Mississippi Valley Conference lead. Washington and Linn-Mar are both 7-1 in the Mississippi Division of the MVC, so the winner gets sole possesion of the lead.

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Saints struggle in 2nd half

The third-ranked Linn-Mar girls basketball team needed exactly one half of Friday’s game against No. 6 Xavier to resume its winning ways, storming back after an anemic first half to defeat the Saints, 51-33, in a Mississippi Valley tangle at Xavier.

On Tuesday night, Linn-Mar dropped its first game of the season and ended the program’s 39-game conference winning streak in a loss to Waterloo West.

“That made me mad,” said Linn-Mar all-stater Kiah Stokes. “I really don’t like to lose and I didn’t want it to happen again.”

But she almost missed the chance to get her team back on track, as she battled a stomach flu that kept her out of practice Wednesday and Thursday and left her feeling sluggish to start Friday’s game.

Xavier played stifling defense and dominated for two periods, limiting Linn-Mar to only one field goal in the first quarter and two in the second. The Saints led, 13-5, after one period and 22-15 at the half, holding Stokes to eight points, six of them at the free throw line.

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Saints up to No. 6 in poll

Xavier moved up one spot to No. 6 in the Class 4A basketball poll released Thursday by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

The Saints (10-1) waxed Cedar Falls, 56-18, Tuesday.

Linn-Mar (10-1) and Washington (5-1) remained at Nos. 3 and 5 despite each suffering their first losses of the season Tuesday.

IGHSAU rankings

No.7 Saints dump Cedar Falls, 56-18

Alex Saxen scored 14 points Tuesday night and Annie Dale added 11 as the seventh-ranked Xavier girls basketball team drubbed Cedar Falls, 56-18, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game at Xavier.

The Saints (10-1, 6-1) led at halftime, 32-8. Ten different players scored for Coach Tom Lilly's club.

Krystal Graves led Cedar Falls (2-7, 1-6) with 11 points. The Tigers made only five field goals.

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