Metro Sports Report

Sluggish Coe women fall to Simpson

The Coe women's basketball team got off to a hot 9-2 start in non-conference games this season and appeared poised to challenge for the Iowa Conference title, but the Kohawks have dug themselves a hole to begin the league race.

Coe got off to a sluggish start Saturday and wound up losing to Simpson, 75-71, in a league game at Eby Fieldhouse that dropped the Kohawks to 0-2 in the conference.

Coe trailed 20-9 late in the first quarter and faced an uphill struggle all day. The Kohawks rallied for a 61-60 lead with six minutes left, but they committed four straight turnovers and fell behind again.

This time, they never recovered.

Burger sets record as No. 4 Saints win

The Xavier Saints ordered their Burger with extra relish Friday night.

Mitchell Burger tossed in seven 3-pointers and poured in a school-record 34 points as the Saints topped Waterloo West, 84-76, in an entertaining Mississippi Valley Conference game at Ron Thillen Gymnasium.

Burger snapped Adam McDermott's record of 32 points, set last season against Iowa City High, and he matched the school record for most 3-pointers in a single game, tying the mark set by Jon Keller in 2010.

Burger, a 5-foot-10 senior, was averaging 10.5 points when the night began, so he more than tripled his average with a sensational display against Waterloo West.

No. 2 Cougars knock off Wahlert

DUBUQUE – Right now, the Kennedy girls basketball team's winning formula is as true as H₂0: Hydrogen plus oxygen equals water.

The usual Lela Sellers razzle-dazzle, balanced scoring, sniper shooting, lockdown defense and quality bench contributions have made the Cougars the hottest club in Iowa Class 5A this side of undefeated Indianola.

Dubuque Wahlert threw everything it had at the No. 2-ranked Cougars on Friday night with an inspired, intense defensive effort, but the Cougars knew exactly what chess moves to make in running their winning streak to 12.

Sellers muscled her way to a game-high 15 points, Sydney Hayden delivered a trio of 3-pointers, Ashley Hamilton exploded off the bench for eight tide-turning third-quarter points and Kennedy rode a third-quarter surge to a breakaway 60-41 road victory in one of the Mississippi Valley Conference's toughest venues.

It may be early January, but the fun-loving Cougars' sizzling play is leaving opponents sun-burned. Cyndi Lauper of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” fame didn't have this much fun.

Linn-Mar girls squashed by Tigers

Luckily for the Linn-Mar girls, the season is still young.

The Lions lost their second game in a row (and third in the last four) in a lackluster showing at home Friday night, 50-35, to Cedar Falls.

"We’re struggling right now,” acknowledged second-year Linn-Mar coach Jaime Brandt. “There are a lot of things that aren’t clicking.

“We’ve got a lot to work on, but the good thing is we’ve got ‘til the end of February to work things out.”

As was the case in a 60-47 loss at Kennedy Tuesday night, the Class 5A 11th-ranked Lions (6-3, 4-2 MVC) were again plagued by poor shooting and shoddy ballhandling.