Metro Sports Report

Riders hang on to edge Muskegon

MUSKEGON, Mich. - Erik Foley netted the tiebreaking goal early in the second period and goaltender Ryan Larkin made it stand up as the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders downed Muskegon, 3-2, Friday night before 2,654 fans at L.C. Walker Arena.

Larkin stopped 43 of 45 shots as Cedar Rapids had to come up with two penalty kills in the third period to secure the victory.

The Riders jumped to a 2-0 lead before five minutes had been played on goals from Ross Colton and Joe Wegwerth, only to see the hosts score twice before the end of the first period to tie the score.

Cedar Rapids (32-15, 64 points) remained three points ahead of Youngstown for first place in the USHL's Eastern Division. Muskegon is 26-17-3 for 55 points.

Saints race into 3A substate finals

The question facing the Xavier boys coaching staff before their Class 3A district final Thursday night with underdog Solon was whether the Spartans would try to hold down the score or stick with their normal up-tempo offense.

You could almost see the Saints players’ eyes light up when it became clear from the start that the quick and aggressive guys from Solon were going to try to match them point for point.

So it was run-and-gun all night for both teams up and down the Kennedy gym.

As well as they played, though, the Spartans were no match for the hot-shooting Saints in their near-perfect 88-57 runaway rout.

“In our offense, we run quite a few set plays,” noted senior swingman Calvin Winker, one of four Saints in double figures. "And tonight, we scored on about every single one of them. We were really clicking.”

Coe falls to Dubuque without Timm

Injuries are a tough part of sports, but it's too bad the Coe Kohawks cannot hit the rewind button and play Dubuque in the Iowa Conference men's basketball tournament with Jake Timm on the court.

The Kohawks lost to Dubuque, 71-59, in the semifinals of the IIAC tournament at Eby Fieldhouse Thursday night with their point guard and floor leader sitting at the end of the bench with a sprained ankle.

Coe women fall at Luther, 89-82

DECORAH - The Coe women's basketball team put 82 points on the board Thursday night and had six players in double figures, but it wasn't enough in the semifinals of the Iowa Conference tournament.

The Kohawks lost to Luther, 89-82, and finished the season with an 18-9 record.

Coe fell behind by 16 points in the second half and was never able to catch up. The Kohawks pulled within seven points in the final minute on 3-pointers by Courteney McCrary and Mickey Hansche, but ran out of time.

Megan Hayes led Coe with 19 points. Aleena Hobbs scored 17. Hansche finished with 11. Jenna Lehman, McCrary and Ashley Stulken had 10 points apiece.

Meagan Koepnick poured in 22 points for Luther (21-5). Anna Madrigal and Morgan Lonning scored 19 apiece. Kylie Romeo added 11.

Hansche finished the season with 80 3-pointers for Coe, breaking the single-season mark set by Kayla Lincoln during the 2010-11 campaign. Hobbs set a school record by making 111 free throws this season.