Metro Sports Report

6 Metro teams set for girls jamboree

Six Metro girls basketball teams will participate in a preseason jamboree at Jefferson High School Friday night.

The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. with Linn-Mar facing Prairie in a matchup of new head coaches. Jaime Printy, who starred at Linn-Mar and the University of Iowa, is new coach of the Lions. Josh Bentley, who has coached at Midland of Wyoming, Lansing Kee and Ridgewood High School in Illinois, is the new coach of the Prairie Hawks.

Xavier faces Solon at 6:15 p.m., Kennedy meets Mount Vernon at 7 p.m., Marion takes on Iowa City West at 7:45 p.m. and Jefferson meets Benton Community at 8:30 p.m.

Kennedy's contest with Mount Vernon has an interesting sub-plot with former Kennedy coach Dennis Roloff now coaching the Mustangs. Lela Sanders, a talented 5-foot-11 transfer from Minnesota, will make her debut for the Kennedy Cougars.

Each contest in the jamboree will be 16 minutes long with two eight-minute periods.

Kohawks end year in style, 33-13

The Coe football team saved its best performance of the season for the final game of the year.

The Kohawks rolled up 595 yards of total offense and spanked Buena Vista, 33-13, on a cold day at Clark Field with the temperature sitting in the mid-20's.

Josh Rekers passed for a career-best 383 yards and connected with Nick Lenstra for three TD passes, including a sensational one-handed grab in the end zone in the fourth quarter.

Placekicker Brandon Abbas wrote his name into the school record book, Marion grad Colton Storla ran for 111 yards and Coe's defense played a strong all-around game.

The Kohawks finished at 5-5 overall and 4-3 in the Iowa Conference. It was not the type of season they wanted, but they were determined to finish the year on a positive note.

Lassen, Tagarelli lift Kirkwood

By his own admission, Matt Lassen was having a subpar game.

The Kirkwood sharpshooter spent a good portion of Saturday's men's  basketball game with Southeastern at Johnson Hall on the bench with foul trouble.

Scoreless through the game's first 36 minutes, Lassen converted a pair of clutch 3-point baskets, the second one with 1:51 remaining with the Eagles clinging to a one-point lead.

Lassen's second trey gave Kirkwood the cushion it needed. Hunter Rhodes' six free throws in the final minute sealed a hard-fought 72-63 victory in a battle of unbeatens.

"I had a tough time getting going," Lassen said. "It was just one of those games. I was in foul trouble. I wasn't guarding very well, but I always have confidence in my shot.

Fighting Saints slip by RoughRiders, 2-1

Several hockey fans saw their vehicles slip on the slick streets in southwest Cedar Rapids Saturday night as they headed home after watching the RoughRiders play the Dubuque Fighting Saints.

It was unfortunately symbolic, because the RoughRiders slipped inside the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena as well.

The Dubuque Fighting Saints scored two goals early in the third period and trimmed the RoughRiders, 2-1, before 2,367 fans on a snowy night in Cedar Rapids.

The loss snapped the RoughRiders' impressive 10-game winning streak and lifted the Fighting Saints within four points of Cedar Rapids in the USHL standings.