Metro Sports Report

Cougars nudge No.10 Muskies for state berth

IOWA CITY - The Cedar Rapids Kennedy girls basketball team saved the Metro area from being shut out of the state tournament this year.

The Cougars rallied for a 54-52 victory over 10th-ranked Muscatine in the Class 5A regional finals in Iowa City Tuesday night.

Kennedy (16-7) drew the short straw as the No.8 seed in the state tournament and will face top-ranked Iowa City High (23-0) in the quarterfinals next Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Bailey, Saints drop heartbreaker

MOUNT VERNON - Lizzy Bailey made a bid for the Kayla Armstrong Award Tuesday night, but Bailey and the Xavier Saints fell a second short of earning a trip back to the Class 4A state tournament.

Evan Hundley scored on a putback at the buzzer to lift 10th-ranked North Scott past the 13th-ranked Saints, 47-46, in the frantic regional finals in Mount Vernon.

It was Hundley's only basket of the game and denied Xavier a chance to defend its Class 4A state title from a year ago.

Bailey poured in a career-best 24 points and hit a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left to give the Saints a 46-45 lead, but they ran out of magic.

Linn-Mar upset bid falls short, 52-50

MARSHALLTOWN - A basket by Waukee's Carlie Littlefield with 2.7 seconds left shot down the Linn-Mar girls basketball team's state tournament hopes Tuesday night.

The Lions were beaten by the fourth-ranked Warriors, 52-50, in a Class 5A regional final.

Katie Sommer scored 22 points to lead Linn-Mar (15-9). Kristie Sommer added 10 points.

Reilly Jacobson scored 15 points and Taylor Wingert 14 for Waukee (20-3).

Lorenz keys Prairie comeback

Prairie's Mitch Lorenz admitted he didn't do much for most of the game Monday night against Marshalltown except make four fouls and miss his first four shots.

With his team on the ropes, though, he came to and came through.

In the last four minutes, the junior forward canned one 3-pointer to put the Hawks ahead, hit another to extend the lead to five, pulled down three crucial rebounds and sank two free throws to ice a 70-59 Prairie win that was much closer than the score indicated.

“I'd call it redemption, for sure,” Lorenz said of his fast finish following a slow start in the Class 4A substate opening round game at Prairie.

“My teammates trusted me, made some screens and got me the ball. It felt great when that first one went down. I think it kind of rallied our team.”