Metro Sports Report

Matt Lassen being treated at UI hospital

Linn-Mar High School basketball player Matt Lassen was being treated in the Intensive Care Unit at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Saturday after hitting his head on the floor during a home game against Iowa City West Friday night.

Lassen was taken by ambulance to St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids Friday night for initial treatment and a CAT Scan, then transported to Iowa City for further treatment in the ICU unit.

Scott Mahmens, Linn-Mar's director of athletics, confirmed Lassen has experienced hemorrhaging and swelling as a result of the injury.

"They're keeping an eye on him," said Mahmens. "He's awake, he's talking to people. I think with medication they're hoping to control the hemorrhaging and swelling."

Unlikely Lions duo bowls team to title

The top two girls on Linn-Mar’s top-flight bowling team are an odd couple, indeed.

Senior leader Stacey Schwarzenstein is big and broad. She charges the line, and when she lets loose it’s like a cannonball exploding down the lane. Pins blast in all directions.

Petite junior teammate McKenzie Routhe, on the other hand, tiptoes to her mark like a ballerina. Her ball floats along and the pins fall over as if touched by a feather.

Together, however, the unlikely pair came through when it counted Saturday afternoon at Lancer Lanes to propel the top-seeded Lions to an exciting victory over Xavier to claim the team  championship the third annual Prairie Invitational Baker Tournament.

Davidson's 26 lead J-Hawk rout

The Jefferson J-Hawks have been playing five girls for almost the entire game for the last week because of injuries to key players.

Those five girls have put up fights all week, but came up short against ranked opponents Linn-Mar and Iowa City High.

They finally got an unranked foe in Class 2A MFL MarMac Saturday afternoon, and the result was much more favorable.

Junior Kaitlyn Davidson lit up the Jefferson gym, pouring in 26 points to lead the J-Hawks to a 52-25 victory over the visiting Bulldogs.

The inside threat of juniors Rachel Broghammer and Maddie Koolbeck forced the Bulldogs into a 2-3 zone, opening things up for Davidson to rain from deep. Davidson threw in four threes to go along with a handful of breakaway lay-ups as Jefferson scored almost at will.

“It helps out lot (when a team goes zone). It allows us to spread out and get open shots,” Davidson said. “We work on the fastbreak in practice every day.”

No. 1 Lions upended by No. 4 IC West

The Linn-Mar Lions walked slowly to their locker room Friday night, disappointed with their first homecourt loss in four years and worried about injured teammate Matt Lassen.

Jeremy Morgan tossed in a career-high 33 points and Dondre Alexander scored 21 as fourth-ranked Iowa City West defeated the top-ranked Lions, 75-63, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game at Linn-Mar.

It was a tough night all-around for Linn-Mar, which lost its first game at home since Dec. 18, 2007, lost a key player and undoubtedly lost its No. 1 ranking.