Metro Sports Report

Strong first half carries Indians to win

Marion used an aggressive man-to-man defense to build a 40-11 lead by halftime and coasted past Dyersville Beckman, 64-38, Tuesday night in its season and Wamac Conference girls basketball opener at Marion.

Sophomore Emi Banes, playing her first varsity game, scored a game-high 16 points, including nine free throws in the fourth quarter. Freshman Amanda Sahm had 13 markers for the Indians. Marion's bench players, including Banes and Sahm, accounted for 41 of the Indians' 64 points.

Four Metro stars named to INA grid 1st teams

Andy Henry and Mark Atwater from Linn-Mar, Josh Jahlas from Kennedy and Marion's Jake McDonald have been named to Iowa Newspaper Association first team all-state teams it was announced Tuesday.

Henry was named to the Class 4A first team on offense at wide receiver and Atwater and Jahlas were named to the defensive team at linebacker and defensive back, respectively. McDonald was a Class 3A first teamer on defense at linebacker. All four are seniors.

Eight other Metro athletes were chosen for the second and third teams.

Hutcheson named to volleyball elite team

Kennedy senior setter Allie Hutcheson has been named to the Elite Team of the Iowa Girls Coaches Association all-state volleyball teams.

The Cougars reached the Class 4A semifinals all four years of Hutcheson's prep career. They lost all four games, the last three to Iowa City West. The Women of Troy won the state championship the last two years.

Hutcheson led Kennedy with 289 kills and had a .462 kill efficiency. She had 793 assists and 40 blocks.

Hutcheson also was named to the Class 4A first team. Kennedy junior Lexi Rogers was named to the second team and junior Jordan Calef earned honorable mention.

Marion senior middle blocker Hannah Miller was named to the Class 3A third team and teammate Sara Ernst earned honorable mention.

Tripoli senior Megan Gilbert was named the Player of the Year.

You can see all of the IGCA's all-state volleyball selections at ighsau.org.

Saints win convincingly in opener

Defense wins championships, defense wins games. Xavier Coach Tom Lilly is a coach who believes in defense and the Xavier Saints girls basketball team showed they can play defense Monday night with a convincing 76-26 victory over Davenport West.

Senior Alex Bartz lead the Saints with 13 points while fellow senior Emily Walvoord added 12 points in Xavier's season opener.

But this game was about defense.

“Unless you can guarantee me 20 (points) and nine (rebounds) you better be able to play on the defensive end of the floor,” Lilly said.

The Saints' defense held the Falcons to just five shots in the first quarter and used an aggressive press and fast-break points to jump out to a 15-8 lead.

As if the first quarter defense wasn’t good enough the Saints defense got even better in the second quarter. Xavier limited the Falcons to no field goals and just three points in the period. The Saints continued to press and push the ball and ran the score to 34-11 at halftime.

“We are paying attention to what it takes to get on the floor,” Lilly said about his girls’ strong defense.