Until the roof caved in on them in the fourth quarter, the Cedar Rapids Xavier girls gave Iowa City West a tough fight at home Friday night.

The Saints fell 46-38, but the game was tied at 35-all with six minutes to go.

“They went to a zone and we chucked the ball too much,” said Xavier Coach Tom Lilly. “We made too many bad passes and too many bad decisions.”

And they were facing Women of Troy all-stater Ally Disterhoft, whom Lilly has already annointed “Miss Iowa Basketball” for this season.

With the scored tied, the rangy 6-foot senior hit two free throws, then a 3-pointer, then some more free throws. She also stole a pass and blocked a Saints 3-point shot.

Next thing you knew, West was leading 46-35.

“It was just lack of experience and lack of patience on our part,” Lilly said. “That’s a lethal combination.

“The kids played hard, and I’m happy with their effort. We forced them to make adjustments to our game. But when they went to the zone, we were down by 10 in the blink of an eye."

West (6-2, 4-2 MVC) was led by Disterhoft’s 29 points. The Saints (6-3, 4-2) got 13 points from Sarah Dickes and 12 from McKenna Andersen.

“I think we grew up a little bit from the game tonight," said Lilly. “Our girls are still trying to understand the game, and we’ve played two really strong teams in a row now for 27 of 32 minutes.”

IOWA CITY WEST (46) – Ally Disterhoft 7 13-16 29, Grace Tafolla 0 1-4 1, Laynie Whitehead 1 0-0 2, Danielle Craig 4 0-0 11, Mollie Mason 0 0-0 0, Lauren Larson 1 0-0 3, Mikaela Morgan 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 14-20 46.

XAVIER (38) – Ashley Stulken 2 0-0 4, Kayla Armstong 2 0-1 4, Sarah Dickes 6 0-0 13, Hayley Deutmeyer 0 0-0 0,  Alli Chorzempa 0 0-0 0, Lizzy Bailey 0 0-0 0, Morgan Breitbach 0 1-4 1, Abby Watson 0 0-0 0, Maddie Bertsch 2 0-2 4, McKenna Anderson 5 0-0 12. Totals 17 1-7 38.

Halftime – Iowa City West 22, Xavier 18. 3-point goals – Iowa City West 6 (Craig 3, Disterhoft 2, Larson), Xavier 3 (Andersen 2, Dickes).