Sad day for Saints at state tourney
DES MOINES - There were 42 seconds left in Xavier's loss to North Scott in the Class 4A state basketball tournament Friday morning when Coach Tom Lilly sent seldom-used senior Lauren Cooling into the game.
The Saints trailed by only seven points at the time and Lilly could have kept his starters on the floor and prayed for a miracle, but he wanted to make sure Cooling got into the game for a taste of the state meet.
Lauren Cooling's mother, Sue, died Wednesday from cancer. She was only 54 years old.
Two days later, Lauren took the floor for the semifinals of the state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena and there wasn't a dry eye among the Xavier players, coaches and fans.
"At some point in time you recognize the situation and that basketball is not the most important thing at that moment in time," said Lilly, who has won 523 games and four state titles in his career.
"Nobody on our team would have argued with the fact that she needed to see the court at some point in time."
The sixth-ranked Saints fell to eighth-ranked North Scott, 58-49, mostly because they committed too many turnovers, committed too many fouls and could not keep the Lancers off the offensive backboard.
