Coe College - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Oakland inherits firepower with Kohawks

Nate Oakland found some nice presents waiting for him at Eby Fieldhouse when he became the women's basketball coach at Coe College this season.

Two of the brightest packages were Aleena Hobbs and Mickey Hansche, a pair of big scorers from last year's team, and they came along with Allie Wirth, Courteney McCrary, Jenna Lehman, Ashley Stulken, Jordan Holmes and others.

Former coach Randi Henderson left Oakland a nice array of talent when she left to become an assistant coach at North Carolina-Charlotte following an 18-9 campaign last year. Hobbs averaged 13.6 points and Hansche, one of the top 3-point shooters in the Iowa Conference, averaged 13.1 points while hitting an amazing 45.2 percent of her triples.

Wirth, an all-purpose point guard and the "glue" on the ballclub, led the club in rebounds and assists. Lehman averaged 6.0 points last year but could be in store for much more this year.

Hobbs, Hansche, Wirth and Lehman formed 80 percent of the normal starting lineup last season and give their new head coach a strong nucleus for his first team.

"We've got a couple that can really play, which is good," said Oakland, a former Coe assistant who was working at Wartburg when the call came. "Their experience has really shown early on in practice.

"Whether it's offense, whether it's defense, they have a pretty good understanding about what it takes to prepare to compete at a high level, so that helps a ton. To have leaders built in and to have experience built in, it's definitely been a big positive as we got started."

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Kohawks hope to take next step in hoops

The Coe men's basketball team ended last season with Jake Timm on the bench with a sprained ankle against Dubuque in the semifinals of the Iowa Conference tournament at Eby Fieldhouse.

The Kohawks lost that game without their star point guard on the floor, but now Timm and the Kohawks have turned the page and are hoping to improve upon last year's 16-10 campaign and win the league.

Coe begins the new season Tuesday night with a doubleheader against Cornell at Eby Fieldhouse. The Coe and Cornell women play at 5:30 p.m., followed by the men at 7:30 p.m.

Timm averaged 11.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists last season and could play an even bigger role this year with the graduation losses of JT Vonderhaar (14.3 ppg), Matt Daoust (13.0) and sharpshooter Max Schmarzo (9.5).

Coach Bryan Martin is counting on his three seniors - Timm, Christian Fahey and Lincoln Vorba - to set the tone as the Kohawks get started.

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Kohawks wallop Buena Vista in finale

STORM LAKE - The Coe football team ended its 2015 campaign in style Saturday by whipping Buena Vista, 52-14, in an Iowa Conference game in Storm Lake.

The Kohawks finished the season with a 4-6 overall record and 3-4 mark in the league. Buena Vista finished at 1-9 overall and 0-7 in the conference.

Josh Rekers completed 25 of 32 passes for 301 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions for Coe. He also ran for two touchdowns. Rekers finished the season with 205 completions, the second-best total in school history. Trevor Heitland caught nine passes for 91 yards for the Kohawks and Elijah Phillips made seven grabs for 94 yards. Heitland and Trevor Noble caught touchdown passes.

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Conroy runs 10th at regional meet

PELLA - Coe freshman Lucy Conroy placed 10th at the NCAA Division III Central Region cross country championships in Pella Saturday and earned all-region honors.

Conroy covered the 6K course in 22 minutes, 47.0 seconds, which was the seventh fastest time in school history. She became Coe's first top-10 finisher at the regional meet since 2008.

The Coe women finished 17th out of 30 teams. The Coe men placed 20th out of 29 teams.

WOMEN'S RESULTS

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