Kennedy Coach Denny Roloff liked the fight he saw in his team on Tuesday night (Dec. 21) and Washington Coach Frank Howell said he was exhausted.

Howell’s No. 5 ranked Warriors overcame a career-high 27-point night from Courtney Strait and prevailed in a gritty Mississippi Valley Conference girls game at the Kennedy gym, 73-62.

The Warriors moved to a perfect 9-0 overall (6-0 MVC). Kennedy dropped to 3-5 (3-4 MVC).

“I thought we played very hard and we bothered them a little bit with their press,” Roloff said. “They are undefeated and they just beat a couple of teams in Sioux City by 30 points and we had an opportunity to win this game.”

A tired Howell leaned against a wall after the game and breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m just exhausted, really. It was such an up and down game. We would get a stretch where we would get it to double digits and then it would suddenly be back down to six.”

Howell said he was very impressed with the Cougars, particularly Strait.  “They had a lot of fight in them and the Strait kid played unbelievable. We had a hard time guarding her and she put up a lot of points and kept them close.”

Howell said he didn’t feel good until he heard the final siren.

“They did a great job of not going away, so until you heard the final horn, it was one of those games where you felt like you were hanging on for dear life the whole time, until it was over.”

Washington led by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter, but the Cougars cut it to 66-60 with under two minutes to play.

The hosts hit just 26-of-40 free throws. “We missed 14 free throws and we know that you are not going to be perfect on the night, but I expect better shooting than that,” Roloff said.

The Warriors’ inside-outside play impressed the long-time Kennedy boss. Roloff called the Warriors “a very good team.”

“I think they are a very solid inside-outside team and when their press is working (they) are a tough team to beat and they get a lot of transition points.”

Tia Dawson and Strait were clearly the stars of the show. Dawson, Washington’s senior center, did everything but sell popcorn and her stat line was superb: 16 rebounds, five blocks, 10-of-13 field goal shooting for a team-high 23 points.

Strait’s career night included 7-of-18 from the field, 8-of-8 foul shooting, scoring eight of her team’s 16 third-quarter points. Her two 3-point bombs in the third term kept the Cougars close as she scored 11 of her squad’s 17 points in that eight-minute stanza.

”She’s a good one,” Roloff said of the 5-9 junior.

Roloff is optimistic about his ballclub. “We just have to get a little more disciplined in how we handle the ball and I think we can be a very good team. To compete with the top 10 teams we have to play four solid quarters. Tonight was close. We are getting closer in doing that and if we can put it together for four quarters, we can do very well.”

In the first half, the Cougars came out strong right away and built a 5-0 early lead before Dawson went to work. She scored eight of her team’s first 12 points and had 10 points in the first quarter alone. She had 14 points at halftime on perfect 6-for-6 field goal shooting, but had to take a seat with two personal fouls.

When Jazz Royster drilled a 3-pointer with six seconds left in the second frame, the visitors held their biggest lead of the half, 34-27. Royster played an excellent all around game with nine rebounds, two steals, two assists, one block and 15 points.

Uncharacteristically, the Warriors had six turnovers in the first quarter, but settled in the second quarter when they outscored the Cougars 22-13.

Strait played a superb first half with 13 points, utilizing some nifty drives to the basket. She also was a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line. Kennedy had 10 turnovers in the first half. The Warriors had eight.

The Cougars outscored Washington 17-16 in the third quarter and cut it to 50-44 on Olivia Meier’s three point play. And the Cougars continued to hang around. Dawson had to go to the bench with her fourth foul with 5:47 to play and her team leading 58-48. With the Cougars in the double-bonus for a good chunk  of the fourth quarter, Strait kept things interesting with a pair of free throws at the 2:31 mark, cutting the Warrior lead to just 66-57. Strait then added another basket off a steal with 1:47 left, to make it 66-59. Kaylese Johnson got into the Cougar comeback act when she forced a turnover and was fouled. She made 1-of-2 free throws and suddenly it was 66-60. The Warriors hit five shots from the charity stripe in the final 1:20 to seal the win.

The Warriors had four players in double-figure scoring. Madison Kramer had a solid game with a career-high 10 points and Ashley Piper had a strong outing with 11 points, eight rebounds, five assists and one steal. Meier had 13 points for the Cougars.

“We did enough to win the game and we beat a team that is really good,” Howell said. “Kennedy has been a very consistent program for a really long time.”

This is the first time in 17 years as a head coach that Howell has an undefeated team at the Christmas break. “It is a nice thing and great accomplishment. It is kind of like the first third of our season is done and now after Christmas we will really be pushed especially the first three games back where we are playing Iowa City West, Xavier and Linn Mar right out of the chute.”

“We’ve played some good teams and still we have managed nine wins against no losses, so that is good.”

Janay Pritchett, who led the Warriors with a career-high 18 points in the win against Jefferson last Friday night, did not play because she had her wisdom teeth taken out. “It is really funny. We have had three kids already who have had to have their wisdom teeth out, so that is something we had to adjust to because she (Janay) had such a big game by leading us in scoring and giving us a big boost with 18 points (last Friday night).

“By the same token, we had a few more kids (tonight) who got a few more minutes and did a good job with that.”

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CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON (73) Jazz Royster 5-17 4-6 15, Tia Dawson 10-13 3-4 23, Jordon Pilcher 1-5 0-0 2, Alissa Oney 2-6 3-4 8, Ashley Piper 4-13 2-2 11, Janay Pritchett 0-0 0-0 0,  Madison Kramer 3-9 3-4 10, Tasha Roundtree 0-0 0-0 0, Layloni Beard 1-3 0-2 2, Gail Barnum 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Carr 0-1 0-0 0, Kelli Klaus 0-0 0-0 0, Chelsey McMahon 0-0 0-0 0, Abby Herb 0-0 0-0 0, Brooke Foreman 1-2 0-0 3, Lauren Goodlove 0-0 0-0 0, Callie Stone 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-69 15-22 73.

CEDAR RAPIDS KENNEDY (62) Kaylese Johnson 1-5 5-7 7, Olivia Meier 2-9 8-11 13, Courtney Strait 8-17 8-8 27, Dominique Wright 0-2 0-2 0, Mariah Simmons 0-4 0-0 0, Kristen Huebsch 0-0 0-0 0, Kim Muench 1-1 0-0 2, Kassi Nunnikhoven 2-3 0-2 4, Shauna Happel 2-7 1-3 5, Kali Hildebrand 0-5 3-5 3, Kate Schultz 0-5 1-2 1, Haley Corkery 0 0-0 0, Aryn Nelson 0 0-0 0, Capria Davis 0 0-0 0, Grace Reinhart 0 0-0 0, Marissa Klinger 0 0-0 0, Ashley Schlueter 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 26-40 62.

Halftime –Washington 34, Kennedy 27. Rebounds – Washington 48 (Dawson 16), Kennedy 28. Steals – Washington 10 (Oney 4), Kennedy 18. Turnovers – Washington 21, Kennedy 15. Assists – Washington 17 (Piper 5). Blocks – Washington 6 (Dawson 5), Kennedy 0. 3-point Goals – Washington 4-21 (Piper, Oney, Royster, Kramer). Kennedy 4-23 (Strait 3, Meier).