On a cold January night, the Dubuque Wahlert Golden Eagles came out blazing hot and held off a second-half punch from Kennedy to defeat the home team 55-43 in a battle of mid-pack Mississippi Valley teams.
 
“We’ve had a really brutal start to our season, and we felt that we’re just going to get better because of it,” said Wahlert Coach Kris Spiegler. “We had a good Christmas break of practices, adjusted some things, and kept ourselves in shape, and that was key for us.”

Wahlert (5-4, 4-3) built a 9-1 lead before Kennedy scored its first field goal at 3:22 of the first period. The Golden Eagles led 15-8 after one period and 28-21 at the half.

Kennedy pressed hard to start the second half, dropped in some quick baskets, and took the lead, 37-35, on a three-pointer by Kaylese Johnson with 1:47 remaining in the third period.

After trading baskets, the Cougars led again at 39-38, but the Golden Eagles turned up the heat, scoring five points to end the period, then torched Kennedy 12-4 in the final quarter. 

“We got a little panicked by their press,” Spiegler said. “We knew they press all kinds of ways, and we just had to be patient against that.”

Kennedy Coach Dennis Roloff credited Wahlert with showing the fire that his team lacked. “I thought we were outhustled on both ends of the floor,” he said. “I thought Wahlert wanted the game a lot worse than we did and I thought they came prepared to play and they took good shots.”

The Golden Eagles were led by Claire Till with 17 points. The six-footer also shadowed Kennedy leading scorer Courtney Strait effectively throughout the game, holding her to seven points with the aid of her teammates.

“I thought she did an excellent job, and we just had great help,” said Spiegler. “That’s key for us, helping put pressure on people. We hope that our defense can create our offense – and that it did tonight.”

Wahlert’s Tessa Leytem and Amy Ihm also scored in double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Bench player Kassi Nunnikhoven led Kennedy (3-6, 3-5) with eight points. 

WAHLERT (55): Till 7 1-1 17, Walker 1 1-2 3, Ihm 5 1-4 12, Lynch 0 0-0 0, Leytem 5 3-4 13, Smith 2 0-3 4, Tranel 3 0-0 6. Totals 22 6-14 55.

KENNEDY (43): Johnson 1 0-0 3, Meier 1 0-0 2, Strait 2 3-3 7, Wright 1 1-2 3,  Simmons 3 0-0 6, Huebsch 0 0-0 0, Muench 1 0-0 3, Nunnikhoven 3 1-2 8, Happel 3 0-0 6, Hildebrand 0 1-2 1, Schulz 2 0-1 4. Schlueter 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 6-10 43.

Halftime - Dubuque Wahlert 28, Kennedy 21. 3-point goals - Dubuque Wahlert 3 (Till 2, Ihm), Kennedy 3 (Nunnikhoven, Johnson, Muench). Fouls - Dubuque Wahlert 13, Kennedy 15. Fouled out - none.