In a game filled with eye-popping numbers, it came down to simple math: The sum of two feisty sophomores was greater than the total of one valiant senior.

Dubuque Senior’s Sommer twins, Katie and Kristie, each scored 23 points Tuesday night to overcome a career-high 37 points by Kennedy’s Courtney Strait and lead their team to a 73-65 victory over the Cougars.

In a battle of two young teams, the previously winless Rams (1-4, 1-5) nailed 11 3-pointers and fought through Kennedy’s press to outshoot the Cougars ( 2-3, 3-3) down the stretch.

After trailing 38-32 at the break, Senior came out blazing in the third period and outscored Kennedy 21-11, snagging a four-point lead that they never relinquished, in spite of a heroic fourth-quarter charge by Kennedy’s standout senior guard.

Strait hit a 3-pointer, a lay-up and six free throws in the final period to bring her team from 10 points down to within two points, 65-63, with a minute and half to go. But the Cougars couldn’t get their shots to land in the final minute and missed three late free throws.

“They wanted it worse than we did,” said Kennedy coach Dennis Roloff. “They got the rebounds when they needed to, they hit big threes when they had to, they came out the second half and outplayed us and they deserved to win the game.”

Strait played the entire game and made her presence felt at both ends of the court as she hit three 3-pointers, swished 16 free throws, grabbed seven rebounds and guarded relentlessly.

“She was just oustanding,” Roloff said. “It’s just too bad we didn’t have other people to pick it up. We’ve got to get other kids scoring and we’ve got to play better defense than that, and that’s what we’ll work on.”

Liz Reuter, the Rams’ lone senior on a starting line-up that includes four sophomores, exploded out of the gate for three first-period treys. The Sommer twins took over from there, adding another six 3-pointers and a flurry of lay-ups. Kristie Sommer also had 16 rebounds.

Rams Coach Robert Kimble described it as a nerve-wracking, but satisfying win for a team that nearly upset undefeated Washington last week and has been close in several games.

“We were up at Cedar Rapid Washington by 10, and yet down the stretch we just struggle with decision-making because we’ve got some young kids. I’ll just say we survived tonight. Our passing was suspect. However, I give our kids credit for overcoming some of those mistakes and finishing the game. This is a great game for us as a young team to grow.”

Six games into the season, Roloff also sees his team continuing to improve in spite of a ragged outing.

“We’ve still got a lot of growing to do. We’re still going to be a very good team. They’ve just got to get that experience and it’s not an easy trail that we’ve got coming up on us.”

An obviously disappointed Strait kept her team looking forward as the Cougars get ready for a string of road tests.

“I think it’s just people being inexperienced – a missed re bound there, a box-out we missed, missed lay-ups, and missed free throws really got us at the end. We’re just developing and working on playing under pressure. We’ve got tough games coming up, so I just told them we’ve got to get ready to practice hard tomorrow.”

Kennedy plays at Iowa City High on Friday. Dubuque Senior plays Waterloo West at home.

DUBUQUE SENIOR (73): Liz Reuter 3 0-0 9, Kristie Sommer 8 3-4 23 , Affrica Kimble 1 3-4 5, Natalie Jacobsmeier 1 0-0 3, Katie Sommer 8 5-9 23, Savannah Frye 0 0-0 0, Emma Noel 0 0-0 0, Andrea Medinger 1 0-0 2, Nakiah Kimble 2 0-5 5, Makenzie Williams 1 1-4 3. Totals 25 12-26 73.

KENNEDY (65): Madi Meier 2 0-0 5, Courtney Strait 9 16-18 37, Mariah Simmons 1 0-0 2, Stephanie Botkin 3 5-9 11, Paige Hendrickson 0 1-4 1, Jordan Holmes 2 3-4 8, Taylor Wagner 0 0-0 0, Sarah Zinser 0 1-2 1, Capria Davis 0 0-2 0.  Totals 17 26-39 65 .

Halftime -- Kennedy 38, Dubuque Senior 32. 3-point goals – Kennedy 5 (Strait 3, Meier 1, Holmes 1), Dubuque Senior 11 (Kristie Sommer 4, Liz Reuter 3, Katie Sommer 2, Nakiah Kimble 1, Jacobsmeier 1). Fouled out – none.