Kennedy Girls Basketball

Dolphin sparks No. 1 Cougars by Rams

DUBUQUE – Hailey Dolphin scored 22 points to lead the top-ranked Kennedy girls basketball team to a 73-30 win over Dubuque Senior in a Mississippi Valley Conference game Tuesday at Senior.

Lela Sellers added 14 points for the Cougars (15-2). Sydney Hayden scored 12 points. Dolphin and Hayden had four 3-pointers.

Dubuque Senior fell to 2-15.

KENNEDY (73): Langhurst 3 1-2 7, Hamilton 2 0-0 6, Hayden 4 0-0 12, Sellers 6 0-0 14, Steele 2 0-0 4, Timmerman 0 0-0 0, Vaske 1 1-2 3, Hellweg 0 0-0 0, Dolphin 8 2-2 22, Runels 2 0-0 4, Meier 0 0-0 0, Gallagher 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 5-8 73.

DUBUQUE SENIOR (30): Zillig 0 0-0 0, S.Biehl 0 1-2 1, Schueller 0 0-0 0, Burns 1 0-0 2, Hawkins 0 0-0 0, Wernimont 0 0-0 0, Mills 2 0-0 4, Udelhofen 0 0-0 0, Tigges 3 0-1 8, Mott 2 0-0 4, K.Biehl 4 1-2 11. Totals 12 2-5 30.

Halftime – Kennedy 44, Dubuque Senior 14. 3-point goals – Kennedy 12 (Dolphin 4, Hayden 4, Hamilton 2, Sellers 2), Dubuque Senior 4 (K.Biehl 2, Tigges 2).

No. 1 Cougars ripped by Cedar Falls

CEDAR FALLS - Cedar Falls coach Gregg Groen says there's nothing flashy about the manner in which his girls' basketball team defends. Friday night, it was the Tigers' hard-nosed, man-to-man approach that allowed Groen's team to force its way into the conversation as one of the state's best.

Class 5A's No. 10-rated Cedar Falls held No. 1 Kennedy 13 points below its season-low to take over sole possession of first place in the Mississippi Valley Conference Valley Division standings with an eye-opening, 46-30 victory.

"We just play man-to-man defense," Groen said after his team held Kennedy to 9 of 41 shooting. "We really don't do that much special. It becomes a team effort of how can we collectively shut them down. Tonight I thought the girls came out and I thought they played extremely well defensively."

After patiently passing the ball around Kennedy's zone defense in the first quarter to take a 13-8 lead aided by three Kiana Barney 3-pointers, the Tigers (13-1, 8-0) held Kennedy (14-2, 7-1) scoreless for the final six minutes of the second quarter resulting in a commanding 24-12 halftime advantage.

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Kennedy girls stay No. 1 in rankings

The Cedar Rapids Kennedy girls basketball team remained No. 1 in the Class 5A girls basketball rankings, released Thursday by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

Linn-Mar fell from 12th to 13th in Class 5A. Marion remained No. 7 in Class 4A.

CLASS 5A

1. Kennedy, 2. Indianola, 3. Ankeny Centennial, 4. Waukee, 5. Johnston, 6. Dowling Catholic, 7. Southeast Polk, 8. Iowa City High, 9. Davenport North, 10. Cedar Falls, 11. West Des Moines Valley, 12. Pleasant Valley, 13. Linn-Mar, 14. Iowa City West, 15. Davenport West.

CLASS 4A

1. Harlan, 2. Western Dubuque, 3. Lewis Central, 4. Keokuk, 5. Ballard, 6. North Scott, 7. Marion, 8. Pella, 9. Fairfield, 10. Mason City, 11. Grinnell, 12. Waverly-Shell Rock, 13. Dallas Center-Grimes, 14. Boone, 15. Carlisle.

Sellers lifts No. 1 Cougars by J-Hawks

Somebody forgot to tell the girls from Cedar Rapids Jefferson they were supposed to tremble at the sight of the top-ranked Kennedy Cougars on Friday night.

"There was no doubt that we would give them everything we had," Jefferson coach Jason Edwards said.

The Cougars had Lela Sellers, however, and that made all the difference in the world.

Sellers poured in 29 points and snared 14 rebounds as Kennedy slipped away from the J-Hawks in the final 75 seconds, 61-49, in an entertaining Mississippi Valley Conference game at Kennedy.

Jefferson rallied from a 17-point deficit and pulled within four points at 51-47 on a bucket by Erin Kuba with 1:39 remaining, but the Cougars kept their cool and drilled 10 straight free throws to avoid the upset.

Kennedy climbed into the No. 1 spot in the Class 5A rankings Thursday afternoon, but Jefferson did everything it could to try to knock the Cougars off their lofty perch.

"I thought we were a little uneven tonight," Kennedy coach Tony Vis said, "but at the same time I give more credit to Jefferson, because they wouldn't give up, they wouldn't go away and they really attacked us inside and had some success."

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