Kennedy Girls Basketball

Strait nets 20 as Kennedy falls at Waukee

WAUKEE - Courtney Strait scored half of her team's points Saturday night, but they weren't enough for the Kennedy Cougars.

Strait netted 20 points as the Cougars (4-6) lost a non-conference basketball game at sixth-ranked Waukee, 54-40.

Strait made four field goals and continued her good work at the free throw line by sinking 12 of 13.

Britney Boland led Waukee with 19 points and six steals.

KENNEDY (40): Meier 3 0-0 7, Strait 4 12-13 20, Simmons 1 0-0 2, Johnson 1 2-4 4, Holmes 0 0-0 0, Hendrickson 1 0-0 2, Botkin 1 1-4 3, Davis 0 0-0 0, Wagner 1 0-0 2, Zinser 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 15-21 40.

WAUKEE (54): Wingert 1 0-0 2, Goodson 4 0-0 9, Bunz 0 0-0 0, Dalsing 1 0-0 2, Shryack 4 0-0 8, Boland 7 5-6 19, Nestingen 3 2-2 9, Cavanaugh 1 2-2 5. Totals 21 9-10 54.

Halftime - Waukee 31, Kennedy 18. 3-point goals - Kennedy 1 (Meier 1), Waukee 3 (Goodson 1, Nestingen 1, Cavanaugh 1).

Strait scores 34; Cougars stun No. 9 Warriors

Kennedy’s Courtney Strait called Friday night’s 62-59 home upset of No. 9 Washington “a complete team effort.”

She may have been the only one in the Cougar gym to see it that way.

“Too much Courtney Strait,” said Warrior Coach Frank Howell.  “She just kept her knocking her shots down.”

Especially from the free throw line, where the silky smooth senior hit 20 of 24 for the night.

And with the game itself on the line as Washington staged a furious fourth-quarter comeback, it was the calm and cool Strait who mostly handled the ball.

“Courtney is probably the best free throw shooter in the state,” said Kennedy Coach Dennis Roloff.  “That’s who we wanted up there. She had a wonderful game.”

She set the tone right from the start, hitting a 3-pointer, a driving lay-up and five straight from the charity stripe as the Cougars (4-5, 3-5) jumped out to a surprising 12-3 lead.  There were also two steals and a couple or rebounds in the mix during the first four minute surge.

The Warriors (5-3, 5-3) seemed shell-shocked, throwing the ball away and heaving up prayer shots.

Strait had 21 of her game-high 34 by halftime and could have had more if not for the selfless style of play where looks for teammates first.

Kennedy was up 35-19 at the midway point.

And the second half started no better for the Warriors.  They were listless, put the Strait on the line with flat-footed fouls and still couldn’t buy a basket.

The Cougars had their biggest at 48-29 as the fourth quarter opened.

But the Warriors roared back.

Flashy Tasha Roundtree popped in two straight 3-point bombs which seemed to fire up the rest of the team. They reeled off 10 straight points and cut the lead to 51-45 with four minutes remaining.

Roloff, who was back on the bench after having a baseball-sized abscess near his colon removed in an emergency surgery earlier this week, was beside himself.

“We’ve got a lot of inexperienced players,” he said. “And they started making some stupid passes.”

The lead was back to eight with a minute to go on a layup by steady Cougar senior Kaylese Johnson.

Then the inexplicable happened. Strait missed two of four free throws and even threw the ball away.

The Warriors’ Jazz Royster, who with Roundtree led Washington with 11 points apiece, made two clutch tip-ins.  But her open 3-point attempt at the buzzer bounced off the rim.

“The girls didn’t quit,” said Howell. “It was tough to come back But they got more aggressive and just started to play without out-thinking themselves.”

Afterward, Roloff was relieved.

“It’s a good thing we had a 19-point lead,” he said.  “But this is a big win for us. We’ve been close every game this year.

“It’s good to win one of them.”

WASHINGTON (59): Herb 1 0-0 2, Foreman 3 1-1 8, Bjornsen 1 0-2 3, Kramer 3 1-2 7, Royster 5 1-2 11, Roundtree 4 1-2 11, Franklin 2 1-2 6, Hobbs 4 0-0 9, Klaus 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 5-11 59.

KENNEDY (62): Meier 2 2-2 6, Strait 6 20-24 34, Simmons 1 0-0 3, Johnson 1 0-4 2, Holmes 1 2-4 4, Hendrickson 0 1-2 1, Botkin 5 2-3 12, Davis 0 0-0 0, Wagner 0 0-0 0, Zinser 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 27-39 62.

Halftime - Kennedy 35, Washington 19. 3-point goals - Washington 6 (Roundtree 2, Foreman 1, Bjornsen 1, Franklin 1, Hobbs 1), Kennedy 3 (Strait 2, Simmons 1). Fouled out - Herb, Foreman.

Roloff misses Kennedy's loss at Wahlert

DUBUQUE - Dennis Roloff missed his first game as the Kennedy girls basketball coach in 21 years Tuesday night due to a medical procedure during the day.

He missed a tight loss.

The Cougars were tied with Dubuque Wahlert with two minutes left before dropping a 60-56 verdict in a Mississippi Valley Conference game in Dubuque.

Roloff hoped to be back at practice Wednesday afternoon. Kennedy assistant coach Mark Stewart ran the club Tuesday night.

Courtney Strait poured in 23 points for the Cougars (3-5, 2-5) and Madi Meier netted 10 points. Kennedy lost its fourth straight game, all in MVC action.

Tessa Leytem led Wahlert (8-2, 5-2) with 17 points. Logan Lynch scored 13 points and Maddie Nilles had 10.

KENNEDY (56): Meier 3 2-3 10, Strait 8 4-6 23, Simmons 1 2-2 4, Johnson 3 0-0 7, Holmes 0 0-0 0, Hendrickson 3 1-4 7, Botkin 1 0-0 2, Wagner 1 0-0 3, Zinser 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 10-15 56.

WAHLERT (60): Walker 3 0-1 6, Lynch 4 3-4 13, Leytem 5 7-7 17, Smith 1 0-2 2, Nilles 5 0-0 10, Schmitt 3 1-1 9, Ochs 0 0-0 0, Cody 1 1-2 3. Totals 22 12-21 60.

Halftime - Wahlert 32, Kennedy 26. 3-point goals - Kennedy 6 (Meier 2, Strait 2, Johnson 1, Wagner 1), Wahlert 4 (Lynch 2, Schmitt 2). Fouled out - Lynch.

Botkin cleared to play after heart procedure

Stephanie Botkin is averaging 10 points and 6 rebounds for the Kennedy girls basketball team, which are excellent numbers for a freshman in the Mississippi Valley Conference.

There's no telling what she'll accomplish now that her heart ailment has been repaired.

Botkin had a problem with her heart conduction system, which functions as the body's pacemaker and keeps the heart beating at a normal rate of 60 to 100 beats per minute. At one point, her heart beat was monitored at 230 per minute.

"I had gaps in my conduction system," she said Thursday. "They froze them to get the flow back to normal. It wasn't like a hole in my heart and blood coming out."

Botkin noticed a problem in November. It surfaced at practice a few times and happened once during a game in December.

"I had a really, really fast heart rate," she said. "If I kept going, I had light-headedness.

"It would happen for a few days in a row, and then I'd have a couple of weeks where it didn't happen and then it would come back."

Botkin told her mother, who is an anethesiologist. They went to see a cardiologist, who diagnosed the problem.

"It was frightening when I first heard and realized something was wrong," she said.

They quickly scheduled the procedure to fix the problem. "I was excited to get it over and keep playing. I didn't want to stop," she said.

Botkin told Kennedy Coach Dennis Roloff that she would have to miss a few days of practice, but downplayed the situation.

"Two weeks ago she came to me and says, 'Coach, on Friday I'm going to have surgery,'" Roloff related.

"Oh, on what?" he asked.

"My heart," she said. "But it's OK, don't worry, I'll be back in two days."

Roloff marvels at how calmly Botkin delivered the news. As it turned out, Botkin was cleared to practice on Thursday, Dec. 29, six days after the procedure.

Roloff let her do some light running Thursday, but did not let her participate in drills even though she had permission to play. "We're going to take our time and make sure she's healthy," he said.

"What a terrific kid," he said. "She came in today (Thursday) and wanted to run and run and run. I said, 'No, let's slow down.'"

Kennedy visits Dubuque Wahlert Tuesday night, but Roloff has not decided whether he'll let her participate or not. "We'll make sure things are correct before she plays," he said.

Botkin speaks clinically about the problem, using big medical terms to describe the gaps in her conduction system and where they were located.

"My mom is a doctor, so she uses big medical words around me all the time," she said. "I'm kind of used to it. I pick it up pretty easily."

The operation was performed at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics on Dec. 23. She arrived at 9:30 a.m. and was discharged about 10 p.m. that night.

Botkin said they gave her an EKG, installed patches to monitor her heart, performed a chest X-ray and gave her an IV. Then she met with her doctors and talked about the procedure.

She said they administered drugs to put her to sleep about 1 p.m. and remembers waking up about 5 p.m. after the operation. She went home about 5 hours later. The surgery was performed arthroscopically, without incisions.

Less than a week later, she was running around the court again, although gently.

"I felt great," she said after Thursday's light workout. "At the beginning of practice I felt a little tired because I hadn't run in about a week, but I'm really anxious to get on the court."

Botkin doesn't think she had a birth defect. "I'm honestly not sure," she said. "They didn't really tell me."

In any case, she does not think it was a rare ailment. "I think it's pretty common," she said. "That's what my cardiologist told me."

Botkin understands Roloff's plan to proceed slowly and carefully. "He doesn't want me to overwork myself," she said.

Botkin is a 6-foot post player who skipped the freshman and sophomore teams and went straight to the varsity as a ninth grader. Roloff said it's only the sixth time in 20-plus years that he's promoted a ninth grader to the top club.

Roloff said Botkin is learning rapidly and takes minor setbacks in stride.

"She gets more determined," he said. "If they block her shot or they take something away from her, she's always thinking, she's always making an adjustment."

Botkin said she's overcome an initial bout of nerves that came with making the varsity as a freshman.

"It's exciting. I really like it," she said. "I feel it's gone well, but I can do better."