Kennedy Girls Basketball

Kennedy's rally falls short at Cedar Falls

CEDAR FALLS - Cedar Rapids Kennedy put on a furious rally at Cedar Falls Friday night before losing, 74-65, in a Mississippi Valley Conference girls basketball game.

The 10th-ranked Cougars (1-1) chopped a 15-point deficit to just two points in the fourth quarter at 60-58 on a 3-pointer by Courtney Strait with 2:42 remaining, but the rally ended there.

Cedar Falls (3-2) made 9 of 10 free throws in the final minutes to regain control.

Strait made four 3-pointers and led Kennedy with 20 points. Kaylese Johnson and Mariah Simmons scored 12 points apiece.

Allie Wirth led Cedar Falls with 25 points. Krystal Graves added 16.

KENNEDY (65): Madison Meier 2 0-0 5, Courtney Strait 5 6-8 20, Kaylese Johnson 4 3-5 12, Paige Hendrickson 1 3-4 5, Stephanie Botkin 2 2-2 6, Mariah Simmons 4 2-2 12, Jordan Holmes 0 3-4 3, Taylor Wagner 0 0-1 0, Sarah Zinser 1 0-0 2, Capria Davis 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 19-26 65.

CEDAR FALLS (74): Allie Wirth 7 8-9 25, Imonee Qualls 3 3-5 9, Emily Neff 3 3-4 11, Krystal Graves 5 5-8 16, Kaz Brown 5 1-3 11, Kaitlyn Hennings 1 0-0 2, Mackenzie DeMuth 0 0-0 0, Brooke Craig 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 20-29 74.

Halftime - Cedar Falls 35, Kennedy 31. 3-point goals - Kennedy 6 (Strait 4, Johnson 1, Simmons 1), Cedar Falls 5 (Wirth 3, Neff 2). Fouled out - Qualls.

Young Kennedy girls down Waterloo West

WATERLOO - Sophomore Madi Meier scored 15 points and freshman Stephanie Botkin added 14 as Cedar Rapids Kennedy clipped Waterloo West, 56-42, in a Mississippi Valley Conference girls basketball game in Waterloo Tuesday night.

Courtney Strait scored nine points for the Cougars in their season opener.

Blaire Thomas topped Waterloo West (2-1) with 20 points.

KENNEDY (56): Meier 6 2-2 15, Strait 3 2-2 9, Simmons 1 0-0 2, Johnson 2 2-2 7, Hendrickson 2 0-0 4, Holmes 1 0-0 3, Botkin 5 4-5 14, Davis 0 0-0 0, Wagner 1 0-0 2, Zinser 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 10-11 56.

WATERLOO WEST (42): Duric 3 3-5 10, Puk 2 3-7 7, Hill 1 0-0 2, Moore 0 0-0 0, Thomas 8 4-5 20, Stokes 1 1-2 3. Totals 15 11-19 42.

3-point goals - Kennedy 4 (Strait, Meier, Johnson, Holmes), Waterloo West 1 (Duric).

Cougars clipped by Mount Vernon in jamboree

Taylor Jacobson poured in 19 points Friday night as Cedar Rapids Jefferson topped Alburnett, 43-17, in the 31st annual girls basketball jamboree at Kennedy High School.

Rachel Broghammer and Kaitlyn Davidson scored seven points apiece for the J-Hawks. Maddie Koolbeck blocked four shots for Jefferson and scored four points.

Six Metro schools participated in the Jamboree. Each exhibition game consisted of two eight-minute quarters.

Jefferson (43): Davidson 7, Blietz 0, Jacobson 19, Broghammer 7, Koolbeck 4, Jonas 4, Brathwaite 2, Bailey 0, Stromert 0, Towns 0, Evans 0.

Alburnett (17): Naeve 5, Comried 2, B. Casconi 4, K. Casconi 0, Miller 4, Martin 0, Sorenson 0, Freeland 2, Hand 0.

LINN-MAR 29, BENTON COMMUNITY 11

Mykaela Brandt scored 11 points to lead Linn-Mar past the Benton Community Bobcats. Kristen Eiles came off the bench to score eight points for the Lions.

Linn-Mar (29): Brandt 11, Strauel 3, Thrune 0, Cheatham 4, Major 0, Yearling 0, Harms 2, Eiles 8, Duggan 0, Koelker 0, Libenguth 1.

Benton (11): Mills 0, Weekley 8, Bridgewater 2, Brecht 0, Petrzelka 2, Brunnsen 0, Sindt 0, Roe 0, Larsen 0, Embray 0.

PRAIRIE 15, SOLON 12

Alisa Weiland and Courteney McCrary scored four points apiece as the Prairie Hawks trimmed Solon. Rylee Smith led the Spartans with six points.

Solon (12): Smith 6, Holubar 4, Cave 0, Breza 2, Rickels 0, K. Purdy 0, R.Purdy 0, Kramer 0, Anderson 0, Stinocher 0, Misel 0.

Prairie (15): Yanecek 2, Hutchins 2, Weiland 4, McCrary 4, Dellamuth 1, Ganske 0, Serbousek 2, Rotter 0.

WASHINGTON 29, MARION  14

Madison Kramer scored nine points and Jazz Royster added eight markers as No. 7 Cedar Rapids Washington defeated Marion.

Beth Knapp and Dani Peyton scored four points apiece for the Indians.

Marion (14): Scott 0, Kramer 0, Knapp 4, Peyton 4, Jones 1, Sahm 2, Korf 0, Cole 0, Baines 3, Deeney 0, Mohr 0, Redlinger 0.

Washington (29): Herb 3, Kramer 9, Royster 8, Franklin 3, Klaus 4, Goodlove 0, Foreman 0, Bjornsen 0, Glenski 0, Stone 0, Hobbs 2, Campbell 0, Detweiler 0, Gonder 0, Runge 0, Malcolm 0.

MOUNT VERNON 18, KENNEDY 17

Courtney Strait scored 10 points for No. 12 Cedar Rapids Kennedy in a one-point loss to Mount Vernon in the final game of the jamboree. Liz Skotowski led Mount Vernon with seven points.

Kennedy (17): Strait 10, Simmons 0, Johnson 0, Hendrickson 4, Botkin 3, Meier 0, Holmes 0, Corkery 0, Davis 0, Wagner 0, Dean 0, Zinser 0.

Mount Vernon (18): Chapman 3, Skotowski 7, Rice 0, Pisarik 0, Whitley 6, Signe 0, Giegerich 0, Wieditz 2.

Roloff excited about young Cougars

Dennis Roloff is glad he did not retire as the girls basketball coach at Kennedy High School after the 2010-11 campaign.

He retired as a full-time teacher and stepped down as the boys track coach, but elected to return for his 21st season with the girls basketball program.

He loves coaching and knew there were some talented young players on their way to the varsity.

One of the talented newcomers is Stephanie Botkin, a 6-foot freshman who will play for the big club as a ninth grader. Roloff also has promoted three sophomores to the varsity with Madi Meier, Jordan Holmes and Paige Hendrickson.

"I don't move kids up to have them sit on the bench," Roloff said. "If they move up, they play."

It's not a total youth movement, however. The Cougars feature Courtney Strait, an all-state guard who averaged 15.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3 steals and 1.5 assists last season.

Seniors Kaylese Johnson (5.0 ppg) and Mariah Simmons (3.1) also gained valuable experience last year when Kennedy finished 9-14. Roloff lists 19 players on the varsity with seven seniors, eight juniors, three sophomores and one freshman.

"I'm pretty excited about it," said Roloff, who begins his 21st season with a career mark of 301-155. "Boy, do we get up and down the floor. A lot of youth and excitement. When they get varsity experience, they're going to be pretty tough.

"I love to run, I love to press," he said. "This group is very quick. We'll match speed with anybody."

Kennedy graduated 11 seniors, so there are holes to fill. Olivia Meier averaged 10.1 points last year and has joined the basketball program at Upper Iowa, and the Cougars also lost Shauna Happel, Kassi Nunnikhoven, Kali Hildebrand, Kate Schulz, Kristen Huebsch, Dominique Wright, Ashley Schlueter, Kim Muench and others.

Kennedy played in the state tournament when Strait was a sophomore in 2010 and she thinks the Cougars have the ingredients to make another trip to Des Moines.

"I'm really excited," said Strait, who has signed with Truman State. "I think we do have enough talent. If we play like I know we can, and not worry about who scores and just get the job done, I have a feeling we can get there."