Linn-Mar Girls Basketball

New role for Stokes as Lions top Ballard

Kiah Stokes and Ballard star Taylor Greenfield are planning a vacation to the Dominican Republic this spring, but the two friends did not share any travel stories Saturday.

In fact, Stokes made life difficult for Greenfield in the 7th Annual Rivalry Saturday at the U.S. Cellular Center.

Stokes abandoned her normal defensive post near the basket and guarded Greenfield on the perimeter, an unusual and somewhat uncomfortable spot for the 6-foot-3 center from Linn-Mar. She handled her new assignment superbly.

Stokes stopped Greenfield when it counted to help Linn-Mar defeat Ballard, 50-40, in a battle of highly ranked teams.

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Lions roar past Kennedy in 2nd half

Three words said it all for Kennedy Coach Dennis Roloff after the Cougars became the latest team to feel the bite of the Linn-Mar Lions.

“Too many weapons.”

The Cougars played tenacious defense and relied on sharp shooting by Courtney Strait to stay close throughout the first half of Friday night’s tilt, but crumpled under the weight of a balanced second-half attack by the Lions. Kennedy (5-8, 5-6) fell 68-42 to the Valley’s top team.

No. 2 Linn-Mar (14-1, 10-1), which hadn’t played since last Thursday’s squeaker over  Washington, struggled to find shots in the first half as Kiah Stokes, their 6-foot-3 star, was double- and triple-teamed.

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Late run lifts Lions

The Kiah vs. Tia Show fizzled Thursday night.

Kiah Stokes, Linn-Mar's star player, missed four crucial free throws in the final 15 seconds. Tia Dawson, Washington's top player, fouled out and scored only four points.

It was not an instant classic, but Linn-Mar found a way to win a ballgame.  As usual.

The third-ranked Lions scored the last six points of the game on free throws and escaped No. 5 Washington, 44-41, in a Mississippi Valley Conference defensive battle at Washington.

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Stokes sets Linn-Mar scoring mark

Perched atop the Mississippi Valley Conference with Thursday night’s showdown against No. 5 Washington looming, No. 3 Linn-Mar is keeping a laser-like focus on playing as a team and staying in the win column, one game at a time.

But the Lions hit the pause button just over a minute into Tuesday night’s 69-21 drubbing of Dubuque Hempstead (3-9, 1-8) to celebrate the latest accomplishment by their star player, Kiah Stokes.

With her first bucket of the game, Stokes moved past former teammate Jaime Printy to become Linn-Mar’s all-time career scoring leader with 1,393 points. Printy, currently a starter for the University of Iowa women’s basketball team, played at Linn-Mar from 2005-2009.

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