Cedar Falls edges Kennedy in a classic

CEDAR RAPIDS — It was everything a regional final should be.

'It hurts, and we're disappointed,' said Cedar Rapids Kennedy girls basketball coach Tony Vis. 'But that was an epic high school basketball game.'

Both teams made clutch plays in the closing minutes, but Cedar Falls' Ally Conrad made the last one, a running bank shot from the left side with 0.9 seconds remaining that gave the Tigers a 51-49 victory in a Class 5A thriller Tuesday night at Kennedy High School.

'I saw an open lane, so I went for it and I shot it,' Conrad said. 'I just can't contain my excitement.'

Cedar Falls (18-5) advances to its first state tournament since 2008. The Tigers will face No. 2 Waukee (21-2) in a quarterfinal on Wednesday, March 4, at Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines.

Kennedy retired at 16-7. The Cougars entered the fourth quarter with a six-point lead, but the Tigers rallied, then made one more play at the end.

'It just came down to who had the ball last,' Vis said. '(Conrad) beat us off the bounce, and we didn't rotate at the right time.

'That was two really good teams making plays. It would have been different if they'd gone up three, we didn't respond and lost by seven and went to the locker room mad.'

Emma Gerdes scored eight of her team-high 14 points in the fourth quarter, and the Tigers led, 46-43, with 1:47 left.

Kennedy's Sydney Hayden hit a 3-pointer to tie it with 1:26 to go, then Cedar Falls answered with Jamie Becker's three-point play with 1:05 to play.

But Linden Runels nailed a trey for her only points of the night to get the Cougars even at 49-49 with at the 0:50 mark.

Cedar Falls melted clock, called timeout with 32 seconds left, then ran a weave along the top of the key to kill more time. Finally, Conrad made her move, and it turned to be a winning move.

The horn sounded and the Tigers celebrated, but Kennedy had successfully called its final timeout, and 9-tenths of a second was put back on the clock. Cedar Falls broke up Ashley Hamilton's desparation pass at halfcourt, and the Tigers celebrated again.

Lela Sellers led the Cougars with 16 points. Hayden added 11 points and five assists; Stephanie Botkin registered nine points and six rebounds.

'They went to a zone, stopped our drives and really extended that zone,' Sellers said. 'They played well. We played well. We were going at it hard.'

Kennedy led, 42-36, headed to the fourth quarter, but went 6:34 without a field goal as the Tigers put together a 10-1 to take the lead.

Vis said, despite the loss, the legacy of this year's team will be defined by chemistry.

'Last year's group was a talented group, but this group got along so well,' he said. 'I congratulated these girls afterward on learning what it was like to play as a team.'

CEDAR FALLS 51, CEDAR RAPIDS KENNEDY 49 (Class 5A Regional Final)

At C.R. Kennedy

CEDAR FALLS (51): Jamie Becker 4-8 2-3 10, Emma Gerdes 5-9 3-3 14, Addison Long 2-8 0-0 5, Ally Conrad 3-4 0-0 7, Adrienne Boettger 2-4 3-5 7, Kiana Barney 3-7 0-0 8, Lauryn Kramer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-40 8-11 51.

C.R. KENNEDY (49): Ashley Hamilton 1-3 0-0 2, Sydney Hayden 4-12 0-0 11, Lela Sellers 6-9 3-3 16, Linden Runels 1-3 0-0 3, Stephanie Botkin 4-13 1-2 9, Hailey Dolphin 3-3 2-2 8, Katelyn Dye 0-2 0-0 0, Brinley Milbrath 0-1 0-0 0, Olivia Hellweg 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-46 6-7 49.

Halftime: Cedar Falls 23, Kennedy 22. 3-point goals: Cedar Falls 5-15 (Becker 0-3, Gerdes 1-3, Long 1-4, Conrad 1-1, Barney 2-4), Kennedy 5-17 (Hamilton 0-2, Hayden 3-11, Sellers 1-2, Runels 1-1, Botkin 0-1). Team fouls: Cedar Falls 11, Kennedy 15. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Cedar Falls 23 (Long 6), Kennedy 27 (Botkin 6). Assists: Cedar Falls 9 (Long 4), Kennedy 12 (Hayden 5). Steals: Cedar Falls 7 (Conrad 3), Kennedy 5 (Runels 3). Turnovers: Cedar Falls 13, Kennedy 12.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com