Lexi Noonan's career night lifts C.R. Xavier girls past C.R. Kennedy, 52-37

CEDAR RAPIDS — It wasn't fire and brimstone. It was more soothing.

Call it the hot bath of timeouts. The stress ball of timeouts.

Cedar Rapids Xavier girls' basketball coach Tom Lilly, who has been known for some fire and brimstone over his outstanding career, just wanted his team to relax and play when it got down to Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 7-0, Tuesday night.

'We just needed to calm down and play our game,' said Xavier's Lexi Noonan, after playing a starring role in her team's 52-37 win at Kennedy. 'We were just too nervous, throwing the ball away, not playing how Xavier basketball plays. So we just needed to get collected and go from there.'

The Class 4A 11th-ranked Saints (6-3) worked their way back by quarter's end, grabbed a two-point halftime lead and completely took over in the fourth quarter. The forward duo of Noonan and Kylie Brown were the difference.

Noonan made 8 of her 13 shots from the field and all eight free-throw attempts in a career-high scoring night. Brown finished with 12 points and a team-best seven rebounds.

Kennedy (3-6) had no answer for them.

'It really helped that I had a height advantage on my player,' Noonan said. 'We did a lot of inside-out game, and they were able to hit the low post where I was posting up. I was able to finish it for them.'

Xavier limited Kennedy (3-6) to 28.5-percent shooting. If it wasn't for the heroics of senior guard Hailey Dolphin, it really would have been a rough night for the Cougars.

Dolphin tied Noonan in scoring honors, posting an almost identical line: 8 of 14 field goals and six consecutive free throws. She also led her team with seven rebounds.

It still wasn't enough.

'We found some inside game,' said Xavier Coach Tom Lilly, whose team takes a four-game win streak into the holiday break. 'We thought we could do a little more ground it and pound it, so to speak. Try and take advantage of our height. We missed some chippees, but sometimes it's a situation where you've got to preach to them that the memory banks have to be very short. We saw some kids who were working on that tonight.'

AT C.R. KENNEDY

C.R. XAVIER (52): Kylie Brown 5-9 2-2 12, Lexi Noonan 8-13 8-8 24, Amelia Ivester 1-4 0-0 2, Caitlynn Daniels 1-5 1-2 3, Kiana Stanek 2-7 1-2 7, Jessica Callahan 0-0 0-0 0, Maria Steffen 0-1 0-0 0, Emily Jasper 1-3 2-4 4, Addy Hoffman 0-0 0-0 0, Maddix Stovie 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-42 14-18 52.

C.R. KENNEDY (37): Madison Friauf 1-6 2-2 4, Auddie Alepra 3-14 0-2 6, Olivia Hellweg 1-7 0-0 2, Margaret Gallagher 0-1 0-0 0, Hailey Dolphin 8-14 6-6 24, Ashley Vis 0-1 0-0 0, Laila Sain 0-0 1-2 1, Tessa Steffen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 13-44 9-12 37.

Halftime — Xavier 20, Kennedy 18. 3-point goals — Xavier 2-10 (Brown 0-1, Daniels 0-3, Stanek 2-6), Kennedy 2-11 (Friauf 0-4, Hellweg 0-3, Dolphin 2-2, Steffen 0-1). Rebounds — Xavier 30 (Brown 7), Kennedy 28 (Dolphin 7). Total fouls — Xavier 9, Kennedy 15. Fouled out — None. Turnovers — Xavier 7, Kennedy 11.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com