A slump, then an airing of grievances, then a breakout for Cedar Rapids Xavier

CEDAR RAPIDS — This isn’t Festivus season, but the Xavier Saints held an extended airing-of-grievances session Tuesday night.

They had just suffered their fourth consecutive loss, against Dubuque Senior. The locker room wasn’t a happy place.

“Our team chemistry has been a little off,” Kyla Mason said. “Our captains thought a team meeting might help us get it figured out. We had a long talk, until about 11 o’clock, talking about where we want to be.”

Three nights later, the stars played like stars, and the Saints played more like themselves.

“I think we got a bunch of things figured out,” Libby Fandel said after Class 4A sixth-ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier snapped out of its slump with an emphatic 62-46 victory over 5A No. 11 Linn-Mar in a Mississippi Valley Conference girls’ basketball game Friday night at Ron Thillen Gymnasium.

Fandel scored 24 points, Mason added 18 and the Saints (12-7 overall, 7-5 MVC) shot 58.1 percent from the field (25 of 43) and accumulated 15 assists.

“I think that was one of the complaints (Tuesday),” Xavier Coach Tom Lilly said. “Not everybody was sharing the ball.

“Wednesday and Thursday, we had a couple of nice practices. We put the zone (defense) back in. I think we were tired of having opponents just worry about man-to-man. Let’s give them something else to think about.”

This performance may have given a lot of 4A teams something to think about going forward.

“We all wanted this one,” Fandel said. “Especially for our seniors. They hadn’t beaten Linn-Mar since their freshman year.”

By the middle of the second quarter, it was pretty clear that this was Xavier’s night. An eight-point run made it 23-11, and it was 29-17 at halftime.

Linn-Mar (12-7, 7-5) got within eight on three occasions in the third quarter, but Xavier stung the Lions again with a 17-5 run to start the final period and led by as many as 25.

Fandel and Mason combined to hit 17 of 27 shots from the floor, with Fandel tacking on six assists and five steals.

Yes, the stars played like stars.

“The past couple of weeks, I’ve been in the gym every night, working,” Fandel said.

Emma Arnold and Sydney Huber tallied seven points apiece; Huber amassed eight rebounds, four assists and four steals.

According to Lilly, Arnold had a crucial voice in Tuesday’s meeting.

“Emma is the straw that stirs our drink,” he said. “The kids respect what she has to say.”

Taylor Brunson led Linn-Mar with 14 points. Zoe Kennedy added 13, Ellie Daubenmier 11.

BOYS: Xavier 77, Linn-Mar 47

The Class 3A sixth-ranked Saints jolted Linn-Mar with eight 3-pointers in the first quarter (four by Aidan Yamilkoski), and led by as many as 35 points before cruising home.

Xavier (12-5, 6-4) stormed to a 32-6 lead after the first quarter, and it was 41-6 about two minutes into the second.

Yamilkoski finished with 17 points, leading an attack in which four Saints reached double figures.

Josef Lemker and Joe Bean added 14 points apiece.

Davis Kern paced Linn-Mar (6-10, 5-6) with 16 points.

Linn-Mar 62, Cedar Rapids Xavier 46

At C.R. Xavier

LINN-MAR (46): Ellie Daubenmier 4-6 3-4 11, Tessa Casebolt 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor Brunson 6-17 2-3 14, Dreya Kern 3-8 1-2 8, Zoe Kennedy 6-12 0-0 13, Meredith Koenen 0-0 0-0 0, Emily Koranda 0-1 0-0 0, Maddy Blandford 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-44 6-9 46.

CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER (62): Emma Arnold 3-6 0-0 7, Madden Wilson 0-1 1-2 1, Libby Fandel 10-16 3-4 24, Sydney Huber 3-4 0-0 7, Kyla Mason 7-11 4-4 18, Aaliyah Beier 2-4 0-0 5, Ava Turner 0-1 0-0 0, Taylor Rexroth 0-0 0-0 0, Reese Komenda 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-43 8-10 62.

Linn-Mar 9 8 13 16 — 46

C.R. Xavier 15 14 14 19 — 62

3-point goals: Linn-Mar 2-14 (Brunson 0-4, Kern 1-3, Kennedy 1-7), Xavier 4-9 (Arnold 1-2, Fandel 1-3, Huber 1-2, Beier 1-2). Team fouls: Linn-Mar 13, Xavier 12. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Linn-Mar 21 (Brunson 4), Xavier 25 (Huber 8). Assists: Linn-Mar 8 (Brunson 3), Xavier 15 (Fandel 6). Steals: Linn-Mar 8 (Kennedy 4), Xavier 10 (Fandel 5). Turnovers: Linn-Mar 17, Xavier 15.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com