Cedar Rapids Xavier girls' basketball runs past Decorah

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Xavier Saints forced pace. And turnovers, lots of them.

Class 4A fifth-ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier rattled off the first 14 points and rolled past Decorah, 61-16, in a non-conference girls' basketball game Tuesday night at Ron Thillen Gymnasium.

'Our goal is to make people play at a faster pace than what they're comfortable at,' Xavier Coach Tom Lilly said.

Consider it done on this day.

The Saints (2-0) stole the ball 24 times, which was a good portion of the Vikings' 39 turnovers.

Aubrey Jones celebrated her 17th birthday by leading the Saints with 14 points, plus four rebounds, four assists and four steals.

'A good way to celebrate it,' she said. 'It was a good defensive game for us. We want to be a fast-paced team, and we were able to trap them in the halfcourt. We were running and making it hard on them.'

Alabama-Birmginham commit Caitlynn Daniels added 13 points, five assists and five steals. Emily Jasper and Aree Beckmann chipped in 10 points apiece.

Beckmann is part of an extremely promising freshman class; five of them are on the varsity roster.

'We're a young team, and everything we do is a new scenario for a lot of these kids,' Lilly said. 'Our hope is that our freshmen won't play like freshmen.'

Tuesday's outcome was never in doubt. Xavier led 18-2 after a first quarter in which the Vikings (0-1) turned it over 16 times. It was 37-4 at halftime, 51-8 after three quarters.

Compounding Decorah's ball-handling issues was the fact that the Vikings shot 4 of 21 from the field, 8 of 24 from the free-throw line.

Only seven varsity players dressed for the Vikings. Isabella Knutson led them with seven points.

Xavier opens Mississippi Valley Conference action Friday at Cedar Rapids Jefferson. Decorah is at MFL MarMac on Thursday. 

CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER 61, DECORAH 16

At C.R. Xavier

DECORAH (16): Ambria Pipho 0-3 0-1 0, Kylah Quandahl 1-6 3-6 5, Isabella Knutson 2-5 3-9 7, Emma Nierengarten 1-2 1-4 3, Skyler Malone 0-1 0-0 0, Amanda Kuehner 0-3 0-0 0, Abigal Milburn 0-1 1-4 1. Totals 4-21 8-24 16.

C.R. XAVIER (61): Caitlynn Daniels 6-11 0-0 13, Aubrey Jones 7-9 0-1 14, Libby Arnold 3-6 0-0 6, Julie Shoger 1-5 0-0 2, Emily Jasper 4-8 2-2 10, Brielle Bastian 1-4 0-1 2, Aree Beckmann 5-10 0-0 10, Mary Moeder 1-3 0-0 2, Isabella Barreto 0-0 0-0 0, Grace Ries 0-1 0-0, Maya Karl 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 29-58 2-4 61.

Halftime: Xavier 37, Decorah 4. 3-point goals: Decorah 0-1 (Quandahl 0-1), Xavier 1-8 (Daniels 1-2, Arnold 0-1, Bastian 0-1, Beckmann 0-2, Moeder 0-2). Team fouls: Decorah 9, Xavier 19. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Decorah 25 (Nierengarten 6), Xavier 27 (Shoger 6). Assists: Decorah 1 (Quandahl), Xavier 12 (Daniels 5). Steals: Decorah 10 (Pipho, Kuehner 3), Xavier 24 (Daniels 5). Turnovers: Decorah 39, Xavier 15.

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