COMMUNITY JOURNALISM: Waskow ready for more Coe memories

By Chad Cooper, community contributor

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Coe women's basketball team had a memorable weekend in clinching the Iowa Conference championship last weekend.

Arguably no Kohawk had a more memorable week than guard Kayla Waskow.

Waskow became Coe's all-time leading scorer last Thursday in a win over rival Cornell. Waskow had 16 points against the Rams, breaking Shelly Howe's record of 1,225 points. Waskow followed that up a few nights later with 16 points and 13 rebounds to help her team defeat Simpson for the tournament title.

The win secured a trip to St. Paul, Minn., to play 21st-ranked Wisconsin-River Falls in an NCAA opening round game today at 5:30.

A 5-foot-10 guard, Waskow may have an ‘S' for senior next to her name in the program. But a fifth year of athletic eligibility remains after a medical red-shirt her freshman year. Waskow was a starter for the Kohawks as a freshman, but tore her ACL minutes into one of her first few games.

Waskow has bounced back to become the spark and one of the team leaders for the Kohawks (20-7). She leads the team with 15.4 points per game and is second in rebounds at seven a game.

“It's been really awesome to be part of a team with such great people,” she said. “We all get along really well and as much time as we spend together on the court, we spend just as much time off. I think that's translated to our success on the court.”

This is Coe's second trip to the NCAA tournament in a row. Last year's team advanced to the Sweet 16.

“It was great making it to the Sweet 16 last year and once you've had that experience you want to go back,” Waskow said. “As a team we are not ready for the season to be over and are very excited for the opportunity to still be playing.

“We have set high expectations for ourselves and are all looking forward to playing again (today).”