Xavier bests Davenport North to return to State

DE WITT - Xavier turned up the tempo and raced past Davenport North and back to the girls state basketball tournament.

Seniors Lizzy Bailey and Morgan Breitbach combined for 44 points and led the Saints past the Wildcats, 65-52, last night in a Class 4A regional final.

Xavier (17-6) returns to state after a one-year hiatus.

Despite suffering only the first losing season in school history a year ago, the Saints were a last-second bucket away from qualifying for state, falling to North Scott in the regional final.

Xavier Coach Tom Lilly termed the loss 'bitter.”

Bailey went further.

'Last year really stunk,” said Bailey, who led all scorers with 25 points. Breitbach added 19. 'We just wanted to get back to state this year and see what we could do down at ‘The Well.'”

Lilly said he thought Bailey took last year's loss 'personal” and that's why she may have been extra motivated this time around.

'Lizzy Bailey had 26 that night and I think she just decided that she wasn't going to let that happen again,” he said.

Bailey and Breitbach were sophomores on Xavier's 2013 state championship team.

'It's an indescribable feeling (winning state) and we knew we wanted to get back,” Bailey said. 'Morgan and I have been playing together since kindergarten. We just kind of stick together. We knew we could do it this year.”

Xavier scored the first six points of the second half to build a 27-17 lead. North never got closer than six points the rest of the game.

Bailey scored nine points and Breitbach eight to fuel Xavier's 19-point third quarter that gave the Saints a 40-31 lead.

Xavier made 17 of 28 free throws in the fourth quarter to salt the game away.

Xavier's defense held North sophomore Jinaya Houston to 13 points. She was averaging 21.4. Freshman Paige Bradford led the Wildcats (17-6) with 21.

'They had three pretty good players, so we knew they had two players we could help off of,” Breitbach said. 'We got those help-side hands into the passing lanes and did not let their studs get the ball.”

Xavier plays top-ranked Harlan (23-0) in a Class 4A quarterfinal at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 3, in Des Moines.