Linn-Mar girls head into postseason on a win streak

MARION – Streaky only begins to describe it.

But at least the Linn-Mar girls' basketball team goes into the postseason on the positive side of that up-and-down thing. A 58-39 win Friday night on Senior Night at the Lions gym was Linn-Mar's fifth consecutive.

That's after a six-game losing streak. There's a week of practice ahead before the Lions begin Class 5A regional play against Cedar Rapids Washington, but they feel they are ready.

'We haven't peaked, yet,” said Linn-Mar's Amanda Ollinger. 'We're close, but we haven't peaked, yet.”

Ollinger, the Iowa Hawkeye recruit, finished with 19 points, including four 3-pointers. Linn-Mar (15-7) was slow out of the gates, trailing after a quarter, 6-4, but gradually picking up the pace and the lead.

'It's Senior Night, which is always kind of a weird environment,” said Linn-Mar Coach Jamie Brandt. 'The pregame is a little different, so I think we were a little flat that first half. We came out more aggressive in the second half and played a lot better.”

Nearly half of Linn-Mar's field-goal attempts came from distance (25 of 47). Brandt credited much of that to Prairie playing a packed-in zone defense, though she did admit her team could have done a better job of getting the ball inside.

Olivia Montague added 11 points for the Lions, with Nikita Sharma, Kamryn Finley and Lannie Nietert contributing nine each.

Prairie (4-17) had no one score in double figures, with freshman Halle Person leading the team with nine. The Hawks play Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Ollinger's old school, in a 5A regional opener next week.

'It wasn't our best outing, but we did what we needed to do and got done what we needed to get done, which was win,” Ollinger said. 'No matter how it happens, that's the ultimate goal.”

'We're playing good basketball right now,” Brandt said. 'We're playing unselfish. We didn't shoot it as well as we wanted to tonight, but … I'm proud of them. We battled and got the win.”

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AT LINN-MAR

C.R. PRAIRIE (39): Emilie Rotter 1-3 2-2 4, Olivia Usher 3-10 0-2 7, Halle Person 3-11 2-4 9, Lynsey Altenhofer 2-10 0-0 6, Taylor Moenk 2-5 0-1 4, Makenzie Stoffer 0-1 1-2 1, Madalynn Adams 0-0 0-0 0, Lauren Kuch 1-2 5-6 8. Totals 12-42 10-17 39.

LINN-MAR (58): Nikita Sharma 3-7 2-2 9, Lexi Frese 0-1 0-0 0, Amanda Ollinger 7-11 1-1 19, Olivia Montague 4-10 0-0 11, Kamryn Finley 3-9 1-1 9, Brittney Lancial 0-1 0-2 0, Claire Larson 0-2 1-2 1, Megan Murphy 0-1 0-0 0, Lannie Nietert 4-5 1-2 9, Lauren Swanson 0-0 0-0 0, Natalie Rosss 0-0 0-0 0, Rylie Frese 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-47 6-10 58.

Halftime – Linn-Mar 25, Prairie 15. 3-point goals – Prairie 5-14 (Usher 1-3, Person 1-4, Altenhofen 2-5, Moenk 0-1, Kuch 1-1), Linn-Mar 10-25 (Sharma 1-4, Ollinger 4-7, Montague 3-7, finley 2-5, Lancial 0-1, Larson 0-1, Murphy 0-1). Rebounds – Prairie 36 (Person 10), Linn-Mar 28 (Ollinger, Finley 5). Total fouls – Prairie 10, Linn-Mar 14. Fouled out – None. Turnovers – Prairie 12, Linn-Mar 9.

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