Wahawks grind past Xavier for 12th straight win

CEDAR RAPIDS -- The Xavier Saints couldn't quite grasp the basketball equivalent of a foreign language Tuesday night.Jadyn Spencer hit both ends of a one-and-one with 17 seconds left to break a tie, and Class 4A sixth-ranked Waterloo West defeated No. 11 Xavier, 32-29, in a Mississippi Valley Conference girls' basketball game Tuesday night at Ron Thillen Gymnasium.West (14-2 overall, 10-2 MVC) won its 12th straight game. The Wahawks haven't lost since Dec. 7."We're just playing well together right now," Spencer said. "And we have a lot of potential to keep getting better."This was a matchup of two of the MVC's stingiest defenses. And that's how the game went down.The Saints (12-5, 8-4) couldn't solve West's 1-3-1 zone. They coughed up 27 turnovers, and they missed a number of shots inside 5 feet."We were preparing for a team that plays totally foreign to everyone else," said Xavier Coach Tom Lilly. "Nobody else runs a 1-3-1."It's not as if the Saints didn't have their opportunities. Annie Dale's baseline drive gave Xavier a 27-23 lead with 4:55 to go, but the Saints managed just one more basket the rest of the way.Haley Puk's 3-pointer -- her only points of the game -- gave West a 29-27 advantage. Alex Saxen's basket tied it at 29-all with 1:15 to go.Spencer was fouled by Krissi Tow as she attacked the lane. She made both foul shots, then after Saxen misfired, she added one more with 0.9 seconds left."I've got to give our kids credit," said West Coach Tony Pappas. "It was a physical game, and Xavier took away a lot of things. But they found a way to win."Spencer led all scorers with 17 points. She was the lone Wahawk in double figures.Dale (14 points) and Saxen (10) pulled the majority of the offensive load for Xavier.The loss came on the heels of a 38-37 defeat against West Des Moines Dowling on Saturday."That's two, back to back, and that's extremely disappointing," Lilly said. "We came up a play or two short. Again."To walk away with a loss, especially with our defense doing an extremely solid job, it's disappointing. And it doesn't get any easier."Xavier hosts No. 3 Iowa City West on Thursday. Waterloo West is at Dubuque Senior on Friday.

AT C.R. XAVIER

WATERLOO WEST (32): Sarah Sand 0-2 0-0 0, Haley Puk 1-4 0-2 3, Jordan Johnston 4-12 0-1 9, Zinka Duric 1-5 0-1 3, Jadyn Spencer 4-12 9-12 17, Hannah Swartzendruber 0-0 0-0 0, Ashley Hill 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 10-35 9-16 32.

C.R. XAVIER (29): Annie Dale 6-8 1-3 14, Sarah Dickes 0-3 0-0 0, Alex Saxen 4-8 1-2 10, Emily Walvoord 1-5 1-2 3, Krissi Tow 1-3 0-2 2, Tyler Sampson 0-1 0-0 0, Alex Bartz 0-1 0-0 0, Lisa Boomgarden 0-0 0-0 0, Katlyn Andersen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 12-31 3-9 29.

Halftime: West 16, Xavier 13.

3-point goals: West 3-14 (Sand 0-2, Puk 1-2, Johnston 1-3, Duric 1-4, Spencer 0-3), Xavier 2-5 (Dale 1-1, Dickes 0-1, Saxen 0-2, Sampson 0-1).

Team fouls: West 9, Xavier 18.

Fouled out: none.

Rebounds: West 21 (Duric 8), Xavier 28 (Tow 6).

Assists: West 4 (Johnston 2), Xavier 5 (Saxen 2).

Steals: West 11 (Duric, Spencer 3), Xavier 7 (Dale, Dickes 2).

Turnovers: West 20, Xavier 27.