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By Lizzy McWhinney, Xavier senior

CEDAR RAPIDS – The Xavier girls’ basketball team continues to improve as the regular season nears its end.

On Jan. 22, the Saints played at Prairie High School and fought through the whole game, continuing to shoot well. The Saints shot 19 for 42, or 45.2 percent, but Prairie won, 54-47.

For the Saints’ Senior Night on Jan. 25, they hosted Cedar Falls. Xavier had five seniors – Kayla Armstrong, Lisa Boomgarden, Alli Chorzempa, Sarah Dickes and Ashley Stulken – and the Saints finished their Senior Night on a positive note, winning 62-36 with the help of 14 points from Hayley Deutmeyer and six rebounds by Stulken and Maddie Bertsch.

“It was great to see the support from the parents, coaches, teammates and fans who have been there for us for all four years,” captain Dickes said. “It meant a lot and it was a great night.”

On Jan. 29, Xavier played at Waterloo West and, down 31-17 at halftime, got a boost from Armstrong. She helped the team out with 13 points and seven steals as Xavier rallied for a 52-49 win. The Saints played Linn-Mar again on Feb. 1 in a Mississippi Valley Conference game at Linn-Mar. Stulken led the team with 15 points and Armstrong was right behind her with 11 points.

The game went into two double overtimes until Linn-Mar won, 57-54.

The Saints play at Cedar Rapids Jefferson tonight and at  Iowa City West on Friday.