Another win for The Grinch

Cedar Rapids Xavier’s girls’ basketball team beat Cedar Rapids Washington, 61-36, Friday night, given their Grinch tie-wearing and retiring head coach Tom Lilly his 630th-career victory

Jeff Johnson

Dec. 20, 2024 10:08 pm

Cedar Rapids Xavier girls' basketball coach Tom Lilly sports his Grinch Christmas tie during his team's game Friday night at Cedar Rapids Washington. The Saints won, 61-36. (Photo by Jeff Johnson, The Gazette)

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CEDAR RAPIDS - The Grinch didn’t steal Christmas. He just added one more win to his remarkable career total Friday night.

The Grinch in this case was Tom Lilly. That’s not a judgement on his personality or anything like that.

It was his tie, a festive green, white and red number featuring the classic fictional character who ransacked Whoville.

Lilly is retiring at the end of this girls’ basketball season after 40 years as a head coach. His Cedar Rapids Xavier team gave him a nice Christmas present with a 61-36 victory over Cedar Rapids Washington on the southeast side.

That’s an even 630 for The Grinch. Err, the coach.

“I’d say it’s probably 10 years that I’ve worn this tie,” Lilly said. “Sometimes I’m superstitious about wearing it or not wearing it. Potts said ‘I’m wearing my Santa stuff, so you’ve got to wear it.’ So I said OK.”

Potts is Lilly’s longtime assistant coach Stephanie Potts, who indeed wore a jovial outfit featuring Old Saint Nick.

“But sometimes it doesn’t take much to distract high school girls,” Lilly said. “You put something like this on, they spend more time going ‘I really like your tie,’ instead of winning basketball games.”

Xavier (5-2) scored this game’s first 11 points, running up a lead of 13 after the first quarter and 30-15 at halftime. The Saints consistently turned over Washington (2-5), which led to points in a hurry.

Kansas-bound Libby Fandel led Xavier with 20 points, though others were good offensively as well. Freshman Samantha Dorrity came off the bench with 12 points, Madden Wilson had 11.

Samantha Becker had 20 points for Wash, which had 20 turnovers.

“We have been able to sustain and live off our our defense,” Lilly said. “That helped us a lot. And Libby has been good with getting her teammates involved.”

Xavier's Madden Wilson (left) under pressure from Washington's Samantha Becker (center) and Sira Doumbia during the first half of their Mississippi Valley Conference girls basketball game at Cedar Rapids Washington High School in southeast Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Friday, December 20, 2024. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

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AT CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON

CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER (61): Taylor Rexroth 0-0 0-0 0, Libby Fandel 7-15 2-2 20, Reese Komenda 2-5 0-0 5, Madden Wilson 4-12 0-0 11, Joselle Lang 1-4 4-6 7, Cayleigh O’Brien 2-5 0-0 4, Brooklyn Emerson 0-0 0-0 0, Macie Herting 1-1 0-0 2, Gianna Pino 0-0 0-0 0, Ella Arens 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-56 7-10 61.

CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON (36): Sira Doumbia 1-4 1-4 3, Hailey Becker 0-0 0-0 0, Lily Belle Barker 2-9 1-2 6, Samantha Becker 7-11 5-8 20, Tashi Fields 1-3 0-0 3, Lillie Dostal 1-4 0-2 2, Jamiah Malone 0-1 0-0 0, Jayla Strong 0-5 0-0 0, Gabi Pedroso 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 12-38 9-18 36.

Halftime - Xavier 30, Washington 15. 3-point goals - Xavier 10-26 (Fandel 4-10, Komenda 1-1, Wilson 3-6, Land 1-2, Dorrity 1-5, O’Brien 0-2), Washington 3-12 (Barker 1-5, Fields 1-2, S. Becker 1-2, Strong 0-3). Rebounds - Xavier 39 (Fandel 9, Wilson, Dorrity 7), S. Becker, Doumbia 9). Total fouls - Xavier 13, Washington 9. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Xavier 12, Washington 19.

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