One of the best hardwood rivalries in southeast Iowa is ready for its next chapter tonight when the Iowa Mennonite School boys and girls basketball teams welcome Lone Tree to Hillcrest Union in Kalona.

The IMS girls enter the game with a 1-1 overall record. They scored their first win of the season last time out when they knocked off Keota in thrilling fashion on the road 49-48 as Suzanna Yoder sunk three free throws with no time remaining. On the season IMS is led by Yoder, last year’s class 1A scoring champion in Iowa is back on top of the state again averaging 24 points per game. She also holds the team lead with nine assists. Yani Gutierrez leads IMS on the glass with 24 rebounds.

The Lone Tree girls come into the game with an overall record of 0-2 after losses to Danville and Highland to start the year. The Lady Lions are led on the season by Chloe Jacque scoring 10 points per game, seventh most in the Southeast Iowa Superconference North. Maddie Jacque leads Lone Tree with three assists and Sara Branson leads the Lions on the glass with 13 boards, sixth in the Superconference. Iowa Mennonite swept the season series between the two schools last year, winning the two games by a combined seven points.

The Iowa Mennonite boys open the season tonight against the rival Lions. IMS has had two tune-up contests to this point, beating Mid-Prairie 27-25 in the IMS jamboree and knocking off Holy Trinity Catholic 60-49 in their Hall of Pride game last week. IMS was 21-4 a season ago, coming up just one game shy of the state tournament, falling in the substate final to Lynnville-Sully 52-48. Iowa Mennonite will be looking to replace their top three leading scorers after losing Mitchell Schmeider, Cole Ours and Reggie Borntrager to graduation. Ours was also the team leader in assists, Schmeider the team leader in rebounds.

Lone Tree was 10-12 a season ago. The Lions lost leading scorer Brock Smith to graduation but return their second through sixth leading scorers, and their assist leader Keegan Edwards. The IMS boys swept the season series between these two a year ago winning 74-33 in Kalona and 63-53 in Lone Tree.

You can hear all of the action tonight between IMS and the Lions on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee pregame show at 5p.m. tip of the girls game at 5:30 with the boys to follow.