It is opening day of the 2021-22 girls basketball season and three KCII teams will hit the hardwood in Lone Tree for the annual four corners shootout.

A pair of South Iowa Cedar League and Southeast Iowa Super Conference teams will battle tonight with the Lions hosting Iowa Valley and Highland facing Keota. Lone Tree finished 4-12 last winter and sixth in the SEISC-North Division with a 2-6 mark. Kasey Chown headlines the returners after a second team all conference year where she averaged 11.3 points and 5.8 boards a game. They need to replace 49% of their scoring from 2020-21. Iowa Valley is coming off of a 13-9 campaign, but they lost their top two scorers to graduation. 

Highland seeks improvement from a 2-13 campaign where they lost just two players to graduation. Dani Laughlin was a second team all conference selection as a sophomore averaging 14.9 points and 3.9 steals a contest. The Huskies still provide some youth this season with just two seniors, but have a deep junior class of seven. Keota was 2-15 last year and they have one senior back in Taylor Kindred. The 5’9’’ forward compiled 8.9 points and 6.8 boards a game. Highland has won the last five meetings between these schools dating back to 2010. 

All four teams will come back tomorrow for day two of the tournament where the Huskies will battle the Tigers and the Lions host the Eagles. The tournament begins at 6 p.m. tonight in Lone Tree.