As area high school basketball teams gear up for the start of a new season, many will get a chance to see some simulated live action before their first game. The Columbus Wildcat girls are one of those teams, as they’ll join a number of squads at the Achieve Challenge Scrimmage in Tipton on Friday, November 18th. Columbus is coming off a 3-19 season but will be an older team this year. Leading scorer Lily Coil is back after her freshman season, and the Wildcats only graduate two seniors.

Along with getting in some on-court action, as part of the Achieve Challenge, Columbus and other participating teams will be holding canned food drives to collect donations for Community Action of Southeast Iowa. Any canned-food donations of soup, meat, vegetables, beans, spaghetti or tomato sauce can be dropped off with Columbus girls’ basketball coach Kasey Keltner.