The Columbus Wildcats will try to earn some home basketball wins tonight when they entertain New London in KCII Area Game of the Week action.

The Columbus girls are undefeated in the North division of the Southeast Iowa Super Conference and sit at 6-1 overall behind a dominant defense that allows only 36 points per game and forces almost 20 steals per contest.

Senior Lily Coil leads the team by scoring over 17 points a game and hitting 40 percent of her three-point shots, but Wildcats head coach Kasey Keltner tells KCII Sports that it’s the type of defense that senior guard Ariana Vergara played in their win Tuesday against Winfield-Mount Union that makes their engine hum.

“I thought her pressure on defense was fabulous,” Keltner says. “She did a great job not fouling, speeding the game up and getting the game going.”

The Columbus boys are 2-4 after a loss last time out, but a group of key players is emerging for the Wildcats, like Ellis Hills-Carrier, who is averaging a team-high 11-and-a-half points per game.

Fellow sophomores Drake Marin and Fritz Figaro are combining to score 15 points per contest. Head coach Marcus Hall tells KCII Sports that he knows his team is talented, it’s just a matter of figuring things out.

“We continue to ascend and put ourselves in decent shape,” Hall said. “We just need to practice [and] get everything sorted out.”

Columbus will be facing New London teams that are both winless. You can catch the Wildcats in action this evening with special KCII Area Game of the Week coverage starting at 5:30 on all KCII stations and streaming on KCIIradio.com and the KCII apps.