The Area Game of the Week takes its first trip to WACO High School and Bob Hilmer Court tonight on the KCII3 Stream as the home Warriors look to topple their Louisa County foe Columbus.

The WACO girls arrive in 2025 4-3 overall and 4-2 in the Superconference North after an overtime win on the road at Highland 64-59. Brenna Graber and Ella Huisenga each had double-doubles of 25 points and 10 rebounds, and 18 points and 11 boards, respectively. The Warriors put up and give up 43 points-per-game, shooting 28.9 percent from the field, 21.8 percent from three and 45.2 percent from the free throw line. WACO racks up more than 35 rebounds a contest. Graber leads WACO individually with 15 points and 2.1 steals a night.

The SEISC’s first place Columbus Wildcat girls put their unbeaten conference record on the line again tonight against WACO on the road. Columbus moved to 9-1 overall with a win against Pekin last night in a game where Isabel Rendon led the Wildcats with 17 points. The ‘Cats put up over 51 points-per-game, and give up over 34. Columbus shoots 30 percent from the field, 27.4 percent from three and 49.5 percent from the line. The Wildcats poke out a third-best in Class 2A 20.3 steals a night. Individually, Lily Coil leads Columbus with 15.7 points and nine boards a contest.

WACO girls Head Coach Lisa Graber joined KCII Sports on the Area Game of the Week postgame show after her team’s overtime win against Highland before the holiday break. “I think it was just a big confidence builder for them [the players]. It feels good going into Christmas. I think they’ll come back a lot more energized [after break], but I think it was good for them to take home as a nice gift for Christmas for sure,” Graber said. 

Columbus Head Coach Kasey Keltner also spoke with KCII Sports after his team’s victory over Pekin last night to preview their matchup with WACO. “Coach Graber does a great job. I think they have a good guard core. Kids play really hard, they rebound really well. It’s going to be a tough matchup for us going back-to-back and going over there tomorrow,” Keltner said.

WACO leads the girls’ series 13-9 dating back to 2007. Columbus has taken the last two contests.

The WACO boys kept their unbeaten conference campaign alive with a win in their last game against Highland 67-43 to move to 5-0 in the SEISC North and 5-1 overall. Christian Stacy was the top Warrior with 16 points and five assists. WACO scores 54 points-per-game, and gives up 46, shooting 39.8 percent from the floor, 28.7 percent from three and nearly 64 percent from the line. The Warriors pass out over 14 assists per game. Stacy is the individual leader with 18 points and 3.6 steals a game, both top five in the SEISC North.

The Columbus boys are 4-5 overall and 2-4 in the Superconference North after falling on the road to Pekin last night. Ellis Hills-Carrier led the ‘Cats with 18. Columbus scores over 48 points-per-game, and gives up 61, shooting 33.6 percent from the field, 25 percent from the outside and over 54 percent at the line. The Wildcats pile up more than 31 rebounds a contest, as well as pass out 10 assists. Hills-Carrier leads the ‘Cats individually in points, assists and blocks per night with 17.5, 2.8 and 1.1, respectively.

WACO boys Head Coach Chayse Roth spoke with KCII Sports on the Area Game of the Week postgame show after his team’s comfortable victory over Highland last month. “When we were forcing turnovers we did a really good job of finishing two-on-ones, three-on-twos, stuff like that after we got a turnover. That’s really what got us going offensively, and pretty much won us the game,” Roth said.

Columbus boys Head Coach Marcus Hall joined KCII Sports on the Area Game of the Week postgame show last night after his team’s loss to Pekin to preview WACO. “The defend really hard, they play really hard, they play fast. On film, it looks like they do everything fast. Their half court offense is run crisp. They push the pace, and then they try to pick you up and extend that pressure,” Hall said.

WACO has dominated the boys’ series, winning the last 20 games against the ‘Cats dating back to 2008.

You can hear tonight’s Area Game of the Week doubleheader between Columbus and WACO streaming exclusively online at KCIIRadio.com on the KCII3 Stream, beginning with pregame coverage of the girls game at 5:30, tipoff at 6, and coverage of the boys game to follow from WACO High School.