The KCII Area Game of the Week returns to Riverside this evening for a non-conference doubleheader between the Highland Huskies and the English Valleys Bears.

The Huskie girls will be looking to break back into the win column tonight after a rivalry loss to Lone Tree Tuesday 67-24. Senior Katie Herrig led the way with seven points. Highland is 7-4 overall and 5-4 in the Superconference North. Highland scores 54 points-per-game and gives up 47, shooting over 35 percent from the field, 27 percent from beyond the arc and 48 percent at the line. The Huskies record 14 assists, 14 steals and a second-best in Class 1A 44.3 rebounds a night. Individual leader is Kamryn Fink with her 17.3 points and 16.2 boards a contest.

The English Valleys Bears have performed exceptionally well for a squad that boasts zero players older than a sophomore. The Bears are 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the South Iowa Cedar League East after their 34-24 win over BGM Tuesday. EV puts up 47 points-per-game and gives up just 34, shooting 37 percent from the floor, 26 percent from three and 58 percent at the line. Not only do the Bears rebound well at 30 boards a night, but also flex their defensive prowess, poking out 16 steals per game. Individually, Ava Gehrking leads EV with 14 points an outing.

Highland Head Coach Jody Fink spoke with KCII Sports live postgame following his team’s loss to Lone Tree Tuesday about their recent issue with turnovers and rebounding. “Everybody has to crash the boards. Everybody has to want the rebound, take care of the ball and limit those turnovers. Those are the two things that are just killing us here lately,” Fink said. 

The Lady Bears lead the series 5-3 dating back to 2009 and have taken four of the last five in the series.

The Highland boys took a tumble to rival Lone Tree Tuesday 77-53 to move themselves to 1-7 overall and in conference play. Highland was led by Bryce Hazelett’s 21. This season, the Huskies score 45 points-per-game, give up 67 and shoot 37 percent from the field, 20 percent from downtown and 50 percent at the charity stripe. Highland pulls down 26 boards a night. Hazelett leads the team individually with his 13.9 points-per-game.

The English Valleys boys are still looking for their elusive first victory of the season after a 55-48 loss to BGM Tuesday. The Bears score 44 a game, give up 67 and shoot 35 percent from the field, 25 percent from three and 51 percent at the stripe. The Bears pass out 11 assists per game. Everett Bender leads the Bears individually this season with 14 points-per-game.

Highland Head Coach Bill Zywiec also spoke with KCII Sports live on the Area Game of the Week postgame show following his team’s loss to Lone Tree Tuesday about needing to fix the turnover bug. “Too many turnovers again,” Zywiec said. “Those are pretty much self-inflicted turnovers. I think we had 25, so that’s something we’ve got to work on. We’ve got to cut that down. We know we’ve got to cut that down. It’s been our achilles heel all year.”  

Highland leads the boys’ series 3-2 dating back to 2020 and have won the last two matchups.

You can hear tonight’s doubleheader between English Valleys and Highland 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 Highland High School.