Friday’s special edition of the KCII Area Game of the Week sends us to Winfield for a Southeast Iowa Superconference boys and girls doubleheader between the Wolves and the visiting Louisa-Muscatine Falcons. The WMU boys come into the night with a 6-4 overall record, 6-2 in the Superconference after a 47-45 win at Pekin, where Cooper Buffington put together a 21 point 10 rebound double double. This year, the Wolves score 51 points per game and give up 46, shooting 39% from the floor, 25% from three and 56% at the line, with 31 rebounds, 16 assists, 11 steals and 12 turnovers per game. Individually, Jake Edwards is the leader at 18 points, four assists and four steals per night. Buffington leads on the glass with eight boards per game.
L-M is 5-6 on the year, 4-4 in conference after a 70-62 Tuesday win in Columbus. The Falcons score 55 per night and give up 60, shooting 42% from the floor, 25% from three and 62% at the line with 25 rebounds, 10 assists, six steals and 17 turnovers per game. Individually, Finn Cline averages 20 points and 10 rebounds per night. Ty Rosenboom has three assists and two steals per game. This week, Wolves head boys coach Klay Edwards talked with KCII Sports about his team’s play since break and the keys against the Falcons.
Edwards said, “(On defense) we are turning people over like crazy right now. We are getting tons of deflections, trying to get more points on the board. Cooper Buffington has come out of break really well. If we can get some inside/outside game going, that will open things up for some of the guys on the perimeter. (Against L-M) we fell behind big, early. We weren’t quite ready. They have a couple of nice big guys and some guys that can shoot it. They’ve been playing really well. They want to get up and down and score some points, so we have to make sure that we get back on defense. We have to do a better job of handling the ball and not turn it over as much as we did the first game against them and get shots on the board.”
WMU has won 11 straight in the series including a 40-38 victory in December.
The Lady Wolves enter at 2-10 this year, 1-7 in the league after a 67-36 loss at Pekin Tuesday. This season WMU puts up 38 points per game and gives up 51, shooting 29% from the field, 19% from three and 49% at the line with 30 rebounds, eight assists and steals and 26 turnovers per game. Individually, Kynlee Buffington has 16 points and 12 rebounds per night. Josie Nelson averages two assists and two steals per game.
L-M is 3-8 on the year and 2-6 in the league after a 47-19 loss at Columbus Tuesday. The Falcons score 35 per night and surrender 44, shooting 24% from the floor, 27% from three and 38% at the line with 28 rebounds, 10 steals, five assists and 26 turnovers per game. Individually, Bailey Runnells averages 11 points and six boards per night. Hannah Kissel has two steals and an assist per game. This week, WMU head girls coach Mendy McCreight talked with KCII Sports about her team’s play since the holidays and what she expects to see tonight.
McCreight said, “Kynlee Buffington and Josie Nelson, Madisen Kellogg, Suttyn Schlee, they have all stepped up shooting the ball more. We have to have more confidence in ourselves. That first matchup, Madisen (Kellogg) and Kynlee (Buffington) played well together. We kept it very close. I thought we shot the ball well that night and we got to the free throw line.”
These two teams have split their last 14 meetings, with L-M taking a 43-36 win in December. You can hear all of the action between the Wolves and Falcons live tonight on AM 1380, FM 102.5, the KCII2 App and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Area Game of the Week Pregame Show at 5:30p.m., tip of the girls game at six with the boys to follow from Winfield-Mt. Union High School.