Keota will be hosting Iowa Valley in a double header on Friday during the school’s homecoming. The boys come into the game at 13-3 with their last game falling to rival Sigourney 62-55. In that game, Billie Kindred led the way with 23 points. The Eagle boys are hoping to get back to their winning ways on Friday. For the season, they are averaging 68.6 points per game, which is the best in the South Iowa Cedar East conference. For the other stats, they are in the top five of the SICL in assists, rebounds, steals and blocks. The Eagles dish out 17.8 assists, 39.2 rebounds, 9.8 steals and 2.9 blocks per game. They are second in the conference in field goal percentage at 43.5%, first three point percentage at 32.9% and third in free throw percentage at 56.9%. On the year, senior Billie Kindred leads the Eagles in scoring with 24.5 points and 14.6 rebounds per game, which is first in class 1A.
Head Keota boys basketball coach Dan Stout went on the KCII Postgame show to talk about his team’s performance after their loss to Sigourney. “We just didn’t do what we needed to do tonight. We dint play out style of basketball. We let them make us walk the ball up and down the floor. That’s just not the way we play basketball. 22 points in the first half is not what we liked to do. We’ve had more than that in a lot of first quarters. I just wasn’t happy that they controlled that tempo and things like that. They (Sigourney) had some good shots and got a lead. We pressured them down the stretch and weren’t quite able to get back in it. I was proud of our kids’ effort for fighting back and doing what they needed to do to try to finish and win the game. We didn’t play well enough for 32 minutes to do that.”
For the Iowa Valley boys, they are 8-7 and 5-5 in the conference. The Tigers are coming off a win over English Valley 77-53. They were led by Caleb Haack who scored 27 points. For the season, they are averaging 58 points per game, which is third in the conference. The Tigers are allowing 53 points per contest, which is also third in the SICL. They lead the conference in assists per game at 17.9. In the rebounding department, they average 34.5 and get 9.4 steals per game. The Tigers lead the conference in blocks per game at 7 a night. They shoot 42%, third best in the conference, a 25.3% three point percentage, fourth in the conference and 69.0% at the charity stripe, which is fifth in the conference. Caleb Haack leads the team in scoring at 19 points per game. Cole Long also averages double digit points as he scores 16 points a night.
The Keota girls come into the game at 7-10 and 3-8 in the conference. In their last game, they fell to rival Sigourney 68-44. In that game, they were led by Emily Conger who dropped 10 points on Tuesday. For the season, the Eagles are averaging 44.2 points per game. That is good for second in the conference. For rebounds, assists, steals and blocks they are all top five in the SICL. They haul in 27.5 rebounds, 9.2 assists, 12.8 steals and close to 1 block per game. In the 2024/2025 season their leading scorer is freshman Cameron Hailfey, who averages 10 points a night.
Head Keota girls basketball coach Jeff Sprouse sat down with KCII Sports to discuss the positives in their recent loss. “We don’t do a great job of coming out and playing these guys. (Sigourney) In a physical game it kind of gets to be kind of a challenge. We talked about that last night in practice and also at the beginning of the game. We have to go out there and do what we are capable of. We have to get to the basket and drive the ball. I thought in the first quarter we did alright. We were right where we needed to be. We just have to take care of the ball. In the second quarter we got behind and had to regroup at halftime”. I thought in the second half we established some stuff. I thought Kennedy Jackson played with a lot of energy and kind of helped get off to a great start.
For the Iowa Valley girls. They are 4-12 and 3-6 in the SICL. They are currently fourth in the conference and right below Keota in the standings. The Tigers are 3 and half games back from the Eagles. They are currently on a seven game losing streak. Their last win was back in December when they defeated GMG 35-30. In their matchup they fell to English Valley 55-38. For this season, they have been averaging about 38 points per game, fourth in the SICL. They allow 51 points, which is also fourth in the conference. In the stats department, they are in the top five of each category in the SICL. They average 8 dimes, 31 boards, 5.9 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. They ranked second in field goal percentage at 32.7%. From the three point line, they rank fourth in the conference at 18.4% and also are shooting 51.3% from the free throw line, which is fourth in the SICL. The senior Lydia Kriegel leads the team with 18.4 points per game, which is third best in the conference.
The pregame show will start at 5:30 PM on the KCII3 stream live on KCIIradio.com. The girls game will tip off at 6 with the boys game right after.