Photo Courtesy of Hillcrest Academy
The Hillcrest Academy Raven girls basketball team takes their first step on the tournament trail tonight when they host the New London Tigers in the opening round of Class 1A regionals.
The Ravens are 10-11 this year, and finished 8-8, fifth in the North Division of the Southeast Iowa Superconference. Hillcrest is looking to snap a three-game losing streak that includes a loss in their regular season finale Thursday at Van Buren 59-54 in the Southeast Iowa Superconference Shootout. The Ravens average and give up 48 points this year on 33% shooting, 25% from three and 51% at the line with 33 rebounds, 14 steals, 10 assists and 24 turnovers per game. Individually, Malia Yoder leads with 15 points, five steals and four assists per night. Delaney Shaw averages nine boards per game.
New London is 1-21 on the season, they finished winless in the Southeast Iowa Superconference South Division. Their only win this season came in early February 37-33 against Cardinal. The Tigers were beaten Thursday in the Superconference Shoot Out 40-38 by Wapello. On the year New London scores 25 points per game and gives up 53 on 28% shooting, 16% from three and 53% at the line with 25 rebounds, seven assists and steals and 27 turnovers per game. Individually, Mylee Miller leads with 10 points and eight rebounds per game. Morgan Jones averages three assists and three steals per game. This week, Raven head coach Chris Natchtigal joined the KCII Radio Coaches Corner to talk about his team’s play down the stretch and their keys in the playoffs.
Nachtigal said, “One of the things that tells me we are on the right track is that we can do some of the things we’ve done when we’re not at 100%. You see our girls wanting to play and fight through stuff and give everything that they’ve got. That to me says we’re on a really good roll. My hope is that we’re healthy before tournament starts. We’ve had glimpses of different individuals, and as a team we’ve had a few games where we all played well. I want to see us put it together here, play with confidence and be excited to be able to play at home in the first round. I love the effort that we’re playing with, now it’s time to transfer that into the execution piece of it.”
New London has won four of the last five in the series including, but the Ravens took the last matchup 60-39 a year ago. Action starts tonight at 7p.m. At Dwight Gingerich Court at Hillcrest Union.