Photo Courtesy of Jeremy Ours
The start of a new hoops season is here for the Hillcrest Academy Raven girls when they travel to Moravia Friday. Hillcrest finished last season 6-15 overall, their most wins since 2019, and 3-13 in the Southeast Iowa Superconference. Last year, the Ravens scored 38 points per night and gave up 43, shooting 28% from the floor, 29% from downtown and 51% at the line with 32 rebounds, nine assists, 11 steals and 20 turnovers per game. Individually, Claire Withrow led the way as a sophomore, scoring 14 points per game. Her 66 made threes were second most in Hillcrest history for a season, and her 35.3% mark from deep was 15th in Class 1A. Malia Yoder was also in double figures at 13 per night and led with four steals and three assists each game. Yoder finished in the top 10 in school history in single season steals. Delaney Shaw’s nine boards per game were best and her 180 rebound total was sixth best in a single year in program history. Four Ravens, Withrow, Yoder, Shaw and Lydia Beachy were selected All-Southeast Iowa Superconference last season. They did not graduate any seniors. Hillcrest has had one official dress rehearsal this season, dropping an Achieve Challenge Scrimmage 64-28 last Saturday to Sigourney in Kalona, where Yoder led with 11 points. This week, Raven seniors Beachy, Shaw and Yoder joined KCII Sports to talk about what they are looking forward to this year.
Shaw said, “I’m most excited to see our growth throughout the season and our hard work over the summer pay off.”
Beachy continued, “We can see where we have gone the last four years. I’m looking forward to looking back on what we can accomplish and be proud.”
Yoder added, “The three of us have played basketball together for many years, even before high school. This is our last year player together, that’s going to be pretty special.”
The Ravens opponent tonight is Moravia. The Mohawks were 4-16 last season, 4-5 in the Bluegrass conference. They averaged 31 points per game and gave up 46, shooting 27% from the floor, 13% from three and 36% from the line with 33 rebounds, eight assists, eight steals and 25 turnovers per game. Individually, leading scorer Kaylen Robinson returns at nine points per game. Rebounding, assist, and steals leader Alexa Bedford has graduated after averaging 10, three and three in those categories last year respectively. These teams met last season in Kalona with the Ravens winning 47-35 after trailing by six at half, behind 20 points from Withrow and 14 for Yoder. Action starts tonight at 6p.m. In Moravia.