A pair of local schools get together on the court tonight in Riverside when the Highland Huskies host the WACO Warriors in a Southeast Iowa Superconference boys and girls hoops doubleheader on the KCII Area Game of the Week. The WACO boys come into action with an overall record of 4-1 and sit on top of the Southeast Iowa Superconference North Division at 4-0, after a 48-46 come-from-behind win over Hillcrest on the road Tuesday, behind 24 points from Christian Stacy. On the season, the Warriors score 52 points per game and give up 47, shooting 39% from the floor, 31% from three and 57% at the line with 21 rebounds, 11 assists, nine steals and 10 turnovers per game. Individually, Stacy scores 17 per game to go with five steals to lead. Holden Hughes is best on the glass at six boards and Isaac Egli averages three assists. Tuesday, WACO head coach Chayse Roth spoke on the KCII Postgame Show following his team’s key win at Hillcrest.
Roth said, “We have to make (this win at Hillcrest) a building block for the rest of the season. Our defensive effort in the second half was great. We really focused on not giving them easy looks and winning rebounding battle was huge. Holden (Hughes) and Clayten (Miller) did a great job and our guards really helped out. We told them at the beginning of the year we were going to have to rebound to win games.”
Highland is at 1-3 this season in conference and overall. The Huskies scored their first win of the year Tuesday, taking down Wapello 67-48, behind 30 points from Bryce Hazelett and 14 from Logan McFarland. On the year, the Huskies average 49 points per game and give up 66, shooting 39% from the floor, 20% from three and 58% from the line, with 27 rebounds, eight steals, seven assists and 23 turnovers per game. Individually, Hazelett leads at 16 points and two steals per night. McFarland is at six boards and two assists. The Warriors have won five straight in the series, including both meetings a season ago. This week, Highland head coach Bill Zywiec joined the KCII Radio Coaches Corner to talk about recent action for the Huskies
Zywiec, “I thought we have come out and played extremely hard. We’re still continuing to run our offense and look for the open guy. I thought we have played better defensively. You can’t come out and just turn it on during the game. You have to be ready to go from the opening tip. That’s what we talked with our guys about.”
In the girls matchup, WACO is 2-3 overall and 2-2 in conference after a win at Hillcrest Academy Tuesday, 45-38, led by Brenna Graber and Ella Huisenga at 15 points each. On the season, the Warriors score 39 points per game and give up 41, shooting 35% from the floor, 23% from three and 45% at the line with 24 rebounds, six steals, five assists and 13 turnovers per night. Individually, Graber is at 13 points and two steals per night. Huisenga is best at seven boards per game. Tuesday, Warrior head coach Lisa Graber joined the KCII postgame show to talk about her team’s key road win at Hillcrest Academy
Graber said, “(At times) we have had to regroup a little bit, regain some composure. That’s our youth. We’re pretty sophomore heavy, so we have to learn quickly as the season goes on. I think our defense has really been giving us our energy that we needed on offense. We have been containing really well.”
Highland is 6-1 on the season, 4-1 in conference after a 67-48 win over Wapello on Tuesday with a 16 point 15 rebound double double from Kamryn Fink, 22 points from Hailey Brun and 11 points from Emersyn Schultz. The Huskies are ranked No. 14 in Class 1A in the latest poll from the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. On the year, Highland puts up 56 points per game and gives up 46, shooting 38% from the field, 29% from deep and 49% at the line with 45 rebounds, 15 assists, 14 steals and 22 turnovers per game. Individually, Fink leads at 17 points per game with 15 boards. Brun averages five steals and Katie Herrig has five assists. Huskies head coach Jody Fink spoke live on the KCII Postgame Show Friday following their win at Winfield-Mt. Union.
Fink said, “We are working to improve our defensive intensity and close-out. We have to rotate and trust our other teammates. Being youthful, we have to learn those things and sometimes those are hard lessons (like the loss to Columbus). We’re going to keep working. We are going to have different girls step up. We have a lot of areas of improvement for scoring. It’s great to have those complimentary girls coming up that can put the ball in the hole and open things up.”
WACO has won four of the last five in the series with the two teams splitting last year’s meetings. You can hear all of the action live tonight on the free KCII3 Stream, exclusively at KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Area Game of the Week Pregame Show at 5:30p.m., tip of the girls game at 6p.m. With the boys to follow from Highland High School in Riverside.