The KCII Area Game of the Week will ring in the new year tonight on the KCII3 Stream with a SEISC North doubleheader between the Columbus Wildcats and the Pekin Panthers.
The Columbus girls will be looking to continue their pre-holiday break success and stay unbeaten in conference play when the night is over. The Wildcats have only fallen once through nine games, and moved to 8-1 overall before the holiday break with a victory over Wapello 57-23. Senior star Lily Coil continued her stellar season with a rare triple-double of 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals. This season, the ‘Cats put up over 51 points-per-game, and give up slightly over 34. Columbus shoots 30 percent from the field, 27.4 percent from three and 49.5 percent from the line. The blue and white poke out a third-best in Class 2A 20.3 steals a night, along with nearly 33 rebounds and 12 assists. Individually, Coil leads the way with her 15.7 points and nine boards a contest.
The Pekin girls are 3-3 overall and 3-3 in the SEISC after a 49-36 loss to Hillcrest in their previous outing. Maddy Petrehn led the way with eight points and three steals. Per game, the Panthers score a shade under 45 points, and give up just over 45. They shoot over 33 percent from the field and charity stripe, and nearly 25 percent from three. Pekin pulls down 36 boards a night, notches 10 assists and 12 steals. Individual leaders are Anna Hadley with 12.3 points-per-game, as well as Abby Guise’s 12.5 boards and 4.3 steals a game.
Columbus girls Head Coach Kasey Keltner recently spoke with KCII Sports about what his team must continue to do in 2025 to continue their strong season. “I think the defense has got to be on par with the first half of the year from December to January if we’re going to do anything this second half of the season,” Keltner said. “Teams are going to get better. They’re going to understand how we attack them. They’re going to make adjustments the second time we play them.”
Pekin leads the all-time series on the girls’ side 22-5, but have fallen to the Wildcats in the last two matchups.
The Wildcat boys try to push their win streak to three games tonight on the road. Columbus is 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the SEISC after a 54-51 win over Wapello in their last contest. Ellis Hills-Carrier scored over 20 points for the third game in a row with his team-high 23, including nine rebounds. Columbus scores over 48 points-per-game, and gives up 61, shooting 33.6 percent from the field, 25 percent from beyond the perimeter and over 54 percent at the line. The Wildcats pull down more than 31 rebounds a contest, as well as pass out 10 assists and collect over five steals. Hills-Carrier leads individually with 17.5 points, 2.8 assists and 1.1 blocks a night.
The Pekin boys are an even 3-3 overall and sit at 3-2 in the Superconference North after a 71-39 loss at home to Hillcrest last month. Nolan Glick led the Panthers with 13 points and six boards. Pekin scores 52 points-per-game, and gives up 55, shooting 41.8 percent from the field, 33.6 percent from downtown and 56.7 percent from the line. Pekin snags 24 rebounds, 13 assists and 9 steals a game. Per game, junior Cole Millikin is the leading Panther individually with 12.7 points.
Columbus boys Head Coach Marcus Hall talked with KCII Sports about his optimism for the opportunities in front of his team in 2025. “We’re competitive. We’ve shown that we can be competitive. We have games to look forward to that we consider to be big games. We’re going to try to make the competition really high level,” Hall said. “Just staying locked in and fully prepared for what’s ahead.”
Pekin has never lost to Columbus on the boys’ side through 27 matchups that date back to 2009.
You can hear the first Area Game of the Week doubleheader of 2025 between Columbus and Pekin streaming exclusively online at KCIIRadio.com on the KCII3 Stream, beginning with pregame coverage of the girls game at 5:30, tipoff at 6, and coverage of the boys game to follow from Pekin High School.