January 15, 2018 By Chris Varney
Tomorrow night, we have a basketball doubleheader on Energy 106.7 FM as the Hawks visit the Braves. Both games — girls and boys — should be explosive. Here’s a look at each team:
Lynnville-Sully Girls: Ranked #15 in Class 1A, the Hawks are 10-3 with losses to Sigourney, North Mahaska and Montezuma 50-25 on November 28. L-S should make this game much closer the second time around. 5’9″ Junior Carson Fisk (13.4 ppg, 9.1 rbg) leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 5’9″ Senior Mariah Vos (10.7 ppg) also in double figures. Fisk is one of the best players in the conference, she knows how to score and does much of her damage inside the arc. The Hawks are not a very good three point shooting team, most of their points live off their aggressive defense. Head Coach Jerry Hulsing would like to see more players involved in his offense. 5’9″ Junior Shiloh Cunningham (6.9 ppg), 5’10” Sophomore Mallory Loftus (6.8 ppg) and 5’8″ Senior Jataya Meyer (4.7 ppg) are other options. Watch out for Freshman Krystal Van Dyke who scored 15 points off the bench Saturday against Grand View Christian and had 9 rebounds against English Valleys on Friday.
Montezuma Girls: The Bravettes are ranked #9 in Class 1A with a 12-2 record with losses to North Mahaska and Sigourney. 6’1″ Sophomore Shateah Wetering is a University of Iowa recruit and leads Monte averaging 12.5 ppg. Teams have to account for Wetering on the defensive end — she leads Montezuma with 17 blocks and the Bravettes are tied for the conference lead in blocked shots. Two other players average in double figures — 5’5″ Freshman Elise Boulton (10.6) and 5’8″ Junior Riley Gatton (10.3). Montezuma has tremendous depth with 5’10” Breck Goodman, 5’5″ Senior Shelby Helm, 5’7″ Senior Cassidy Watts, 5’8″ Junior Mya Pargeon, 5’9″ Kylee Taylor, and 5’9″ Hanna Jones all in the rotation. Monteuzma does not really do one thing great — they just do everything really good so its hard to find any weaknesses. You must defend Boulton outside because she likes to shoot the three and you must prevent Wetering from her dribble drive down the lane, especially the left side.
Lynnville Sully Boys: The Hawks are ranked #5 by the Associated Press with a 10-2 overall record. L-S suffered their 2nd loss of the season on Friday night, falling to #2 Grand View Christian 75-62. Jesse Van Wyk led Sully with 18 points with Tanner Foster putting in 16. Grand View outscored the Hawks 31-17 in the third quarter to take control of the game. The other loss for this team was to East Marshall which is a Class 2A squad that is undefeated. Van Wyk — a 6’3″ Senior — leads Lynnville Sully averaging 16.4 ppg. 5’10” Senior Brevin Hanson (11.8 ppg), 6’5 Senior Tanner Foster (11.1 ppg) also average in double figures. 6’3″ Junior Rylan James and 5’10” Junior Tyson Vander Linden are scoring threats as well. Lynnville Sully is a blue collar, hard working type of team. Like the Montezuma girls, the Hawks do everything really good. Everybody can score, everybody can rebound, everybody can shoot, and they play good solid team defense. Lynnville Sully went to the state tournament last year but lost in the first round to Gladbrook-Reinbeck.
Montezuma Boys: The only loss of the season for the Braves was the first game of the season against Lynnville-Sully, 73-43. The Hawks led 21-10 at the end of the first quarter and 38-16 at the half. Since then, Montezuma has rattled off 11 straight wins, all of them blowouts. 5’10” Freshman Trey Shearer is the scoring leader, averaging 17.0 points per game. Shearer can light it up from the triple land but is streaky — he is shooting 28-86 for 33% and is second in the SICL in threes made (BGM’s Kyle Doty leads with 40). The Braves have hit 108 threes on the season, far and away the leader in the conference and rank third in Class 1A. 6’5″ Junior Hunter Ray (14.2 ppg) is a match-up problem for most teams with his size and long arms. Ray can post up inside, shoot outside — he has 21 threes and shoots 40% on his triples — and teams with Vance Bushong for the best shot blocking tandem in the conference. Combined, Ray and Bushong have 69 blocks and Montezuma’s 91 blocks lead the entire state, regardless of class. 6’1″ Junior Nolan Reynolds (8.3 ppg) is a sneaky quick scorer who cannot be ignored and 5’10” Freshman Cole Watts (8.1 ppg) is a solid 6th man.
Montezuma hosts Lynnville Sully tomorrow in a girls – boys doubleheader, coverage with Tim Dill on Energy 106. 7 FM and myiowainfo.com.