February 8, 2018 By Chris Varney
The snow is coming down but we have basketball tonight on 1410 KGRN, Energy 106.7 FM and myiowainfo.com. Most games have been pushed up in start time because the weather is expected to get even worse tonight. Here is a look at our match-ups tonight as the playoff season has arrived with a snowy start
HLV (2-18) @ Lynnville Sully (15-6), Revised Tip-off Saturday February 10 at 7 pm on 1410 KGRN
The Hawks begin their quest for their 5th straight appearance in the regional final. If Lynnville Sully does it this year, it might be the best coaching job of the season for Jerry Hulsing. Wins have not come easy for the Hawks but they have come. Defense continues to be their bread and butter. Carson Fisk (12.5 ppg, 7.6 rbg) leads the team in scoring and rebounding with Mariah Vos (10.8/6.3) not far behind. The Hawks have depth with Shiloh Cunningham, Jataya Meyer, Camryn Russell and Mallory Loftus coming off the bench. Lynnville Sully has just 2 wins over teams that are above .500 this season (English Valleys and Grand View Christian) so they have to prove themselves in the playoffs.
HLV has suffered from low numbers this season so Head Coach Cory Lahndorf has had to throw some freshmen into the line-up. The Warriors have two seniors and three juniors on their roster. The rest are first year players and they have had to learn against a very tough SICL. HLV is averaging nearly 24 turnovers a game and lost twice to Lynnville Sully during the season (50-22 on Dec. 8 and 50-17 on Jan. 26). Senior Emma Cheney (9.0 ppg) leads the team in scoring. The Warriors will be scrappy, they will work hard, and they will hustle but history is not on their side. Haley Coats leads both teams in threes this year with 29 and HLV will need her to get hot early from the outside.
Twin Cedars (0-19) @ BGM (8-13), Revised Tip-Off Friday, February 9 at 7:00 pm on Energy 106.7 FM
BGM has had an interesting year. Head Coach Matt Smith has had to deal with injuries and illness all season long which means there were some nights he did not know who he was going to write into the starting line-up. And yet BGM won 8 games in a tough conference. The Bears are not the typical SICL team — they like to slow it down, run their offense and dump it inside to Kelsey Lint and Lyla Kriegel. Lint (10.4 ppg) is a 5’11” Junior who leads the team in scoring and Kriegel (9.9 ppg/8.9 rbg) is a 5’8″ Senior who leads the team in rebounding. Rylie Van Ersvelde (30) and Molly Baldwin (29) can both hit the three pointers. Senior Maddie Jansen, Junior Rylie Gritsch, and Sophomores Marian Coover and Rachel Hawkins all have started at one time or another this season.
The Sabers have struggled mightily this year. They have scored in the single digits in three games this year — all early in the season — and are only averaging 19.9 points a game as a team. the closest game for Twin Cedars is a 22-20 loss to Iowa Christian on February 1. They play in the Bluegrass Conference with teams like Seymour, Murray, Melcher Dallas, Lamoni and Diagnol. Seymour is the best team in that conference, going 21-0 this year, they beat the Sabers 67-9 in their only meeting of the season. Twin Cedars is in Bussey, IA which is halfway between Knoxville and Oskaloosa a little south, right near the Marion and Mahaska county line.