Tournament Preview: Class 2A, Region 6

With the 2A tournament set to get underway on Saturday, February 9th, we are going to be breaking down each region with in depth analysis. We will cover who you should watch for, the teams that could come out of nowhere, and of course, the bracket buster candidate. We will also list five players from each class that you need to keep an eye on throughout the bracket as they can really change the game in a hurry. The complete Region 6 bracket is posted below. <hr /> <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-size: 14pt"><strong>The</strong></span></span><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-size: 14pt"> Teams</span></span> </strong>Central Decatur (19-0) Van Buren Community (18-2) Martensdale-St. Marys (15-3) Pekin (13-3) Mount Ayr (14-6) Pella Christian (9-10) Pleasantville (9-10) Wayne (7-12) East Marshall (6-12) Interstate 35 (6-14) Cardinal (4-17) Colfax-Mingo (3-16) <span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size: 14pt"><strong>The Favorite</strong></span> <strong>Central Decatur </strong>Central Decatur sits at 19-0 on the season and I don't think will see much of a threat in this region. They have beaten Martensdale-St. Marys twice pretty soundly and I think a potential rematch could have the same result. Scoring 70.3 points a game this season, they are outscoring their opponents by 37 points a game. Senior <strong>Emma Atwood</strong> has been scorching the nets this year scoring 20.8 points a game. <span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size: 14pt"><strong>The Sleepers</strong></span> <strong>Van Buren Community </strong>Van Buren is an interesting team. They are 18-2 but they just don't score a ton of points. They have scored an average of 48.6 points a game, but I wonder if they will be able to hang with Central Decatur if they meet eventually. Very solid defensive team as they only allow just a little over 31 points a game. <strong>Taryn Scheuermann</strong>, a junior, has scored 19.3 points a game while also leading the region in rebounds per game with 9.4 a contest. <strong>Martensdale-St. Marys</strong> With three losses on the season, two of those have came to Central Decatur by a combined 50 points. That makes me question whether or not Martensdale-St. Marys can take down the team at the top especially since Central Decatur averages 70.3 points a game and Martensdale-St. Marys high this year is just 64 points. Junior <strong>Jensen Archibald</strong> leads her team with 13.8 points per game. <strong>Pekin</strong> I think that Pekin is a schools that could knock off Central Decatur because they have the ability to score points and also play really solid defense. They are averaging 54.7 points a game and only allow 31.4 points a game. Pekin might get into trouble because they shoot less than 50 percent from the free throw line. <strong>Haley Gambell</strong>, a senior, leads the team with 13.4 points a game. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-size: 14pt"><strong>The Outside Shot</strong></span></span><strong> </strong><strong>Mount Ayr</strong> They might have lost to Martensdale-St.Marys, but this is a team that can really put up points. They are second in the region scoring 60.0 points a game but get almost 25 percent of those points at the line. Having shot almost 75 more free throws than the second most team in the region, they will really need to get Central Decatur in foul trouble to knock them off. On a team with just one senior a junior leads them in scoring as <strong>Sam Stewart</strong> is scoring 19.7 points a game. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-size: 14pt"><strong>Players to Watch</strong></span></span> <strong>2019</strong> Emma Atwood (Central Decatur) Haley Gambell (Pekin) Alli Masters (Central Decatur) Payton Rhone (Colfax-Mingo) Keirston Klommhaus (Mount Ayr) <strong>2020</strong> Sam Stewart (Mount Ayr) Taryn Scheuermann (Van Buren Community) Olivia Terrones (East Marshall) Jensen Archibald (Martensdale-St. Marys) Maddy Stott (Martensdale-St. Marys) <strong>2021</strong> Isabel Manning (Van Buren Community) Allison Van Gorp (Pella Christian) Alexia McClure (Cardinal) Rachael Sobotka (Mount Ayr) Channler Henle (Mount Ayr) <strong>2022</strong> Emily Jones (Wayne) Kerrigan Pope (Pekin) Sterling Berndt (Wayne) Maddie Stewart (Mount Ayr) Avery Rague (Colfax-Mingo)