Tournament Preview: Class 3A, Region 3

With the 3A 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 3 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>Osage (18-1) Crestwood (12-5) Forest City (14-7) New Hampton (10-8) Garner-Hayfield-Ventura (10-11) Hampton-Dumont (8-12) Union Community (3-15) Columbus Catholic (2-18) <span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size: 14pt"><strong>The Favorite</strong></span> <strong>Osage </strong>Sitting at 18-1 this season, Osage is in a good position to get through this region and make it to state. They are averaging 60.1 points a game which is the best in the region by almost five points a game. Osage is a team that doesn't take a ton of 3-pointers, but they have the ability to make him. They are balanced at the top as senior <strong>Rylie Olson</strong> and sophomore <strong>Dani Johnson </strong>lead the team in scoring with 13.3 and 12.9 points a game. <span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size: 14pt"><strong>The Sleeper</strong></span> <strong>Crestwood </strong>This is a very experienced team as they don't have an underclassman on the roster. They have five seniors on the team and seven juniors. All of their losses have been close, besides the first loss of the season when they fell to Cedar Falls 64-32. They like to slow it down and they only average 50.8 points a game. <strong>Sharon Goodman</strong>, a junior, leads Crestwood with 24.6 points a game, which is the best in the region. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-size: 14pt"><strong>The Outside Shot</strong></span></span><strong> </strong><strong>Forest City</strong> Despite losing to Crestwood during the regular season, I think that Forest City can get back on top of their game. They have won four games in a row and they have a lot of momentum coming into the postseason. They score 52.7 points a game and have been able to get some big scoring outputs of late. This could be a dangerous team in the postseason with the right ingredients.  <strong>Noelle Jones </strong>and <strong>Kelsey Koch</strong>, both seniors are leading the team with 9.5 points a game. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-size: 14pt"><strong>Players to Watch</strong></span></span> <strong>2019</strong> Rylie Olson (Osage) Maddi Moorman (New Hampton) Noelle Jones (Forest City) Kelsey Koch (Forest City) Maddie Williams (Garner-Hayfield-Ventura) <strong>2020</strong> Sharon Goodman (Crestwood) Sidney Brandau (Osage) Laken Lienhard (Crestwood) Courtney Miller (Hampton-Dumont) Natalie Tecklenburg (Union Community) <strong>2021</strong> Dani Johnson (Osage) Jayden Frank (Garner-Hayfield-Ventura) Ali Vesely (Columbus Catholic) Hope McDonald (New Hampton) Ellie Bobinet (Osage) <strong>2022</strong> Chloe Frank (Garner-Hayfield-Ventura) Shae Dillavou (Forest City) Avery Hanson (Garner-Hayfield-Ventura) Lauren Meader (Hampton-Dumont) Reagan Helgeson (Forest City)