Tournament Preview: Class 5A, Region 2

<span style="font-family: Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size: 16px">With the 5A tournament set to get underway on Wednesday, February 13th, 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 2 bracket is posted below.</span> <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>Southeast Polk (17-3) Des Moines East (13-7) Ankeny (9-11) Des Moines North (3-17) Marshalltown (2-17) <span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size: 14pt"><strong>The</strong> <strong>Favorite</strong></span> <strong>Southeast Polk</strong> Easily the best team in this region, Southeast Polk has only lost three games this year. Two of those games were blowouts against really good teams but other than those, this is a team that has been running through their schedule all season long. They beat Des Moines East by 20 when they played earlier this season and Ankeny by 24. Southeast Polk averages 70.7 points a game and they should easily get through to the state tournament. They are led by sophomore <strong>Grace Larkins</strong> as she scores 20.9 points a game. Iowa State commit <strong>Maggie McGraw</strong>, a senior, is scoring 20.0 points a game this season. <span style="text-decoration: underline;font-size: 14pt"><strong>The Sleeper</strong></span> <strong>Des Moines East</strong> Scoring 58.0 points a game, this is the team that I think will probably be the one that knocks Southeast Polk off if they get beat. Des Moines East doesn't hit a ton of 3-pointers, as evidenced by only 49 makes, but they also don't really shoot a lot of them. They grab a ton of rebounds on the year as they pull down 34.1 a game if anyone were to upset Southeast Polk, Des Moines East has the ingredients to do so. The senior duo of <strong>Tatiana Johnson </strong>and <strong>Justice Ross</strong> score 17.7 points a game and 16.0 points a game, respectively. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-size: 14pt"><strong>The Outside Shot</strong></span></span><strong> </strong><strong>Ankeny</strong> Ankeny might be 9-11, but they are a pretty solid team. They have the pieces needed to be successful, it will just take them all coming together at the right time. They have made 123 3-pointers on the year, which is tied at the top with Southeast Polk and they have quite a bit of length in their wings. This team is  couple possessions away from being 13-7 or 14-6. Northern Iowa commit senior <strong>Sara McCullough </strong>scores 15.0 points a game to lead Ankeny. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-size: 14pt"><strong>Players to Watch</strong></span></span> <strong>2019</strong> Maggie McGraw (Southeast Polk) Tatiana Johnson (Des Moines East) Justice Ross (Des Moines East) Sara McCullough (Ankeny) Junice Sibley (Des Moines North) <strong style="font-family: Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size: 16px">2020</strong> Jazalyn Brown (Des Moines North) Erica Johnson (Marshalltown) Madi Finch (Marshalltown) Ashley Harrington (Ankeny) Kayla Pitz (Ankeny) <strong>2021</strong> Grace Larkins (Southeast Polk) Abigail Johnson (Ankeny) Aaliyah Williams (Des Moines East) Rylie Kruse (Southeast Polk) Ihari Oromo (Des Moines North) <strong>2022</strong> Laphina Campbell (Des Moines North) Nya Mach (Des Moines North) Brooke Woodyard (Southeast Polk) Jakhia Heard (Des Moines North) Lily Roberts (Marshalltown)