Five 3A Teams Who Will Be Improved
Up next in our daily season preview articles are the five 3A teams who I think will show the most improvement in terms of gained wins. I only looked at the teams who had a winning percentage of under .500,…
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Continue ReadingUp next in our daily season preview articles are the five 3A teams who I think will show the most improvement in terms of gained wins. I only looked at the teams who had a winning percentage of under .500, and excluded the .500 teams from a year ago. The 11th article in a series of 73 highlights the five squads who I think will increase their win totals the most. Tomorrow I’ll have the five 4A teams who finished under .500 last season to keep an eye on.
Greene County (1-21 last season)
Greene County was the worst team in 3A last year, but that doesn’t always translate to the next year being better. For them, I think it will as they have a year under their belt with a young lineup. They really struggled to shoot the ball last year which didn’t help them score points as their 24.2 points per game average was third lowest in 3A. Greene County also was outscored by 27.1 points a game last year. Greene County doesn’t lose anyone to graduation from a year ago and that’s why I think they’ll be better than last year. Izzy Bravard and Bailey Cunningham are back for their senior years as the top two scorers from a year ago. Whether or not they can step up and contribute more offensively will go a long way in determining how much better Greene County is this year.
Hampton-Dumont-CAL (8-13 last season)
Hampton-Dumont-CAL could actually be pretty improved this year. They lost nine games by 10 points or less showing me that they have the ability to hang with teams. Last season they were competitive but just couldn’t get over the hump. This season I expect them to do so and flip their record, if not do better. They are only down one player to graduation and a bulk of the returning players are seniors. They are going to thrive this upcoming season on having a ton of leadership within their team. Courtney Miller is their returning leading scorer from a year ago as she garnered 8.9 points a game. They are going to count on her to replicate that production this year. Sophomores Avery Hanson and Lauren Meader as well as seniors Calista Polk and Briana Grover all scored between 7.6 and 7.0 points a game last year. That is a lot of scoring and if they can replicate that with less turnovers they are going to be in great shape.
Pocahontas Area (7-13 last season)
Much like the team above, Pocahontas Area returns many of their leading scorers from a year ago and many of the returners are seniors. Senior Delaney Ehn paced the team last year scoring 12.1 points a game while fellow senior Kaylee Shivers scored 11.9 points a game last season. Those two will form a formidable duo at the top of this lineup. Senior Sarah Powers will look to once again be a really solid third scoring option. Additionally, the senior duo of Jordan Saunders and Annika Duischer will also look to provide scoring. If those two provide 12-14 points combined on a nightly basis this is a team that could be dangerous. They suffered some big defeats last year but if their defense clears up a little this season they could easily win 12-14 games.
Spirit Lake (10-11 last season)
3A is in a unique position that sees a ton of teams that were under .500 last season return a lot of talent. While Spirit Lake does lose four seniors, none of those were in their top four scoring the ball. The senior trio of Jordyn Hamm, Emma Loveall, and Karli Olsen return as the top scorers from a year ago. Those three players averaged a combined 29.0 points a game and are looking to bump that number up to around 35 if they want to compete. Sophomore Brooke Smith is also back and is going to be looking to improve upon her 5.4 points a game a year ago. Out of their 11 losses, only two were games that they weren’t competitive in. Look for that to change drastically this upcoming season.
Vinton-Shellsburg (4-18 last season)
This is a group that I first marked down as including because I knew they were young and I know they can play. They return 15 players from the team last year who saw varsity time and most of their top returners are back. Lucy Howes-Vonstein is heading into her junior season after averaging 10.7 points a game last year. She is going to be an integral part of this group for this upcoming season. Juniors Aza Swayzer and Kayla Griffith are going to look to shoulder more of the scoring load this season behind Howes-Vonstein. Vinton-Shellsburg likes to play an abundance of players so they are always going to have depth to play with but this season it’ll be more about finding those five players that you can trust the most at the end of the game. I look for a much improved season from this group.