Games of the Week: Week 5

With our last week of basketball on tap, we take a look at the five games this week that we will keep a close eye on for Week 5 of the Iowa high school season. With the moratorium and holiday coming up there are only two days of games this week. You can see the five games below. <hr /> <strong>Monday: Panorama (6-1) vs. Harlan (4-2)</strong> Panorama has gotten off to a good start to the season sitting at 6-1 and #10 on our latest installment of the 3A rankings. They are led by junior [player_tooltip player_id="129030" first="Payton" last="Beckman"] as she scores 19.9 points a game and grabs five steals a game. Panorama has some other scorers on the roster as senior Ella Waddle and juniors Laci Rishel and [player_tooltip player_id="163340" first="Angel" last="Poldberg"] can score it to averaging over 6.6 points a game. Harlan, on the other hand, doesn’t have a player who scores double digits but they have five players who score between 5.0 and 9.0 points a game led by senior [player_tooltip player_id="165041" first="Jocelyn" last="Cheek"]. They are a very balanced squad and anyone can hurt you on any night. <strong>Monday: Hampton-Dumont-CAL (4-2) vs. Grundy Center (3-1)</strong> Hampton-Dumont-CAL is taking on Grundy Center on Monday night and it shapes up to be a very good game. Hampton-Dumont-CAL is led by the junior duo of [player_tooltip player_id="129066" first="Avery" last="Hanson"] and [player_tooltip player_id="163329" first="Lauren" last="Meader"] as they average a combined 36.9 points a game. Grundy Center is led by junior [player_tooltip player_id="163332" first="Bailey" last="Reding"] who scores 15.0 points a game. Junior Emma Beck scores 9.8 points per game for Grundy Center as a very good second option. This is going to be a big game for both teams as they look to get a little momentum heading into the moratorium period. <strong>Tuesday: Ballard (7-0) vs. Gilbert (8-0)</strong> This is going to be one of the most anticipated matchups of the season as both of these teams are title contenders in 4A. We have Gilbert ranked #2 in the state while Ballard is right behind them at #3. Both of these teams have cruised through the early part of their schedule and have combined for 15 wins to this point. Junior [player_tooltip player_id="63580" first="Brooke" last="Loewe"] has scored 12.1 points a game for Ballard while seniors [player_tooltip player_id="131146" first="Josie" last="Fleischmann"] and [player_tooltip player_id="164941" first="Molly" last="Ihle"] score a combined 17.7 points a game. Gilbert is led by Drake commit [player_tooltip player_id="128996" first="Ava" last="Hawthorne"] who scores 17.4 points a game and Truman State commit [player_tooltip player_id="164934" first="Emma" last="Bulman"] scores 16.4 points a game. This is going to be a great game to see where both of these teams stand against each other early in the year. <strong>Tuesday: Cedar Falls (5-1) vs. Dubuque Senior (5-0)</strong> Cedar Falls has looked really good so far this year as they have one loss to Waterloo West. Northern Iowa commit [player_tooltip player_id="164929" first="Anaya" last="Barney"] leads the team scoring 25.5 points a game. Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="63007" first="Jasmine" last="Barney"] is scoring 9.7 points a game. This is going to be a good game to see where Cedar Falls really stands as their lone loss was to the toughest team they have faced so far this year. Dubuque Senior has gotten off to a great start as well easily winning most of their games. Olivia Baxter is averaging 14.2 points a game and grabbing 12.6 rebounds a game to give Dubuque Senior their biggest threat for opposing teams. <strong>Tuesday: Winterset (3-3) vs. North Polk (4-3)</strong> Both of these teams have struggled a little out of the gates this year but this contest is a great one to use as a little footing heading into next year. Winterset is led by sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="63072" first="Jena" last="Young"] who scores 15.8 points a game. Winterset’s point of struggle has been the 3-point shot where they are making just 18 percent from the floor. North Polk has been led thus far by [player_tooltip player_id="63011" first="Makayla" last="Boatman"] as she scores 17.0 points a game and [player_tooltip player_id="129004" first="Lucy" last="Schaffer"] has scored 13.0 points a game. Both of these teams have struggled a little but their competition has been good. This is going to be a confidence booster to whoever wins this one. &nbsp;