Region Preview: Class 1A, Region 2

Last Thursday afternoon, the IGHSAU announced the region brackets for the upcoming race to the Well. The 1A portion of the tournament gets underway on February 11th, in just three short days. Whether you were 18-0 or 0-18 this season, it does not matter. Each team is now 0-0 and are looking to end their season with a win. Below you can view the best first round match-up, the best potential match-up, our pick to win the region, a sleeper to win the region, an “X-Factor” player, and players to watch. Take a look at the Region 1 bracket here: <a href="https://ia.varsitybound.com/sports/girlsbasketball/2020-21/brackets/h2021012607025049322fd0616ce7248">Class 1A, Region 2</a> <hr /> <strong>Best First Round Match-up: Martensdale-St. Marys vs. Melcher-Dallas</strong> I think that this is going to be one of the more underrated first round matchups of any 1A bracket. Martensdale-St. Marys made the state tournament last year but have struggled a bit this year after some graduations. Melcher-Dallas is 8-8 this season and have played a relatively weak schedule, however, they are 4-5 against teams with a winning record so they have shown to be able to win games against tough competition whereas MSM is 1-11 against teams over .500. I do think that Martensdale-St. Marys schedule has set them up well for the postseason but Melcher-Dallas can win it as long as everyone is healthy. <strong>Best Potential Match-up: Paton-Churdan vs. CAM</strong> The best potential match-up in this bracket is going to be one that would send one of these two teams to the region championship. Both have had pretty solid seasons and both are pretty similar across the board. CAM is a team that will score a bit more but they’ve played a fairly tough schedule. They really only have one bad loss on their schedule and have taken care of business otherwise. Paton-churdan has went 11-0 against teams under .500 so they have been able to win the games that they should but have struggled at times against the good teams on their schedule. Paton-Churdan has been a good road team this year going 7-1 against the home team. They already beat CAM once this year in early January and have a match-up with them again this evening (2/8). This would be a battle in the Region bracket as well. <strong>Our Pick to Win Region 2: Newell-Fonda</strong> Newell-Fonda is the going away pick to advance to state in this bracket. No team in 1A plays like them or with the level of efficiency that they do. They only have one loss on their schedule this season and that was to the #1 team in 1A, Bishop Garrigan. Newell-Fonda leads 1A in scoring at 79.7 points a game and have cleared 80 points 12 times already this season. They get after the ball and turn turnovers into points as well as any team in the state. They also grab an incredible 16 offensive rebounds a game. Anyone on this team can beat you any given night as they have four players who score north of 12 points a game. Newell-Fonda is the two time defending 1A state champion and they are going to right there in the discussion again this year as they should easily cruise through to the state tournament. <strong>Our Sleeper Pick to Win Region 2: Audubon</strong> Audubon comes into the tournament sitting at 13-7 but have played the 17th toughest schedule in the state and the 2nd toughest of 1A teams with a winning record. That proves that they have challenged themselves night in and night out throughout the season. They are also on a roll as of late winning five games in a row. Going back to the turn of the calendar they are 11-2 so this is clearly a team that is peaking at the right time. If they are able to get past Nwell-Fonda by limiting their turnovers this group could make it through to the Well. Both [player_tooltip player_id="63659" first="Jaci" last="Christensen"] and Aleah Hermensen are averaging 15.6 points a game to lead the squad as juniors this season. <strong>X-Factor Player: [player_tooltip player_id="63659" first="Jaci" last="Christensen"] - 2022 - 5’10 PF</strong> The aforementioned Christensen is our pick to be the X-factor player. If anyone can hang and knock off Newell-Fonda it has to be Audubon. Christensen will play a huge role not only against them in a potential match-up, but she’ll have to play well in the other games to get to the region semi-finals. Co-leading her team in points and leading her team in rebounds is no easy task but she’ll have to continue to do that if Audubon wants to make a wave in class 1A. <strong>Players to Watch</strong> [player_tooltip player_id="131239" first="Gretchen" last="Wallace"], 2021, Glidden-Ralston [player_tooltip player_id="164974" first="Danielle" last="Hoyle"], 2021, Paton-Churdan [player_tooltip player_id="164945" first="Bailey" last="Sievers"], 2021, Newell-Fonda [player_tooltip player_id="164943" first="Maggie" last="Walker"], 2021, Newell-Fonda [player_tooltip player_id="164944" first="Ella" last="Larsen"], 2021, Newell-Fonda [player_tooltip player_id="131188" first="Zoey" last="Baylor"], 2021, CAM [player_tooltip player_id="129006" first="Macy" last="Sievers"], 2022, Newell-Fonda Aleah Hermensen, 2022, Audubon [player_tooltip player_id="63626" first="Brynn" last="Bass"], 2022, Coon Rapids-Bayard Eva Steffensen, 2024, CAM