Preseason Profile: Miss Iowa Basketball Candidate – Aili Tanke

The girls high school basketball season officially kicked off over this past weekend for some teams throughout the state but not every team. While that is still the case, I have put together a list of a handful of competitors that will be considered for our Miss Iowa Basketball POTY. Each player is someone that is monumental in the success of their perspective team, while also being absolutely dominate in most facets of the game across the board. 

Please note: This award, depending on who is giving it, usually only accounts for players competing during their Senior seasons. That will NOT be the case in this situation. Any player, from any grade level is fair game and has a chance to win.

Thanks for tuning in and enjoy!

Name: Aili Tanke Aili Tanke 6'0" | SG Johnston | 2024 State IA

Class: 2024

High School: Johnston

Position: SG

Commitment: Iowa State University

State Ranking: #1 – 2024

National Ranking: –

2022-2023 Stats: 15.5 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 1.3 APG, 1 SPG

Aili Tanke Aili Tanke 6'0" | SG Johnston | 2024 State IA and the Johnston Dragons are going to be the favorite of the 5A Class to bring home a title this season. Tanke, an Iowa State Women’s basketball commit, is an extremely talented shooting guard out of Iowa, that lives up to her positions name. She can do most things on the floor better than the others around her a majority of the time but her best ability is squaring her body and letting it go from deep. Over the past few seasons, Tanke’s shown off this ability to a T and that isn’t going to change up this winter. Other than being the #1 ranked player out of the 2024 Class in Iowa, she has also been moving around the Top 100 Players list nationally according to ESPNW. There are a few serious contenders for this award and Tanke is one of them. If she does what she does best, takes care of her assignment each game, and stays consistent, it’s going to be a tough debate come the end of the season. The spot light for this winter in the 5A Class will be on the Dragons. They come into the year ranked as a Top 30 team nationally according to Maxpreps and that is something they can’t take lightly. If they are going to be THAT good, they need to show up every game convincingly. No other way to put it. With Tanke and company, it’s not something I’m necessarily worried about moving forward but definitely something worth paying attention to.