2025 - A New Year With The Same Buckets

Throughout the past few days we have had action in both the states of Iowa and Nebraska take off again to resume the 2024 - 2025 high school season. To being the new year, there have already been some noteworthy performances across both states. Below we will highlight some of those performances moving into the weekend.   Thanks for tuning in and enjoy!    Lincoln Southwest High School won a highly anticipated battle this past week when they went to Lincoln North Star and came out victorious against the Gators on the road. In this contest, the usual suspects played a major rule but someone that stepped up as their "x-factor" was SG - [player_tooltip player_id='316651' first='Hayden' last='Rathe']. Rathe contributed double-digits in scoring, while also rebounding and helping out others on both ends throughout the evening. This Lincoln SW team is dangerous. They have a new PG who is a killer, talented other prospects still on roster from years past, and they have a great dynamic as a team/program. All in all, that's really all you can ask for and something you really love to see from an outside perspective.     Someone who isn't shy of taking some shots and getting a lot of buckets at a high rate is [player_tooltip player_id='832211' first='Cora' last='Sauer'] of Lake Mills high School. This ability was on full display on Thursday evening when she erupted for 26 points on 8/18 shooting, including going 7/12 from behind the three point line. With this only being a prospect out of the Sophomore class, you can imagine the promise that a lot of recruiters could see with Sauer down the line. Quick trigger from deep, accurate, she is consistently growing her play-style, and she comes off as a player that brings great culture along with her into whatever she is doing. This is one of the first times we have heard about Sauer this Winter but at this pace, it won't be the last.     On Thursday night, Millard West won back-to-back Holiday Tournament titles. In their efforts, in the final game of the tournament, [player_tooltip player_id='315778' first='Neleigh' last='Gessert'] went off for tournament record high of 35 points, doing a little bit of everything for her team as well as scoring the ball. These type of outbursts are always very fun to see unfold when you know you have a high level prospect on the floor. In this specific case, Neleigh was on fire from behind the arch but she also took what the defense was giving her and kept it simple for other important buckets. It just happen to be a coincidence that the Creighton Bluejay's also had some of their coaching staff in the building to watch the Gessert Twin's compete during this event. Which, I'm sure the coaches were very pleased with what they were witnessing first hand, even though I'm sure they understand what they are getting come next Winter.     When looking at the upcoming Playoffs this season, I notice that a lot of team's are sleeping on Sioux Center to make a run and that could be a major mistake because of their coaching combined with their talented roster. Someone from this roster, that has stepped up to a major rule for her Senior season is [player_tooltip player_id='1125244' first='Josie' last='Bomgaars']. Bomgaars, a 5'8 SG, is someone that has been a top producer for her team in a lot of different statistical categories this Winter up until this point. Categories such as Scoring, FG %, Rebounding, Assisting, and a few other small things. When you consider all of that and the fact that this team wins games consistently, I start to wonder how far they might be able to take things. We will just have to wait and find out.     Nakia Ollivierre of Waterloo West is going to see the floor a majority of her college career by my assessment. If she didn't end up committing to West Point early on, who knows who would have picked her up or offered her. So far she has proven over her 2.5 years at the Varsity level that she is handful on any court she places on, no matter if it's during high school ball or on the road during AAU season. To kick off 2025, Ollivierre recorded a meaningful game on Friday night in her team's victory. In this contest, she registered 33 Points, doing it all from the PG spot. There aren't many in the state built like this one. Metaphorically and physically. Her athletic ability is up there with some of the best in the state at her height at 5'10. As long as she continues to stay hungry, she should continue to dominate moving forward.     Moving into this Winter season, [player_tooltip player_id='880906' first='Kalyn' last='Scamman'] of Shenandoah High School was someone that we noted to watch out for. With the mixture of Scammer's ability, along with who she is going to have to play over the next four years on the high school floor and it was not crazy to think that she was going to kill it right from the start. Well, that's exactly what we are happening here so far. A great example of this was her contest last night in which she helped her team to a narrow single figure victory, while putting up a game-high 23 points. Other than scoring, she also recorded 4 Assists and 2 Steals. As you can tell, Scamman is a Top 10 - 2028 for a reason. If she continues to get better with time, she is going to love how it plays out throughout the rest of her high school career.

Throughout the past few days we have had action in both the states of Iowa and Nebraska take off again to resume the 2024 - 2025 high school season. To being the new year, there have already been some noteworthy performances across both states. Below we will highlight some of those performances moving into the weekend.