Preseason Top Five: Class 3A

We have made it!    November is the month that action throughout the state of Iowa starts to take place for Girls High School Basketball. As a preview, in this piece we break down some of the team's that should be within the Top Five for the 3A Class moving into the Winter when taking into consideration their roster, schedule, and who they might have to play in some meaningful games in the future.   Thanks for tuning in and enjoy!   #5 - Roland Story High School   It's going to be an intriguing situations with Roland-Story High School this Winter. The Norseman handled their business going 22-3 over their 25 games. This was good enough for a 15-1 conference record and some pretty impressive stat lines. This season the Norseman will lose their main 2-3 offensive players due to graduation but they happen to have a solid underclassman that might surprise me before you know it. This is one of the deeper teams that will compete out of this Class this season so as long as they can use that to their advantage, they should be able to handle most of the competition that is going to be coming their way. I just hope that they compete against some tough opponents during their regular season so that they are prepared when it comes to big Playoff games, later down the line. Don't get me wrong, they need to worry about the test in front of them and going 1-0 each contest but there is nothing wrong for also preparing for the future. Some players to keep an eye on that should step-up in their production this Winter: [player_tooltip player_id='923942' first='Riley' last='Johnson'] (11 PPG, 5 RPG, 5 APG, 3 SPG), [player_tooltip player_id='687815' first='Emma' last='Truesdell'] (6 PPG, 3 RPG, 1 APG, 1 SPG), & Maddie Berggren (2 PPG, 1 RPG, 2 APG).   #4 - DSM Christian High School   DSM Christian is going to be the favorite to win their conference once again this Winter. The Lions posted a 21-4 record overall while going 14-0 in conference last season and we shouldn't expect anything different this time around. When looking at the entire state as a whole as it pertains to the 3A Class, this group is one that should be right back into the State Tournament conversation by the time we get into the 2026 calendar year. They will bring back most of their production on both sides of the ball from the past, so as long as they keep the same recipe and they should be just fine. This is a group with a few college committed players so skill wise, they can obviously compete and their strategy has always been solid in the past so everything lines up for this to be the Year Of The Lion(s) in a bunch of different aspects if they play their cards correctly. They will only need to replace 350 shots when trying to produce offensively and they should be able to easily cover that if they push the ball like they have in the recent past.   #3 - Cherokee Washington High School   Cherokee Washington will be a group from the 3A Class that will return most of their production from last season when they went 21-4 overall. The main reason as to why I think that the group will return stronger than ever is because they will have back their star PG/SG in [player_tooltip player_id='832197' first='Addy' last='Wolfswinkel'] (20 PPG, 4 RPG, 3 APG, 4 SPG). Wolfswinkel is a major scoring threat on the offensive side while also being someone that can wall up and defender her own position pretty well. She demonstrates a quick first step in everything she is doing and she obviously knows how to produce when things tighten up. They will also returning their power down-low in PF/C - [player_tooltip player_id='833967' first='Deidra' last='Doeden'] (14 PPG, 12 RPG, 1 APG, 2 SPG). These two paired together are a dream duo. There is a fasting thinking guard with great instincts, a natural handle, and a sweet scoring ability and a Power Forward that understands how to use her size to her advantage anywhere near the bucket. Taking into consideration the roster on hand, who they will have to play up until the Playoff's, and what they have put together in recent years and you start to see how this Braves group could really kill it over the next year within this 3A Class.   #2 - Williamsburg High School   Williamsburg High School will need to replenish around 400 shots compared to their production last year but that shouldn't be too difficult with the cast they will be returning. The Raiders return 3 of 5 starters from a season ago when they finished off the year with a 24-3 record. The most important part of this equation being what positions these three players compete at but have no fear, they will return a force in the middle with Forward - [player_tooltip player_id='656292' first='Zoe' last='Allen'] (11 PPG, 5 RPG, 1 APG, 1 SPG), a solid Shooting Guard on the outside with [player_tooltip player_id='502098' first='Kennedy' last='Skaggs'] (6 PPG, 4 RPG, 1 SPG, 2 APG), another talented Shooting Guard with a lot of length in [player_tooltip player_id='1056799' first='Ava' last='Hocker'] (6 PPG, 4 RPG, 2 APG, 2 SPG), & a very promising Combo Guard with [player_tooltip player_id='1093414' first='Channing' last='Becker'] (4 PPG, 2 RPG, 2 APG, 2 SPG) - who came off the bench for her Freshman campaign last Winter. I like Williamsburg in the #2 spot here to start because of the reasons listed above and because of the competition they will compete against throughout the regular season. It should prepare them better for the future than some others schedules and that's going to matter in the long run.   #1 - Mount Vernon High School   The Mount Vernon Mustangs will return this season after going undefeated last year, ultimately bringing home the 3A State Title. Things will be a little different this time around. They will have a new HC in-place and therefore, a new system somewhat. Another big loss for this group is their presence in the middle. Last year on their run they had 6'3 Center - Chloe Meester, who is now competing at Louisville on the collegiate Volleyball court and 5'10 Shoot Guard - Sydney Huber, who is now at D1 - Evansville (IL). As you can tell there will be some questions for this team but they will return most of their star-studded guards and those guards will be the difference in winning or losing. You have prospects like Wayne State commit - [player_tooltip player_id='782508' first='Courtney' last='Franck'] (8 PPG, 7 RPG, 5 APG, 3 SPG), UNI commit - [player_tooltip player_id='996522' first='Taylor' last='Franck'] (10 PPG, 2 RPG, 3 APG, 2 SPG), & future D1 commit - [player_tooltip player_id='957840' first='Savanna' last='Wright'] (11 PPG, 3 RPG, 3 APG, 3 SPG). Those three alone should be able to carry this group but they will eventually need some others to step up when it gets to be games with Playoff implications at the start of 2026. Last Winter the Mustangs made their names known with high and intense pressure on both sides of the floor. They liked to press and trap at times, while always playing sticky defense in one way or another. Offensively, they shared the ball at a high rate and that helped them absolutely smack some of their opponents in the end. All and all, I expect this group to have a prime shot to make it back to the State Tournament to defend their State Title over the next six months. If they keep their momentum rolling from last Winter, they will be in great shape coming into this season.   (Honorable Mentions: Forest City, Wahlert Catholic, Mediapolis, PCM, Algona, Spirit Lake)

We have made it!