Games of the Week: Week 3

With our second full week of basketball on tap, we take a look at the 10 games this week that we will keep a close eye on for Week 3 of the Iowa high school season. Tuesday will be the night with the best games while the top game of the week is on Thursday. You can see the 10 games below. <hr /> <strong>Monday: Mason City vs. Clear Lake</strong> One of the best games on Monday night is Mason City vs. Clear Lake. Last year, Clear Lake won the battle 71-64 and was their first win in the series. Prior to the win last year Clear Lake had been 0-11 against Mason City. This game is going to be another close one as both teams are pretty evenly matched. Mason City is 0-1 while Clear Lake currently sits at 3-0 and ranked fourth in PGH Iowa’s 3A poll. Clear Lake is led by NIACC commit [player_tooltip player_id="164981" first="Chelsey" last="Holck"] and her 17.5 points a game while Mason City junior [player_tooltip player_id="107012" first="Jada" last="Williams"], a Milwaukee commit, paces the squad with 16.0 points a game. <strong>Tuesday: Bondurant-Farrar vs. Ballard</strong> Bondurant-Farrar and Ballard bring us an exciting Top 10 4A match-up as Bondurant-Farrar is ranked #7 and Ballard is #3 in the latest edition of the PGH Iowa team rankings. Bondurant-Farrar is 1-0 on the year so far with a big win over Winterset while Ballard sits at 4-0 with four dominating wins. The last time that Bondurant-Farrar beat Ballard was in 2014 but since that game they have not scored more than 39 points against Ballard. Ballard should win this game pretty easily but will be a great test for Bondurant-Farrar to see how they stack up against some of the top teams in 4A. <strong>Tuesday: Bellevue vs. Cascade</strong> This is going to be a game to keep an eye on this week and will be a repeat matchup from earlier in the season. Bellevue came away with a 40-38 win in the first game this year and will look to take two games from Cascade on the year. Bellevue has started the year great with a balanced scoring attack with three players above 8.7 points a game. Cascade has been led by <strong>Alyssa Lux</strong> with 18.0 points a game this year. If Bellevue can win this one it would be a huge notch on their belt in this young season. <strong>Tuesday: Denison-Schleswig vs. Glenwood</strong> This will be a really good test for both teams as they are looking to get to the state tournament this year. Denison-Schleswig slid into the 4A Top 10 this week after going 3-0 last week. Glenwood is our top-ranked team in 4A and they sit at 1-0 after a season-opening win against Atlantic. Glenwood will be without senior leader [player_tooltip player_id="164954" first="Elle" last="Scarborough"] for the near future and we are interested to see how Glenwood can respond with her on the shelf. Denison-Schleswig has been impressive so far and this result will tell us a lot about them, win or lose. <strong>Tuesday: Westwood vs. Kingsley-Pierson</strong> This is a great 1A match-up to really be able to see how good both of these teams are. Westwood is currently unranked in our 1A poll but a win here and getting to next weekend undefeated would likely push them in. Kingsley-Pierson has been firing on all cylinders so far this year and sits at 3-0 as does Westwood. Kingsley-Pierson has a very balanced attack this year and Westwood has two players who are scoring north of 17.0 points a game. This is going to be a great matchup to watch on a Tuesday night. <strong>Tuesday: Assumption vs. Central DeWitt</strong> This is a game between two teams who I still have a few questions about. Assumption played a great game in their opening win over Xavier but then fell to Pleasant Valley by three points. Central DeWitt played a really good game in their opening win against Solon and then beat Pleasant Valley by five points. Both of these teams struggled a bit against Pleasant Valley and I’m interested to see how this one turns out. Assumption has the bodies to defend Central DeWitt really well so this one might be a low scoring affair. Central DeWitt is ranked #4 in 4A while Assumption is #8 in 3A according to the PGH Iowa rankings. <strong>Thursday: Newell-Fonda vs. Bishop Garrigan</strong> This game will very likely be a preview of the 1A state championship and a rematch of the 1A state title game a year ago, a game that Newell-Fonda lost. Newell-Fonda has won 57 games in a row and in on a four year run of being 100-5. Bishop Garrigan has one of the best duos in the state with the tandem of [player_tooltip player_id="63033" first="Molly" last="Joyce"] and [player_tooltip player_id="63019" first="Audi" last="Crooks"] in the sophomore class. They are combining to average 42.3 points a game as Bishop Garrigan scores 82 points a game. This is going to be a great game this coming Thursday and is a look at the #1 and #2 team in 1A early in the year. <strong>Friday: MMCRU vs. Unity Christian</strong> This is a great test early on in the year for both of these teams as they look to go deep into the tournament this year. MMCRU started off the year with two dominating wins and have really shown that they deserve to be ranked #4 in PGH Iowa’s 1A rankings. They have three players scoring over 20 points a game this season. Unity Christian sits at 3-1 on the year and only have a loss to Cherokee, who is the #2 team in 3A. Unity Christian is going to be a tough out this year and has already shown flashes of being really good so far this year as they are ranked #6 in 3A. <strong>Friday: Cedar Rapids Kennedy vs. Cedar Rapids Washington</strong> This is going to be a test for each of these teams as they look to start their season off on a good note. Cedar Rapids Kennedy is looking to show what they can do this year after losing their top player a couple games into the season. Washington on the other hand has our top-ranked player in the 2022 class as well as another D1 commit. This game is going to be a true test to see what both of these teams are made of early in the season. Winning this first game will put that team on the right foot to begin their season. <strong>Saturday: Waverly-Shell Rock vs. Center Point-Urbana</strong> Waverly Shell-Rock and Center Point-Urbana is always a battle and this year is going to be no different. Each team has a D1 commit and both have very good role players as well. Waverly-Shell Rock sits at 1-0 while Center Point-Urbana is 2-1. Their lone loss came as they were missing four starters so you can dismiss that loss on their resume pretty easily. We have Center Point-Urbana ranked as the #5 team in 3A while Waverly-Shell Rock is #5 in 4A. This is going to be a battle and will be a fun game to see both of these teams against one another.