Games of the Week: Week 4

With our third 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 4 of the Iowa high school season. Each day has a few good games this week and should be one of the top weeks of the season so far. You can see the 10 games below.

Tuesday: Marion vs. Solon On Tuesday night we have a great match-up as Marion travels to Solon for their first game of the year against each other. Marion sits at 1-1 on the year while Solon is 3-2. Marion is coming off a game where they lost to Vinton-Shellsburg by six points but they did not have their top two point scorers. Solon meanwhile just beat Vinton-Shellsburg by 10 points. Both of these teams are solid right now when they have their entire roster. This should be a very even match-up on Tuesday night. Tuesday: Dike-New Hartford vs. Jesup This is a great test for both teams as they look to prove they are legitimate. Both teams are coming into this game undefeated with Dike-New Hartford sitting at 4-0 and Jesup sitting at 6-0. Jesup did have a few night wins last weekend beating MFL-Mar-Mac and Aplington-Parkersburg by two points. Dike-New Hartford has started out well but they only have one win over a team above .500. This is going to be a game that really shows up which of these teams is for real in 2A. Tuesday: Waterloo West vs. Cedar Rapids Washington Waterloo West is one of the top teams in 5A this season and Cedar Rapids Washington looks much better this year with back. Waterloo West is led by the freshman duo of and who combined to score 41 points in their first game of the season. Washington, on the other hand, saw Iowa commit and Mitvalsky combine for 49 points in their first game. With this being both team’s second game it is a good measuring stick to see how they stack up against top competition. Thursday: MFL-Mar-Mac vs. Waukon Waukon sits at 1-1 on the season so far but their lone loss came to a tough team in Waverly-Shell Rock. MFL-Mar-Mac looks solid in the early going with their only loss to a good Jesup team. Waukon has won the last two games in this series and I think that the game could come down to the leaders of both of these teams. is scoring 16.2 points a game for MFL-Mar-Mac and is scoring 15.0 points a game. This game will likely go to the team who’s star player has the best game. Friday: Assumption vs. Central DeWitt This will be a bit of a trap game for Central DeWitt as I still stand by the fact that Assumption is better than their record. Assumption has some really solid pieces and could spell some trouble for Central DeWitt on the defensive end of the floor. Sophomore , junior Maddie Loken, and junior are three really solid defenders and if they can lock down Central DeWitt’s junior duo of and they could surprise Central DeWitt. With how those two have played thus far this year, I think we will see a big game from either Veach or Meadows. Friday: Hampton-Dumont-CAL vs. Clear Lake Hampton-Dumont-CAL is off to a good start to the season with their only blemish being a one-point loss to Iowa Falls-Alden. They sit at 3-1 and it has really been a total team effort for them as they are scoring 57.3 points a game. Clear Lake is off to another hot start to the season this year. They are 5-0 on the season so far and have had some good success in getting to teams early and putting it away early in the second half. Hampton-Dumont-CAL could be their toughest test to date so eyes will be on this one to see how they respond. Friday: West Hancock vs. Forest City Forest City started the year off really well before falling to North Union in a game last week to give them a 5-1 record. They relied on the trio of seniors Ellie Caylor and along with junior to lead their team. West Hanock is led by Nebraska-Kearney commit who is having a great season so far this year. She is scoring 27.8 points a game and junior is scoring 15.5 points a game. This is a game that will show us if Forest City is a legit contender or not. Saturday: Turkey Valley vs. Osage Both of these teams were thought of as teams who could make it to the Well at the end of the year and still are but they have fallen in some games early on in the season. Turkey Valley sits at 4-2 and has lost to MFL-Mar-Mac and North Fayette Valley while Osage is 2-1 and has a loss to St. Ansgar. Both teams rely on a single player for the bulk of their points as senior scores 22.3 points a game for Turkey Valley and Osage’s scores 28.3 points a game. This is going to be a great game between two tough teams. Saturday: Nodaway Valley vs. Atlantic Nodaway Valley is gotten off to a great start to the season as they are 4-0 but they haven’t really been tested yet. Atlantic is 2-3 but their record is deceiving because they’ve played some very tough teams. They have lost to Creston twice and Glenwood, both teams are ranked in the Top 10 of our 4A poll. This is going to be a really good test for both of these teams as it will be the first competition that they have had where it should be an equal playing field. Saturday: Southeast Polk vs. Gilbert Southeast Polk had a long layoff after going to school online and now they will face one of the top teams in 4A as they travel to Gilbert on Saturday. Southeast Polk opened their season back on November 24th and have not played since. Gilbert on the other hand has won their first four games with relative ease, besides the five-point win against North Polk. Both of these teams have a ton of talent on both sides of the ball and senior South Dakota commit will look to lead Southeast Polk while junior Drake commit will lead Gilbert.