Basketball’s loss is soccer’s gain when it comes to Kern, who signed with South Dakota State to play on the pitch. The lead guard is gifted enough to help plenty of colleges on the hardwood, however. Kern is quick, strong and skilled. She’s especially adept at getting her shot off in traffic, contorting her body and understanding angles, cleanly releasing the attempt without it being swatted. That showed up against a taller City High outfit in late January, when Linn-Mar came up just short of upsetting the Top 10 Little Hawks. Kern’s tight handle and physicality allows her to get downhill in a hurry before getting to that quick shot release. Her form his sound beyond the three-point line, and she sees the court well in finding open teammates.

Dreya Kern Dreya Kern 5'6" | PG Linn-Mar | 2026 State IA will return to Linn-Mar this Winter as the team’s starting PG, in charge of setting up everyone else for success around her. Kern is a good basketball player and a great soccer player. So great that she is D1 committed to compete at the next level on the pitch following this Winter so it makes sense why she is so good as a facilitator. She has great pace of play, her vision is better than the average, she is crafty for her size, and she is extremely intelligent mentally. All of those things combine to create one heck of a competitor and that’s what we have here. I’m expecting this group to put up some respectable numbers this Winter prior to Kern taking off for college. If they play their game, they should have 2-3 individuals that we continuously speak about moving throughout the season.

I don’t want to say that it’s a shame that Dreya Kern Dreya Kern 5'6" | PG Linn-Mar | 2026 State IA committed to play Division-1 soccer but I would of loved to see her on the hardwood, dribbling a basketball at the collegiate level. Nevertheless, this is a prospects at the guard position with skill, a smart head on her shoulders, and a ton of heart. She has really been the motor for her Linn-Mar program this Winter and sometimes that can take on toll on you as a player but not for Kern. She has demonstrated what it means to be all in and I’m excited to see how that translates to the soccer pitch with the Jackrabbits. She seems to have a never ending motor so I’m sure she will be someone we hear about early on in her collegiate career.

Dreya is the go-to player for her Linn-Mar squad, and was a leader by example on Tuesday. Kern’s best asset on Tuesday was her physicality. Defensively, she’s strong and aggressive – she has quick feet and isn’t afraid to step in the ball-handler’s comfort zone. She also hits the boards hard despite her 5’7″ frame. Offensively, a lot of her success came in the paint from finishes through contact. Kern was knocked to the floor multiple times and that didn’t stop her from a hitting number of tough buckets. In short, Dreya is gritty, poised point guard who anyone would want on their team.

It is blatantly obvious that Dreya Kern Dreya Kern 5'6" | PG Linn-Mar | 2026 State IA of Linn-Mar High School is skilled as a controller of the basketball. Kern is falling into the situation this season where she really has to, “be the team”, in a sense. I had a chance to pop out to the Lion’s first game of this Winter season and they basically had Kern, plus a few select others doing all of their work and that’s okay. This is possiby a season where Kern really taps into her full potential. She is a quick moving PG, that understands spacing, her own ability, and how to beat her defender in almost every plausible way. Not to mention, she has a beautiful midrange floater/pull up and she understands the game from a strategic standpoint. When you combined this all together, you get someone with a lot of future potential and that’s why Kern is a Stock-Riser in this Update.

If you looked at the preview of this game, you knew going into it that the Lions best prospect was #22 Dreya Kern Dreya Kern 5'6" | PG Linn-Mar | 2026 State IA . Kern is a skilled guard, that has an experienced skill set, a fundamental scoring ability from all three offensive levels, and a smart head on her shoulder with better than average vision. This was the simple situation of the Bulldogs just having too much firepower. Kern had open looks and did her thing though. In the end, she led her team in scoring with 10 on 5/10 shooting and each one of those buckets were pretty smooth. There are a lot of take aways you could gather from this one but as long as this group builds on the positives and Kern stays confident, they should be alright looking toward the rest of their season.

Dreya Kern Dreya Kern 5'6" | PG Linn-Mar | 2026 State IA might not have any college offers just yet but I think that changes this next six months during her Junior high school season. Last Winter, Kern lead her squad in several statistical categories individually, while helping her team to a respectable record. In a recruitment sense, this is someone that has consistently gotten better over her career and she seems locked in more than ever. As long as she plays to her strengths, she is going to be the main factor to her team killing it.

I have a feeling that Dreya Kern Dreya Kern 5'6" | PG Linn-Mar | 2026 State IA is going to have a year to remember, at every level. Kern is another guard that competes with Team Iowa BlueStar 16U and she has put together a productive AAU season up until this point. She is coming off of a weekend when she was listed as a Top USJN performer for her Class. Kern is crafty with her best basketball in front of her. Last Winter for her Linn-Mar High School team, she made her mark in everyone of their contests. She is a main part of their offensive/defensive game plan and that’s not going to change moving into her Junior Season so we will see.