(Avoca) One of AHSTW’s biggest remaining hurdles in their quest for a Western Iowa Conference championship in girls basketball is Logan-Magnolia. The Lady Vikes host the Panthers in a big showdown Friday night. We’ll have it on 96.5 FM KSOM.
With three conference games remaining AHSTW is alone in first in the conference standings at 11-1. Logan-Magnolia is a game back at 10-2. “It’s a big game,” says AHSTW coach Steve Sauvain. “It’s been since 2000 since we won a conference championship so that’s front and center on the girls’ mind and the community is rallying behind it. It’s a very big game.”
AHSTW beat Logan-Magnolia 48-45 in Logan on December 19th. Sauvain says they had to stay the course in that game after a rough shooting first half. Sauvain says Violet Lapke, Kylie Morrison, and Emilie Thompson are tough to stop. “Kylie, one of the best players in the WIC going into the season, is able to take you off the dribble or shoot the three. She’s a real tough matchup. Violet Lapke has just been hotter than hot from the three point line. Emilie is able to beat you either behind the three-point line or going to the basket so it gives us some defensive challenges.”
AHSTW is 15-1 overall. Logan-Magnolia is 14-2. The Lady Vikes have Treynor and Tri-Center remaining on their Western Iowa Conference slate. The Panthers still have league games against Audubon, IKM-Manning, and Riverside. Kailey Jones, Kinsey Scheffler, Claire Denning, and Claire Harris have all been extremely impressive, statistically. Jones averages 17.0 points and 13.4 rebounds per game. She’s the leading rebounder in all of Class 2A and is shooting 59.4% from the field. Scheffler averages 15.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 3 steals per game. Denning scores 11.1 points per game along with averaging 2.9 assists, and 2.6 steals. The stat line for Harris shows 9.6 points, 3.8 assists, and 2.9 steals per game.
Scheffler has career totals of 971 points, 641 rebounds, 188 assists, 196 steals, and 263 free-throws made.
AHSTW rides a 10-game winning streak. Since their only loss of the season, which came in overtime to Audubon, they’ve outscored their opponents by an average of 28.5 points per game. A win for AHSTW on Friday clinches at least a share of the conference championship.
Logan-Magnolia coach Derek Sonderland:
AHSTW coach Steve Sauvain:
