West will meet East in Eldora on Monday as the South Hardin girls and boys basketball teams will host Jesup in a NICL crossover doubleheader for their first games of the new year.
The South Hardin girls (2-6, 0-2 NICL-West) closed 2024 on a four game slide including a 53-41 loss to AGWSR on Friday, December 20. The Tigers have been plagued by 17.8 turnovers per game but have done a good job of getting the ball back with 9.8 steals per game. Alli Sheldahl has helped carry the load with 12.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
South Hardin Head Coach Nick Eller on the necessity of playing an all-round game against J-Hawks.
“Our work will be cut out for us on the first day back to school, first day back to our normal schedule, and first game of the new year. We’re gonna have to play an all-around game because they have an inside-out game, they have good three-point shooting, good athletes and pressure you a lot up and down the court,” says Eller. “That’s something we’ve struggled with, so we’ll find out fast if we’re able to take care of the ball. It’s one of the things we worked on here over break, we’ll see how that goes. Definitely gonna be a big challenge.”
The Jesup girls (5-3, 2-1 NICL-East) fell 54-33 to #11(3A)West Delaware in non-conference on Friday, January 3. The J-Hawks are an efficient shooting team at 41.6 percent from the field. Olivia Nesbit produces 13 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
The South Hardin boys (3-3, 1-2 NICL-West) lost three straight entering holiday break including a 68-45 loss to Aplington-Parkersburg on Thursday, December 19. The Tigers have shot the ball well from the field at 45.1 percent and also look to trim down turnovers from 16 per game. Two Tigers are averaging double figures with Sam Benson and Jaxson Drury each draining 10 points apiece per game.
Tigers Head Coach John Phillips on playing with increased toughness in 2025.
“Defensive intensity we’ve been preaching it all year, that’s what we want to do. Those were our goals in the beginning,” says Phillips. “We ran up against some really good teams and adversity, but you can’t replicate that in practice. I love playing against really good teams the boys do too so then they can learn from that. We just got to have a toughness about us, we need to step up.”
The Jesup boys (2-4, 0-3 NICL-East) lost three straight to wrap up 2024 including 65-40 loss to Gladbrook-Reinbeck on Friday, December 20th. The J-Hawks get to the offensive glass with 10.8 offensive boards per game. Ryan Treptow leads with 23.5 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.
Tip off is at 6:15 p.m. in Eldora.
