The North Butler girls will look for the season series sweep and the boys basketball team will look for the upset with a road trip to Northwood-Kensett for a Top of Iowa Conference East doubleheader on Tuesday, on 104.9 KLMJ.
The North Butler girls (1-7, 1-5 TIC-East) will look to put an end to a seven game slide since a season opening win over Northwood-Kensett 60-51 on December 3. The Bearcats have battled cold shooting to begin the new year scoring 23 points or less in their first two games. Zoey Thompson has been a rising starter with 10 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
North Butler Head Coach Jordan Nolz on focusing on development beyond wins and losses.
“What we really try to focus on through this, is we’re trying to develop at a faster rate than other teams. We’re young, we can develop quickly. That’s what we’re looking at,” says Nolz. “We don’t take every loss and just say it’s the end of the world. We take a loss, we learn from it, we find the mistakes and we look to improve on it. That’s what we’re looking to do.”
The Northwood-Kensett girls (0-10, 0-7 TIC-East) fell to Osage 54-26 in conference on Friday. The Vikings have been plagued by 31 turnovers per game. Bailey Thorsen leads with 6.7 points per game.
The North Butler boys (3-7, 2-4 TIC-East) has won two of its last three and lost a non-conference game 65-37 at Dike New Hartford on Monday. The Bearcats defense holds opponents to below average scoring allowing 41.9 points per game. Ryan Austin has been a solid post presence with 11.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game.
Bearcats Head Coach Austin Guerrero on Vikings post play and hunting for the upset.
“They pose a lot of different threats. Two of their studs are some guys that can really handle the ball, but they put pressure on you because if you put a guard on them, they’re probably going to go to the post on you. If you put a post on them, they’re going to have the quickness to get around you,” says Guerrero. “We’ve been licking our chops for this one since that first game, because we know we match up with them really well in our opinion. An exciting one for us, the longest trip we’ll have in the conference. It’d be a heck of a game for us to go up and steal one.”
The #7 (1A) Northwood-Kensett boys (10-0, 7-0 TIC-East) held on for a 57-55 win over second place Osage on Friday. The Vikings have rolled offensively behind 14.9 assists per game. Colby Eskildsen has been a driving force for the Vikings with 21.7 points and 10.5 rebounds per game to lead the team.
The Vikings won the season opening meeting 57-48 on December 3.
Coverage on 104.9 KLMJ will begin at 6:05 p.m. followed by the opening tip at 6:15 p.m. in Northwood.
