The Aplington-Parkersburg basketball teams will host Denver for the final NICL-Central games of the season Tuesday.
The Falcon girls (12-5, 4-3 NICL-C) are coming off a 54-40 win over #7 (1A) Gladbrook-Reinbeck Friday, where they forced 28 turnovers to help their cause and pull off a minor upset. Head Coach Brady Driscol hopes that can build momentum entering a busy week.
“I don’t think we’ve had too many three-game weeks this year,” Driscol says. “Starting with a very, very talented, long and physical Denver team that got us at their place by only a couple points in a game where we had to fight and claw our way back from a deficit. Hopefully we can keep it a little closer this time around and be able to end up on top. But then it’s a quick turnaround, only one day of prep, and then you go back to back on Thursday at Wapsie, always a challenging place to play, long road trip. And then Union at home for Senior Night, and then an extremely, extremely talented, Waverly-Shell Rock team coming into town to the following week. So it’s another big four-game stretch for us, but we’re really looking forward to that one on Tuesday and a good battle with Denver.”
#9 (2A) Denver (17-1, 7-0 NICL-C) will look to close division play undefeated, and has already clinched the outright division title. They’ve bounced back from their only loss by dominating Columbus Catholic and Sumner-Fredericksburg in the last two games. Denver won 55-53 when the teams met in January.
The #9 (2A) Falcon boys (15-1, 7-0 NICL-C), fresh into the IHSAA rankings, will look to clinch the outright division title and finish undefeated in the Central with a win. They’re coming off a 71-56 win over #8 (1A) Gladbrook-Reinbeck Friday, where the team shot 50 percent from three-point range, led by Tyler Wedeking’s 22 points.
Denver (15-3, 6-1 NICL-C) is coming off some high-scoring games, including a 98-92 triple overtime win over Waterloo Columbus last week. The Falcons won 73-60 in the January meeting.
The doubleheader will start at 6:15 p.m.
