December 26, 2024

GIRLS HOOPS: Nodaway Valley tips season off Friday at Treynor

By Ryan Stonebraker
Izzy Eisbach of Nodaway Valley drives to the basket during Thursday's game at Martensdale-St. Marys. Eisbach made 4-of-7 3-pointers in scoring a game-high 29 points for the Class 2A fifth-ranked Wolverines, who were edged by the Class 1A third-ranked Blue Devils, 58-56. Sophia Shannon had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Martensdale-St. Marys, which rallied from a 32-15 halftime deficit. Lindsey Davis added 18 points and seven rebounds for the 6-1 Wolverines, who host Mount Ayr Tuesday night.

Izzy Eisbach of Nodaway Valley is one of the top returners for a Wolverine squad carries high expectations into this season despite losing a large, talented senior class a year ago. (Larry Peterson)

The long wait is over: the Iowa high school basketball season tips off this week with the girls beginning action this week and the boys next week. Both are hard at work in practice.

A program known for recent success on the hardwood returns with the new season as Nodaway Valley travels to Treynor for their season opener Friday. The game pits a traditional Southwest Iowa small school power with a program that has been good the last several years. The Cardinals and Wolverines have met twice before — once in the postseason and once last year in Greenfield — and the results are split.

The Wolverines were runners up in the Pride of Iowa Conference standings last year at 12-1. Their only loss was to eventual conference champ and Class 1A state tournament qualifier Martensdale-St. Marys.

Head coach Brian Eisbach begins his seventh season leading the Wolverines and is again joined by assistant coach Amy Sivadge. The Wolverines went 20-4 last season, posting their fourth 20-win season in the last decade. Eisbach notched win No. 100 for his career last season. NV will be one of the smallest Class 2A schools this year.

“We will look different this year. We lost a lot of experience from last year and we play everyone twice in the conference this year. In our normally-tough non-conference schedule we may not win as many games, but we will always play hard,” Coach Eisbach said. “We have goals for this year. We want to be as competitive as we can be each night out. We feel that we can be tough, and it will take all of us working hard each day.”

Gone from last year’s team are senior starters Lindsey Davis, Annika Nelson, Jorja Holliday and Bella Hogan. Senior manager Emma Lundy also graduated.

Davis completed her fourth all-state season, averaging 24.6 points per game and went on to play at Upper Iowa University in Fayette.

Nelson averaged 5.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

Holliday averaged 7.4 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

Hogan averaged 5.7 and 4.7.

The Wolverines’ season ended in a regional final loss to Grundy Center. The senior class had a record of 58-13 in their first three seasons, including a 37-2 run in the POI.

There are five players back from last year’s squad and four seniors on this year’s team. Seniors include Maddie Weston, Mylee Comstock, Liv Laughery and Taylor Day. Joining them as a returner is junior Izzy Eisbach.

Eisbach is a two-time all-state selection in her first two seasons in Class 1A and is one of the top juniors in the state coming into this season. She is 200 points shy of 1,000 for her career. She averaged 19.2 points per game last year and almost six rebounds and assists to go with just over four steals a game.Comstock and Weston return to add sharpshooting to the Wolverines perimeter game and will be called on to help stretch defenses.

Weston was third and Comstock fourth in made 3-pointers last season behind Davis and Eisbach. Key bench players Laughery and Day will return with three years in the program under their belts. Senior Delaney Blomme is also part of the program as a team manager.

The POI title has ping-ponged between Nodaway Valley and Martensdale-St. Marys the past few seasons and the Wolverines will look to stay in the hunt this season, however Lenox and Mount Ayr also seem poised to have quality seasons of that caliber.

The Raiderettes will return all five starters from a team that went 16-7 last season and has won 31 games in the last two seasons. They are guards Jaylee Shaffer, Dannie Stewart and Jaxy Knight, as well as forwards Breya Nickle and Izzy Gilbertson.

The Tigers return a solid 1-2 punch of seniors Sadie Cox and Zoey Reed. Cox led the league in rebounding last year with a 14.1 per game average along with a 17.9-point scoring average. Reed chipped in a 14.3-point scoring average, nearly five rebounds and a pair of steals and assists a game last year for the 13-10 Tigers.

The POI will look slightly different this season as Bedford departed for the Corner Conference after the 2023-24 school year. That precipitated a schedule change league-wide where there will be a true conference champion for the first time in league history. Each team will play 16 conference games, playing everyone else home-and-home. The Wolverines will have non-conference games at Atlantic, Panorama, Earlham and Clarinda along with a home game against Carroll Kuemper. Three of those teams are from the Hawkeye 10 Conference and two are from the West Central Activities Conference.

“There will likely be more parity this season in the Pride of Iowa. Mount Ayr has risen to the top as the team to beat and Lenox will be in the conversation as the top team as well,” Coach Eisbach said. “It will be very hard for anyone to run the table in the POI this season but Mount Ayr and Lenox are equipped to do so.”