January 22, 2025

GIRLS BASKETBALL: NV girls looking to snap three-game skid

Wolverines topped East Union Jan. 13

By Ryan Stonebraker
Nodaway Valley junior Maddie Weston pulls up for a shot against Mount Ayr last week. Weston was one of the girls who had an exceptionally good week on the court.

Nodaway Valley junior Maddie Weston pulls up for a shot against Mount Ayr last week. Weston was one of the girls who had an exceptionally good week on the court. (Dan Dickinson)

It was a tale of two sides to the week all wrapped up in a four-game stretch for the Nodaway Valley girls basketball squad.

The Wolverines began the week as the victor at home against East Union. In that game, they scored a season-high 74 points in a 74-18 result. What followed were losses to Class 1A’s sixth-ranked Mount Ayr, 88-57, then a loss to Panorama, 60-55. Wayne topped Nodaway Valley 68-52.

NV now has three more road games on a long road stretch in the last half of the season. The Wolverines kicked it off Tuesday, Jan. 21 at Lenox and went Friday, Jan. 24 to Southeast Warren.

“We are in the part of the season where we are playing these teams for the second time. Teams adjust and that’s part of it,” said Nodaway Valley head coach Brian Eisbach.

The Wolverines have also been nursing injuries and sickness going through the team in recent days, but coach Eisbach says he’s been keeping an eye on that.

“We have given the kids time off to get healthy, and that’s all you can do,” he said. “Every school has to go through things, right now, with our small roster as it is, we have to be careful.”

Against East Union Monday, Jan. 13, the Wolverines overwhelmed the Eagles in the first half, leading 52-7 at halftime after scoring 21 points in the first quarter and 31 points in the second quarter. The Wolverines outscored East Union 22-11 in the second half.

Nine Wolverines scored against East Union, led by Izzy Eisbach’s game-leading 36 points — a lot of which were off of 11 steals that helped her complete a double-double. Eisbach had seven rebounds and made four 3-pointers.

Maddie Weston scored a career-high 16, on 7-for-11 shooting, including a pair of treys.

Taylor Day posted eight points with three steals.

Mylee Comstock scored five, grabbed six rebounds and had four steals.

Taryn Gutierrez and Ava Armstrong both scored three while Liv Laughery, Allie Cornelison and Taylor Laughery scored one each.

Everyone on NV’s roster had playing time in the game.

Kaylie Shade was East Union’s leading scorer with 11.

“After the East Union game, we talked to the team about no regrets. Leave it all out there,” coach Eisbach said. “It was the last time this year to play Mount Ayr and Wayne and it will be that way here with other teams.”

The Wolverines got their second crack at the state ranked Raiderettes from Mount Ayr 24 hours later, Tuesday, Jan. 14. The first meeting saw the Raiderettes beat NV 65-31 back on Dec. 3. In Mount Ayr, though the Wolverines lost, two positives came from the game. First, junior guard Izzy Eisbach continued her momentous season, breaking the school scoring record for most points in a single game with 51. Eisbach’s mark surpassed a school record 44-point performance from 2024 graduate Lindsey Davis. As part of that record, she hit a school-record 9-pointers.

NV also dropped the most points anyone has on Mount Ayr in the loss. It’s just the second time a team has scored more than 50 on the Raiderettes and only the third time a team has gone over 45 points on them.

Other scorers in that game were Comstock and Liv Laughery, who had three apiece. The Wolverines canned 11 3-pointers in the game and were nearly perfect at the free throw line, going 12-of-13.

Mount Ayr had four players reach double figures in the game led by Breya Nickle with a double-double with 29 points and 11 rebounds. Dannie Stewart had 14 points, Izzy Gilbertson had a double-double with 13 points and 18 rebounds, and Jaylee Shaffer had 12 points, six rebounds and five assists.

The final two games of the week saw the Wolverines fade in both games late, which were losses at Panorama and Wayne.

At Panorama, the Wolverines and Panthers have a storied history and a rivalry up there with other POI rivals. The Wolverines led 17-14 after the first quarter and 36-27 at halftime.The Wolverines still maintained a 52-45 lead after the third quarter, but a 15-3 Panther run in the final quarter did the Wolverines in with a five-point loss.

Eisbach scored 29 points and had 11 rebounds while Liv Laughery had nine points and seven rebounds and Day had nine points. Ford grabbed seven rebounds.

Morgan Crees had 27 points, Ruth Fett 12, and Nerea Gimeno Perez 11 for the Panthers. The Panthers have won four straight games over NV with the win.

The Wolverines went on their longest road trip of the season Friday when they went to W’ayne. The Falcons won the game, which was their first win against Nodaway Valley in 11 tries, since January 2014. NV had beaten the Falcons 58-50 Dec. 20 in the first meeting between the teams this season.

Nodaway Valley was led by Izzy Eisbach with 33 points and Day had 10 to lead NV. Mylee Comstock had 10 rebounds. Four Falcons reached double figures led by Brystal Peck with 21 points and Ava and Ella Whitney with 12 points each. Izzie Moore had 12 points and 21 rebounds and Peck also had 10 rebounds.