Wolverine standout Davis wins newspaper’s Female Athlete of the Year award

With an emphasis on being a good teammate and enjoying the journey that it takes to successful, Lindsey Davis said goodbye to a decorated four-sport career as a student-athlete when she graduated in May from Nodaway Valley.

The 5-foot-7 basketball guard who was a key piece to her team’s regional final run in February but showed throughout her career that she could swing a golf club, run hurdles, run the bases and score a volleyball kill just as well as she could shoot a basketball.

For those reasons and more, the daughter of David and Tisha Davis of Greenfield is the 2024 South Central Iowa Female Athlete of the Year.

The honor was created in 2013 as a joint venture by the Creston News Advertiser and Osceola Sentinel Tribune. Since then a third Shaw Media newspaper, the Adair County Free Press, has joined in the collaborative effort to honor the region’s outstanding graduating male and female senior athletes.

The other four finalists this year in a strong field of contenders from the class of 2024 are Leksi Gannon of Murray, Grace Britten of Nodaway Valley, Emma Cooper of Southwest Valley and Annika Nelson of Southwest Valley. There are nine area high schools covered regularly by the three participating newspapers.

Davis leaves soon to study and play Division II women’s basketball at Upper Iowa University in the northeast Iowa town of Fayette.

“This proves that all the hard work I’ve put in has paid off. I’m going to continue to get to use my ability at the next level, which is very exciting, and I’m going up there soon,” Davis said. “It’s exciting to get this award as well.”

While volleyball comes in a close second place, basketball has been Davis’ favorite sport. She entered high school being a part of the Wolverines’ state tournament run in 2021 as a freshman starter. She scored 20 points in her team’s quarterfinal round game against North Linn and 11 in a 47-45 loss to Maquoketa Valley in the next round, averaging 13.9 points per game.

Her sophomore season, Davis averaged 15.8 points, 4.5 steals, three assists and 4.4 rebounds a game. Maddax DeVault, who now plays at Simpson College, broke the all-time scoring record for the Wolverines that season, however that would not last long. DeVault and her twin brother, Caelen, were recipients of the South Central Athlete of the Year Award in 2022.

Davis scored 25.7 points per game her junior season on the hardwood, also contributing an average of 4.7 steals, 3.5 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game, as the team made the second round of regionals before falling short in a close game at Treynor.

In her senior season, Davis scored 24.6 points, made 4.7 steals, 3.9 assists and six rebounds per game.

The basketball class Davis was a part of went 82-14 in their high school careers, to have the highest win total of any graduating group of senior girls basketball players. They won 46 games straight at home, were 50-2 in Pride of Iowa Conference play, 9-4 in the playoffs, won two conference crowns and made three regional finals. They were winners of 20 or more games in three of their four years.

Davis finished with 1,908 points, 468 rebounds, 311 assists and 423 steals in 96 games.

In a game against Central Decatur Feb. 2, Davis became the all-time scoring leader for the program and scored 44 points to eclipse the school’s single-game scoring record all on the same night. Davis said she knew the all-time record was in reach going into the game, but she was also elated to have the single-game record, previously set by Maddax DeVault, who graduated two years earlier and now plays at Simpson College.

Girls basketball coach Brian Eisbach said Davis was a joy to coach.

“Lindsey graduates with most of our basketball program’s career records,” Eisbach said. “It was a lot of fun getting the opportunity to serve as her coach these past four years and we look forward to her reaching new heights at Upper Iowa.”

In volleyball, Davis led Nodaway Valley with 207 kills, 264 digs and 38 aces her senior year. She was also kills leader her junior season with 210, adding in 140 digs and another team-best with 32 aces.

Davis did not go out for softball her senior season, but she hit .306 her junior season, which was second-best on that year’s squad. She drove in 15 runs, hit one homer, two triples and five doubles. She often was the catcher for the team, which won nine games that year.

Co-head softball coach Ryan Zenor said Davis was good about leading by example, never taking a practice drill off.

“Lindsey was one you wanted up to bat in clutch opportunities. She was the one you wanted the ball going to to get the final out,” Zenor said. “Lindsey was always a good teammate and utility player willing to play anywhere we needed her to play. We moved her to shortstop at the beginning of the year from her normal position of catcher and she was willing to play anywhere to help the team.”

On the golf course, Davis’ nine-hole average as a junior was a 53. She went out for track her senior year but was sidelined because of an injury. Girls golf coach Julie Hartman said Davis’ drive to progress in her game was one of the things that stuck out to her.

“She was always striving to do better,” Hartman said. “She was listen to whatever we had to say and go and try to make it happen on the course. I thoroughly enjoyed coaching and watching her play.”

Davis was out for track her freshman year and returned to the sport her senior year, but was sidelined after a few meets due to needing to have surgery.

Whatever sport it was, Davis said her primary goal was to do what she could to help her teams go as far as possible in the postseason.

“Getting to be close with my teammates was fun over the years. I didn’t really think individually about anything throughout my career, I was more of a team player, I feel like. My goal was team effort, and things like that,” Davis said.