Saturday’s best: 5 area Iowa girls’ basketball regional games to watch

In raw terms of wins and losses, the most improved girls’ basketball team in the area is Oelwein.

A two-win outfit last year, the Huskies jumped all the way to 11-11 this season. Two big reasons are two newcomers: McKinzie See and Haydin Becker, both freshmen, average 26.5 points between them.

Oelwein, which didn’t win a league game in 2021-22, had an opportunity to share the North Iowa Cedar League East Division championship, but was upset in its regular-season finale Tuesday, 61-51, at Union Community.

The Huskies get an immediate opportunity to make reparations; they host Union (4-18) in a Class 3A regional quarterfinal Saturday night.

Here are five of the area’s best 3A quarterfinals and 2A first-round games Saturday:

Tipton (7-14) at Mount Vernon (14-7)

Class 3A Region 2

No. 11 Mount Vernon is heavily favored in this one, but Tipton can’t be completely discounted; the Tigers won two of their last three regular-season games, and have respectable shooting percentages (40 percent from the field, 33 percent from 3-point range). The issue is turnovers; the Tigers cough it up 24.4 times a game. Protect the ball, and Tipton could make this interesting behind rim protector Kyra Shaull (3.1 blocks per game). Mount Vernon has big things on its postseason agenda. The Mustangs have won five of their last six games (including an upset of 1A power North Linn), and the lone loss was a one-pointer to No. 2 Solon. Six players are averaging at least 5.8 points per game.

Union Community (4-18) at Oelwein (11-11)

Class 3A Region 3

The NICL East rivals meet for the third time this season; Oelwein earned a 53-30 win at home on Jan. 20 before Union played the spoiler role Tuesday. The Knights shot 51 percent in that game (they have shot 32 percent this season), with juniors Ava Mills and Brigitte Rohrer scoring 27 and 22 points, respectively, combining to hit 20 of 30 shots. That enabled the Knights to snap an eight-game losing streak. Reagan Sorensen, another junior, paces Union at 12.2 points per game. Despite starting just two games, See leads Oelwein in scoring (14.7 ppg) and rebounds per game (8.0), and shoots better than 50 percent from the field.

Williamsburg (5-16) at West Liberty (15-6)

Class 3A Region 3

The outcome here depends a lot on which West Liberty team shows up. Will it be the one that knocked off 3A No. 4 Benton Community on Monday? Or the one that lost to Iowa City Regina by 28 points the following night? The Comets have star power in Iowa State recruit Kelsey Joens, who’s averaging 24.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 4.0 steals per game in her first season at West Liberty. Williamsburg won two of its last four regular-season games and has been competitive at times with the upper-level Wamac Conference teams. Sophomore Carly Rich (niece of head coach Stephanie Dacey) leads the Raiders at 13.4 ppg.

Waukon (13-8) at North Fayette Valley (14-7)

Class 3A Region 7

Waukon garnered a 55-41 win at West Union on Jan. 31, and the Indians have won seven of their last 10 games. Senior point guard Maggie Criswell is eighth in the state (all classes) in assists per game, at 5.8. Six-foot sophomore Keira McCormick comes off the bench to lead the team in scoring (12.9 ppg) and rebounding (7.4 rpg). North Fayette Valley enters with nine wins in its last 11 games. Led by senior Kasydi Meyer, the TigerHawks have seven players averaging between 5 and 11 points per game.

West Branch (5-16) at Lisbon (10-11)

Class 2A Region 1

West Branch will try to duplicate its effort from Feb. 2, when it picked up a non-conference home win over the Lions, 42-34. The Bears held Lisbon scoreless in the third quarter, and Lisbon didn’t attempt a free throw all game. Junior Kylie Pickett leads the Bears at 10.2 points per game. Lisbon’s roster is chock-full of experienced athletes who have seen success in a myriad of sports, like seniors Kali Nelson (11.1 ppg) and Peyton Robinson (8.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg).

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com