Iowa girls’ state basketball 2025: A closer look at Saturday’s games

DES MOINES — Capsules for Saturday’s games involving area teams at the Iowa high school girls' state basketball tournament at Wells Fargo Arena.

Class 4A championship

No. 8 CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER (21-4) vs. No. 2 NORTH POLK (24-2)

Time: 2:30 p.m.

Top players: University of Kansas recruit Libby Fandel (6-0, sr.) is Xavier’s leader and one of the top players in the state. Fandel averages 25.5 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 4.1 steals per game. Madden Wilson (5-7, jr.) adds 10.1 ppg. Campbell Schulz (5-9, soph.) leads North Polk at 13.2 points per game, with Abby Tuttle (5-9, sr.) adding 12.9 points per contest.

Coaches: Xavier’s Tom Lilly is in his 40th and final season of coaching. He owns a record of 643-301, including 454-198 in 27 years at Xavier. Clint Albertsen has compiled a 230-65 mark in 12 years at North Polk.

How they got here: The Saints advanced with double-digit wins over No. 1 Sioux City Heelan (71-58) in the quarterfinals and No. 4 Norwalk (70-60) in the semifinals. North Polk edged No. 7 Sioux Center, 47-45, in the quarterfinals, then handled No. 6 Dallas Center-Grimes in the semis, 52-30.

BC Moore computer projection: North Polk by 1.

Friday’s other games

Class 2A championship

No. 3 Hinton (25-0) vs. No. 5 Central Lyon (21-4), 4:45 p.m.

Class 1A championship

No. 1 Council Bluffs St. Albert (24-1) vs. No. 3 Newell-Fonda (22-4), 7 p.m.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com