Previewing the 17th installment of Rivalry Saturday

Audi Crooks and Algona Garrigan will face Iowa City West at Rivalry Saturday at Kirkwood Community College on Saturday. (The Gazette)

CEDAR RAPIDS — It’s a unique matchup, 5A vs. 1A. And for Iowa City West, it’s a unique challenge.

“We’ve got to mix things up against her,” West Coach B.J. Mayer said in reference to Algona Garrigan junior post Audi Crooks. “I’m sure they’ve seen every defense possible, but what we have to do is keep her from being comfortable.”

Six-foot-3 and sturdy, Crooks (20.7 points, 10.6 rebounds per game, 70.4 percent from the floor last year) will be one of the main attractions at this year’s installment of Rivalry Saturday, which begins at 9:15 a.m. Saturday at Kirkwood Community College.

The eight-game event is back after a one-year hiatus. The 2020 version was postponed in November (pandemic), canceled in January (snowstorm).

If early returns mean anything, the quality will be strong as always. The 16 teams are a combined 12-2, and the two Tuesday losses (Solon, to Center Point-Urbana; Williamsburg, to Marion) came to teams also in Saturday’s field.

Twelve teams were in the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union preseason rankings. Garrigan was the 1A state runner-up last year; Maquoketa Valley was the 2A runner-up.

Four games are matchups of top-10 teams:

Garrigan (1A No. 2) and West (5A No. 8) square off at 2 p.m., then it’s Nodaway Valley (2A No. 2) against Springville (1A No. 4) at 3:35, Denver (2A No. 5) against North Linn (1A No. 5) at 5:10 and Xavier (4A No. 4) against Solon (4A No. 8) in the finale at 8:20.

Xavier was extremely impressive in its opener, whipping Davenport Assumption 62-25 at home Tuesday.

“I think once we got over a little nervousness, we settled in,” Saints Coach Tom Lilly said. “Our defense was able to hold Assumption down, and we found our shooting range ... we probably made more 3-pointers (11) than we made all of last year.

“Our freshmen (Libby Fandel, Sydney Huber and Taylor Rexroth) played with a good amount of poise, and it was good to see Mary Kate Meador (our last year with a torn ACL) back.”

Xavier and Solon both have virtually their entire rosters back. Solon sophomore Callie Levin committed to Iowa last summer.

“They go as Levin goes,” Lilly said. “They’re going to pose problems for whoever they play.”

Clear Creek Amana and Williamsburg tip the event off at 9:15, then it’s Maquoketa Valley and Elkader Central at 10:50, Marion and Vinton-Shellsburg at 12:25 p.m.

CPU faces Benton Community in a key early Wamac Conference West Division battle at 6:45 p.m.

Event director Scot Moenck is taking a one-year sabbatical as Maquoketa Valley girls’ coach.

“We’ve got a lot of good teams, some different teams. That’s the goal every year,” Moenck said. “I look forward to this day every year. With the way girls’ basketball (participation) numbers are dropping, the sport needs this. It needs promotion.”