After waiting through bad weather and delays, Iola will head to Burlington tonight to begin the Burlington Invitational Tournament.
The Mustangs and the Fillies are coming off of big losses on the road versus Wellsville and are hoping to grab some momentum to head into the second half of the season.
A tournament title will do a lot for either team but it won’t be easy. Two of the teams in the girls bracket are ranked in the top 10 of their respective classes in the most recent KBCA rankings while the boys have three teams that are ranked.
Both brackets are led by undefeated teams who each have a superstar that could easily contend for the top player in the state.
For the girls, No. 4 in class 4A-D1 Labette saunters in with an undefeated 9-0 record led by senior guard Tristan Gegg who made a name for herself earlier this season when she broke the SEK league scoring record for boys or girls by scoring her 1,755th career point. She’s already had a 40-point game this season and several 30-point games.
For the guys, the No. 3 in class 4A-D2 Rock Creek Mustangs also have a high-powered offensive senior in Martin Vogts who can get at Iola both from the outside and the rim, leading the way with his athleticism. He’s geared very similarly to Girard junior Caleb Muia who led the Trojans to victory before Christmas break scoring 18 points.
In addition to those two teams, the Burlington girls are the other ranked team in the girl’s bracket and the Burlington boys and the Labette County boys round out the top three seeds for the boy’s bracket.
Those are the challenges that await both the Mustangs and Fillies in the second round of the tournament but before that, they both have to get past Sabetha.
The Bluejay boys struggled early in the season but are coming into Thursday’s game red-hot after winning their last four. They are 6-3 so far this year. Their lone game versus a ranked team, No. 3 in class 3A Nemaha Central, was a six-point loss.
Meanwhile, the 4-5 Sabetha girls have been less successful. They come into Wednesday’s game with a two-game losing streak. Having said that, they have played a much high level of competition than their male counterparts. They split two early season match-ups with No.4 4A-D2 Marysville while falling to No. 5 in 4A-D2 Jefferson West and No. 3 in 3A Nemaha Central.
No matter who the opponent is, the Mustangs need to get back to what sets them apart from other teams — their size. Consistent rebounding while running their offense through the post will allow Iola fans to see the team that tore through their first several games of the season.
For the Fillies, they can’t get caught up in the moment. Long scoring droughts have killed the Iola girls’ chances of winning several games. They have the weapons to hang with a lot of teams but they can’t get checked out when things start going south.
The Fillies open things up at 3:30 p.m. in the Burlington Middle School gym and the boys will follow directly after at 5:05.
Picture: Junior Iola guard Blake Ashmore stops short of a Wellsville defender in the Mustang’s game with the Eagles on Jan. 12. REGISTER/TIMOTHY EVERSON
