1A Regional Basketball Preview
It all starts Thursday night as Class 1A teams all around Iowa kick off the postseason.
In Region 7 of Class 1A, there are six first round games being played Thursday. Only two teams, Murray and Bedford, have first round byes. The 12 teams playing tonight are fighting for the remaining six quarterfinal spots.
Stanton, Villisca and Essex/South Page will all have first round home games Thursday night.
CAM @ Stanton- Stanton High School- 7 p.m.
The Viqueens have won five in a row and hope to make it six when they face CAM Thursday night. CAM has won two in a row, but they've had their good share of struggles this season.
This will be the first meeting this season between the two teams.
The Viqueens have had wins over teams like Villisca and Red Oak, as well as blowout wins against Lenox, Essex and East Mills.
Emily Beerman is the player to watch for CAM. The senior averages 13.8 points per game.
Should Stanton win, they'll play Bedford in Bedford Tuesday night for the quarterfinals.
Orient-Macksburg at Villisca- Villisca High School- 7 p.m.
With just one loss so far in 2013, Villisca looks to keep rolling and try to reach a state tournament in its final season as a high school basketball team.
The Blue Jays lone loss was to Stanton on Jan. 29. They've had big wins following that game over Sidney and North Nodaway.
Orient-Macksburg is a team that has won just three games all season. Their most recent win was Feb. 2 against Mormon Trail.
Amanda Focht crossed the 1,000 point mark in the North Nodaway win Tuesday night. Jill Vanderhoof isn't far off either as she is within 40 points of crossing the 1,000 mark.
The player to watch for Orient-Macksburg will be Morgan James, who averages 10.5 points per game.
Fremont-Mills at Essex/South Page- Essex High School- 7 p.m.
Essex/South Page enters the Thursday night game winning four of their last six games. They defeated East Mills Monday night.
For Fremont-Mills, the regular season Corner Conference champions, they're also coming off a win Monday night against Shenandoah.
Both teams have played each other once this season. Fremont-Mills won Jan. 22 55-41.
Other first round games
Sidney and Nishnabotna will be the other Corner Conference first round regional game. Nishnabotna has won both meetings this season. The winner of this game plays the winner of Fremont-Mills/Essex in the quarterfinals Tuesday night, which will take place in Farragut.
Additionally, Corning and Lenox will also play Thursday night. This is also the final postseason for Corning, before the whole grade sharing agreement with Villisca.
Corning has won both meetings against Lenox this season. Lenox has two wins this season, one against Orient-Macksburg and the other against Pleasantville. The winner of Corning/Lenox plays the winner of Villisca/Orient-Macksburg Tuesday night in Villisca.
Finally, East Union will hit the road to play Lamoni. East Union has four wins this season, but they do have a win over Lamoni from Jan. 31.
The winner of this game plays Murray Tuesday night in Murray.