Prep Girls’ Basketball- It is time for the weekly Iowa Girls High School Basketball Rankings complied by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. This week saw two local team drop out of the top 15, the Wolves gaining traction, and a couple top teams fall down the rankings
Class 1A had another week of stability with no teams dropping out of the top 15 and Algona Bishop Garrigan retaining the top spot. The only movement was Winfield-Mt. Union leapfrogging Burlington Notre Dame to be ranked 10th and the Nikes falling to 11th. The Wolves had a big win over 2A ranked #13 Mediapolis 54-38 with Bradie Buffington notching a 21-point 10-rebound double-double. Burlington Notre Dame has bounced back nicely from their three-game losing streak to go on a three-game winning streak including a big win over 2A ranked #12 West Burlington 48-44, fending off a fourth quarter comeback.
Dike-New Hartford, Central Lyon, and Sibley-Ocheyedan still hold the top three spots in Class 2A, respectively. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont hopped one spot up the rankings from 5th to 4th after Treynor lost to Underwood 41-38 last Friday. Treynor fell to 9th and Underwood went from 9th to 7th. The biggest news was three teams dropping out of the top 15 in #10 West Monona, #12 West Burlington, and #13 Mediapolis. North Union went from unranked to 11th, South Central Calhoun took the vacant 12th spot, and Hinton rounds out the top 15 as the newly ranked team.
In a top five matchup last week between Solon and Benton Community, it was 4th ranked Solon who came out on top 36-35 with Callie Levin leading the scoring for the Spartans with 13 points. The 2nd ranked Bobcats fell to 4th and Solon moved one spot up to 3rd. Teams shifted around in the bottom half of the rankings, but no teams dropped out of the top 15 for Class 3A.
Class 4A saw the most shocking movement with Cedar Rapids Xavier falling from the top spot to 3rd after losing two straight heartbreakers to 12th ranked Iowa City West 58-57 and 3rd ranked North Polk 65-62. Dalla Center-Grimes takes over #1 spot followed by North Polk. Pella jumped five spots in the rankings from 15th to 10th after defeating #8 Indianola 54-43. Indianola is ranked 11th and the only team with a losing record in the top 15 in any of the classes. Winterset was the only team to drop out of the top 15 with Lewis Central taking the final spot sporting an 8-3 record.
The top four teams remained the same in Class 5A with Johnston and Pleasant Valley at #1 and #2, respectively, and they are both 13-0. Waukee Northwest went from 9th to unranked after a three-game losing streak to ranked opponents: #4 Valley, #7 Ankeny Centennial, and #6 Dowling Catholic. Cedar Falls skipped over Iowa City Liberty to be ranked 14th after going on a 4-game win streak including a win over 10th ranked Linn-Mar 53-45.