KILJ — The tournament trail gets underway officially tonight in 1A Girls’ as first round district games commence across the area.
Our featured game will be in Fort Madison at Shottenkirk Gymnasium, where Holy Trinity will host New London.
The Crusaders, 10-11 on the year, limped into the postseason on the back of five straight losses to close the season, most recently a 57-42 defeat by Fort Madison.
Holy Trinity has two players in double figures.
Sophomore Mary Kate Bendlage leads the team with 14.5 points per game, while Natalie Randolph scores 11.6.
Bendlage is also the team leader in boards at 7.2 per game.
Meanwhile New London earned their first win of the year last week, 47-43 over Hillcrest Academy.
The Tigers are 1-21 under first year head coach Terri Hester-Matthews.
Natalie Burden is team leader with 7.4 points per game, while Emma Nye scores 4.7 per contest.
New London has not defeated Holy Trinity since January 13th, 2015 — a streak extending to 17 straight games.
Tonight’s game will begin at 7:00 p.m.
John Kuhens and Kent Bennett will have the call on FM 105.5 and kij.com.
The winner will play next Tuesday in the second round.
Other first round scraps tonight:
- WACO at Wapello
- Hillcrest Academy at Winfield-Mount Union
- Lisbon at Highland
- Lone Tree at English Valleys