Your Prep Sports

A year ago West Branch took a couple of big steps winning its first River Valley Conference title and advancing to the state tournament for the first time since 2016.

The Bears are expecting a lot more in 2020.

West Branch will open the season atop the Class 2A rankings after earning the top spot in the preseason rankings released on Thursday by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

West Branch went 21-4 last season and advanced to the 2A quarterfinals.

The Bears open the season in front of Maquoketa Valley (17-5), Denver (17-9), South Central Calhoun (15-7) and North Linn (25-2) in the 2A rankings.

West Branch joins City High, West High and Clear Creek Amana as ranked teams in the Your Prep Sports area.

West High (14-10) is fifth in Class 5A while City High (23-2) is eighth in the preseason 5A rankings.

Clear Creek Amana (19-5) is No. 14 in the Class 4A rankings.

Other top-ranked teams are Waterloo West (5A), Glenwood (4A), Des Moines Christian (3A) and Newell-Fonda (1A).

IGHSAU Girls Basketball Rankings

Class 5A

1. Waterloo West

2. Southeast Polk

3. Johnston

4. Waukee

5. West High

6. Cedar Falls

7. Ankeny Centennial

8. City High

9. Davenport North

10. Des Moines Roosevelt

11. Ames

12. Muscatine

13. Indianola

14. West Des Moines Dowling

15. West Des Moines Valley

Class 4A

1. Glenwood

2. Gilbert

3. Ballard

4. Waverly-Shell Rock

5. Central DeWitt

6. North Scott

7. Cedar Rapids Xavier

8. Bondurant-Farrar

9. Denison-Schleswig

10. Grinnell

11. Harlan

12. Dallas Center-Grimes

13. Winterset

14. Clear Creek Amana

15. Keokuk

Class 3A

1. Des Moines Christian

2. West Liberty

3. Cherokee

4. Center Point-Urbana

5. Clear Lake

6. Panorama

7. Unity Christian

8. Davenport Assumption

9. Roland-Story

10. Creston

11. West Lyon

12. Osage

13. Sioux City Heelan

14. Hampton-Dumont-CAL

15. Clarion-Goldfield-Dows

Class 2A

1. West Branch

2. Maquoketa Valley

3. Denver

4. South Central Calhoun

5. North Linn

6. AHSTW

7. West Monona

8. Nodaway Valley

9. West Hancock

10. IKM-Manning

11. Grundy Center

12. Emmetsburg

13. Cascade

14. Dike-New Hartford

15. Mount Ayr

Class 1A

1. Newell-Fonda

2. Algona Garrigan

3. Saint Ansgar

4. Kingsley-Pierson

5. MMCRU

6. Springville

7. Exira-EHK

8. Montezuma

9. Lynnville-Sully

10. Turkey Valley

11. Collins-Maxwell

12. Council Bluffs St. Albert

13. Logan-Magnolia

14. Burlington Notre Dame

15. Stanton

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