Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

The basketball postseason is right around the corner.

Regional play begins as early as Thursday in Class 1A with the first Your Prep Sports area teams opening postseason play on Tuesday.

Teams in the smallest three classes got to see their paths to the state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines last week while teams in Class 4A and 5A had their postseason pairings revealed on Wednesday.

With all the of the pairings out and the road to Des Moines set in stone here are 10 observations on the postseason pairings for area teams and beyond.

Rematches For Top-seeded City High

City High (16-3) earned the top seed in Class 5A, Region 6 and will host Muscatine (5-14) in its playoff opener in a rematch of a regular season game won by the Little Hawks 66-29 on December 18.

With a win City High could get another rematch with No. 15 Linn-Mar (13-7) in the regional final.

City High hosts Linn-Mar on Friday and if seeds hold would welcome the Lions back 11 days later in the regional title game.

Linn-Mar has won three of four entering Friday’s game at City High with its lone loss during that stretch a four-point setback to sixth-ranked Pleasant Valley.

Liberty High’s Loaded Bracket

Perhaps no bracket stood out more upon initial review than Class 5A, Region 7 which features four teams with winning records and is the lone 5A bracket with three ranked teams.

No. 13 Liberty High (11-9) will host Davenport North (11-10) in one of the best quarterfinal matchups in the postseason.

The winner of the Liberty High and Davenport North quarterfinal earns a trip to eighth-ranked Southeast Polk (12-8) in the semifinals.

Second-ranked Waterloo West (17-2) is the top seed and would host the regional final seeking a third consecutive state tournament appearance.

Star power on Display

While Liberty High and Davenport North is one of the best quarterfinal matchups in Class 5A there may not be a better opening round matchup of individual talents than Liberty High junior Jasmine Barney and Davenport North’s Journey Houston.

Barney has been sensational in her first season at Liberty High leading the Lightning with 19.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.9 steals per game.

A 5-foot-10 freshman, Houston has been equally impressive during her prep debut campaign.

Houston is one of just four players in Class 5A averaging a double-double putting up 20.9 points and 10.7 rebounds per game to go with 2.9 steals and 2.2 assists.

West High’s Path Back to Des Moines

If Liberty High has the toughest path to Des Moines the road for West High isn’t much easier.

As the second seed in 5A, Region 8 the ninth-ranked Trojans earn a bye, which helps, but will face a challenging semifinal opponent and a potential road trip to West Des Moines for a regional final.

West High (16-3) will host the winner of the quarterfinal between Cedar Rapids Jefferson (6-14) and Cedar Falls (12-7) and already has a win over both teams this season.

The Trojans defeated Cedar Falls 57-47 on January 15 and edged Cedar Rapids Jefferson 45-42 on Tuesday.

No. 10 West Des Moines Valley (15-5) is the top seed and would host the regional final.

If West High faces West Des Moines Valley in the regional final it would be the fifth time in the past seven seasons the Trojans have played a CIML team for a trip to state.

West High is 1-3 in those games falling to Southeast Polk in 2020 and Waukee in 2019 and 2016 and defeating Southeast Polk in 2017

The 5A Favorite

It’s not a Your Prep Sports area team but it’s worth noting that entering the postseason there may not be a bigger favorite across the five classes than top-ranked Johnston in 5A.

Johnston (20-0) is the lone remaining unbeaten team outside of Class 1A and more than half of the wins for the defending 5A runner-up Dragons have come against ranked opponents.

Clippers Coming Home

Class 4A No. 15 Clear Creek Amana capped the regular season with a 40-35 road win at No. 12 Benton Community on Tuesday to secure a share of a WAMAC Conference title for the third year in a row.

Now the Clippers come home for their postseason opener.

Clear Creek Amana hosts a 4A, Region 3 semifinal and considering the strength of opponent and the Clippers success on their home court that seems significant.

Clear Creek Amana will face the winner of the quarterfinal between ninth-ranked North Scott (12-8) and Clinton (1-20).

The Clippers are 9-1 at home this season and 28-7 over the past three years on their home court.

No. 8 Central DeWitt (16-4) is the top seed in Region 3 which is the lone 4A regional with three ranked teams.

Quick Turnaround for Solon

How is this for interesting timing?

Solon (13-7) will travel to No. 12 Benton Community (17-4) for its regular season finale on Monday.

Those same two teams will likely meet in the 4A, Region 4 semifinals in the same gym five days later.

The only thing standing between the Spartans and a second meeting of the week with the Bobcats on Saturday is a win over winless Burlington (0-18) in the Regional quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Solon has won four straight and 10 of its last 12 with both losses coming by a single point while Benton had a 10-game winning streak snapped with a loss to Clear Creek Amana on Tuesday.

Sixth-ranked Grinnell (17-3) is the top seed in Region 4.

Repeat Success for RVC Champ Regina

The Class 1A and 2A pairings were released last week so Regina saw its road to the state tournament before it locked up the River Valley Conference South Division title.

Winning the RVC title was a goal for Regina but if history is any guide it could mean postseason success for the Regals as well.

Over the last seven seasons the team to win the RVC South Division has advanced to the state tournament six times.

Regina won four consecutive RVC crowns from 2015-2018 advancing to the state tournament each season.

West Branch won the last two RVC South Division titles while making back-to-back state tournament appearances.

The only team to win the RVC South and not reach the state tournament was Wilton which lost to North Linn in the regional final in 2019.

Also of note, the last time Regina advanced to the state tournament in 2018 it defeated West Branch in the regional semifinal and a Southeast Iowa Super Conference opponent (Danville) in the regional final.

The Regals face a similar path this season.

Regina (17-4) is the top seed in Class 2A, Region 4 and will host the winner of Van Buren (7-14) and Cardinal (5-17) in the quarterfinals.

The Regals would face the winner of Wilton and West Branch in a semifinal and SEISC member and tenth-ranked Mediapolis (19-2) is the second seed.

West Branch and Wilton Get a Rubber Match  

West Branch (14-7) won the first meeting between the two RVC South Division foes 44-31 on December 14 at Wilton.

Wilton (14-8) won the rematch 53-47 last month in West Branch.

The rubber match comes with the season on the line.

In addition to splitting a pair of regular season games the two teams have nearly identical records and were separated by just two games in the RVC standings.

If you are looking for the key to the third meeting look no further than Wilton standout Kelsey Drake.

The top scorer in 2A at 24.2 points per game Drake had 14 in the December loss to West Branch but put up 26 in the six-point win over the Bears last month.

West Branch needs to keep the explosive Drake under control.

Also watch West Branch senior center Delaynie Luneckas who averaged 9.5 points, 13 rebounds and 6 blocks in the two regular season games with the Beavers.

West Branch vs. Regina Part 3?

Both teams have quarterfinal matchups to concern themselves with before talking about a third matchup but it is certainly fun to look ahead.

Regina won both regular season meetings between the two teams 55-43 on January 11 and 41-31 on Tuesday.

Not surprisingly there is postseason history between the two rivals.

The two teams have played in the postseason three of the past four seasons most recently with West Branch claiming a 62-39 win in the regional final last season.

Regina won regional games 58-50 in 2018 and 54-50 in 2019.

In total, West Branch and Regina have played 12 times since the start of the 2017-2018 season with each team winning six times.

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