Expectations high for Raiderettes
Strong returning cast for Mount Ayr
Expectations are high for the Mount Ayr girls basketball team as the 2024-25 season begins.
The Raiderettes are one of the most experienced teams returning in the Pride of Iowa Conference with a good mix of returners and players that are young, but logged a lot of varsity time a year ago.
Veteran coach Thad Streit will guide his 18th Mount Ayr team this winter, one that is generally regarded as the favorite to win the POI this year.
The Raiderettes are also gaining statewide attention as the team is ranked No. 5 in the preseason Class 1A IGHSAU poll.
Class 1A Girl’s Basketball Rankings
1. Algona Bishop Garrigan
2. North Linn
3. Montezuma
4. Riceville
5. Mount Ayr
6. Newell-Fonda
7. Dunkerton
8. Akron-Westfield
9. Kee
10. Lone Tree
11. East Buchanan
12. Fremont-Mills
13. Council Bluffs St. Albert
14. Springville
15. Gladbrook-Reinbeck
“Rankings are nice, but we don’t want that getting in our heads. We want to take it one game at a time. Things will take care of themselves. We have goals we want to get this year and hopefully we will be playing basketball in late February,” said Streit.
“The experience we have coming back is exciting. We have had a lot of kids see the floor for varsity play and even last year, we were young, and they are all back,” he said.
The Raiderettes placed third in the Pride of Iowa Conference last season with a 10-3 record, one of three POI teams that had ten or more wins in conference play last year. Mount Ayr finished the season 16-7 overall. The 16 wins and winning season continue a streak of double-digit wins and winning seasons since the Quik stats era began in the 2006-07 season.
Mount Ayr returns nearly everyone from their roster last year and will have a core of three seniors and three juniors. Seniors out are Allison Anderson, Jaxy Knight, and Breya Nickle. Juniors out are Kensie Barnes, Kacie Larson, and Abby Larson. The Raiderettes also have their biggest class in the sophomore level with six. Also, freshman Emma Reynolds is on the varsity team.
Last year, Mount Ayr had four Pride of Iowa Conference all-conference picks. They all return this year. Back are second-team picks Izzy Gilbertson, Breya Nickle, and Jaxy Knight, and honorable mention selection Dannie Stewart.
Nickle had a 12.7-point scoring average to go with 6.3 rebounds a game last year. Knight averaged 10.3 points a game with 4.6 assists and 4.9 rebounds a game. Gilbertson averaged a team-high 14.9 points and 9.3 rebounds a game last year as a freshman. Fellow freshman last year, Dannie Stewart averaged 8.8 points a game, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game.
Also, returners who played varsity minutes were sophomores Jaylee Shaffer and MaKel Jones and juniors Abby Larson, Kensie Barnes, Keely Wasteney, Allison Anderson, Kacie Larsen, and Tatum Friedrich.
There will be a shift in power in the POI this winter as perennial powers Nodaway Valley and Martensdale-St. Mary’s graduated big senior classes that have helped each school win a pair of POI titles in recent years. Mount Ayr, Lenox, Wayne and SW Valley will be near the top of the POI this season at least on paper.
The Raiderettes began the season with a pair of non-conference games with Lamoni and Clarke. The other non-conference games will be against Worth County, Missouri, Murray, and Bedford.
