POI Champs! Coach Streit gets 300th win

By Editor | February 12, 2025 |

Mount Ayr Head Girls’ Basketball coach Thad Streit poses with his team after winning his 300th game as the Raiderette coach.

Only three people knew that career win No. 300 was on the line during last week’s Mount Ayr game at Central Decatur. In a tech world where keeping a secret is nearly impossible, Mount Ayr head coach Thad Striet did, instead turn the focus on his dynamite team as they closed in on the 2024-25 Pride of Iowa Conference title. Both happened with Mount Ayr’s 53-38 win.

“Our goal the whole year was to win the POI title and we did that. No one knew about me being that close to 300 until that day. The only people that knew about it were my wife and two kids,” said Streit.

Streit in his 18th year as the head coach of the Raiders joins former Mount Ayr coaches Mark Larson and Doug McKern who collected over 300 wins with a stop for part of most of their coaching careers. Streit is the current dean of the POI coaches and entered the season with a coaching record of 281-114. The next closest is Nodaway Valley’s Brian Eisbach who entered this season with a record of 114-28 in six seasons.
The win at Central Decatur was fitting too, as the Cardinals were a powerhouse under coach Curtis Boothe in recent seasons. Boothe helped lead the Cardinals to four state tournament appearances from 2016-2019. That destination is where the Raiderettes hope to end the season, at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines for the program’s first state trip since 2016. Streit has led the Raiderette program to state three times in 2010, 2011, and 2016.

“We made it to state in 2016, and some of those kids remembered our state teams for 2010 and 2011, and our current team, remembers some of those 2016 kids. I have been lucky. I have had a lot of good players, assistant coaches, and the support of my family. We (Mount Ayr) have a tradition here and it is special,” he said.

A low-scoring first quarter gave way to a high-scoring second quarter for both teams. Mount Ayr led 9-6 after the first quarter. Both teams scored the most points in any of the four quarters in the second quarter when they combined to score 38 points.
Mount Ayr would outscore the Cardinals 24-14 in the quarter to grab a halftime lead of 31-20. The Raiderettes outscored the Cardinals 20 to 18 in the second half. The win gave the Raiderettes their third straight win over CD including their second this season after beating the Cardinals 61-45 at home back in mid-January.
Mount Ayr got a 21-point, 8-steal, 6-rebound, 4-assist night from senior guard Jaxy Knight to lead the offense. Izzy Gilbertson added an 11-point, 6-rebound night. Dannie Stewart and Breya Nickle added 9 and 8 points. Mount Ayr shot 40-percent for the game and was lights out at the free-throw line, making nine of ten attempts.
Central Decatur had a pair of double-figure scorers with Makenna Perkins and Breegan Lindsey with 13 and 10 points.

The Raiderettes finished off the week with a 70-29 win over East Union. The win gave Mount Ayr a 15-1 POI record this year with the only loss against Lenox. The Raiderettes are 20-1 going into the postseason. Mount Ayr continues to be ranked in Class 1A at No. 9.
Mount Ayr took a 21-9 lead after the first quarter and led 45-18 at halftime. The Raiderettes put the game away in the third quarter with a 23-1 run in the third quarter.
The Raiderettes were led by Izzy Gilbertson with a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Breya Nickle added a 20-point, 5 rebound, 3-steal game. Dannie Stewart added 9 points, 6 assists, and 4 steals. Mount Ayr shot 50.9-percent from the floor in the game.
The Raiderettes will wait to see who they will play in the Class 1A Region 6 quarterfinals on Tuesday, February 18. Mount Ayr will play the winner of the play-in game of Seymour and Lamoni. Mount Ayr has already played Lamoni, back on November 26 in the first game of the season, an 86-39 win. If the Raiderette win that game, Mount Ayr will host a Region 6 semifinal on February 21.
The Region 6 Final is on February 26.

Mount Ayr 70, East Union 29
Friday, February 7 at Afton

1 2 3 4 Final
MA 21 24 23 2 70
EU 9 9 1 10 29

MOUNT AYR (70): Jaylee Shaffer 2-3 0-0 5, Dannie Stewart 4-7 0-1 8, Breya Nickle 6-10 8-11 20, Jaxy Knight 4-8 0-0 9, Izzy Gilbertson 10-17 1-1 21, Abby Larson 0-2 0-0 0, Emma Reynolds 2-5 0-0 4, MaKel Jones 1-1 0-0 3, Tatum Friedrich 0-1 0-0 0, Keely Wasteney 0-2 0-0 0, Allison Anderson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 29-57 9-13 70.
3-Pt. FG: 3-9 (Knight 1-4, Shaffer 1-1, Jones 1-1, Larson 0-2, Anderson 0-1). Rebounds: 34 (Gilbertson 12, Nickle 5, Knight 4, Shaffer 3, Larson 3, Stewart 2, Reynolds 2, Jones 2, Wasteney 1). Assists: 22 (Knight 7, Stewart 6, Gilbertson 3, Larson 2, Shaffer 1, Larson 1, Jones 1, Friedrich 1, Wasteney 1). Steals: 21 (Knight 6, Stewart 4, Nickle 3, Gilbertson 3, Larson 2, Shaffer 1, Friedrich 1, Wasteney 1). Blocked Shots: 7 (Knight 3, Nickle 2, Gilbertson 1, Wasteney 1). Turnovers: 13. Total Fouls: 11. Fouled Out: none.

Mount Ayr 53, Central Decatur 38
Tuesday, February 4 at Leon

1 2 3 4 Final
MA 9 24 10 10 53
CD 6 14 12 6 38

MOUNT AYR (53): Jaylee Shaffer 1-3 0-0 2, Dannie Stewart 3-7 2-2 9, Bryea Nickle 2-9 4-4 8, Jaxy Knight 9-19 0-0 21, Izzy Gilbertson 4-9 3-3 11, Abby Larson 0-0 0-0 0, Emma Reynolds 1-1 0-1 2, MaKel Jones 0-1 0-0 0, Keely Wasteney 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-49 9-10 53.
CENTRAL DECATUR (38): Soiyer Smith 4-11 0-0 9, Makenna Perkins 5-12 2-2 13, Addy Schreck 0-1 0-0 0, Breegan Lindsey 5-8 0-0 10, Abigail Leahy 1-4 0-0 2, Landi Leeper 0-2 0-0 0, Corylynn Cook 0-2 0-0 0, Piper Helton 1-7 2-3 4, Morgan Buckingham 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 16-49 4-5 38.
3-Pt. FG: MA 4-16 (Knight 3-9, Stewart 1-3, Shafer 0-2, Nickle 0-1, Jones 0-1), CD 2-12 (Smith 1-5, M. Perkins 1-1, A. Leahy 0-2, Buckingham 0-1, Helton 0-1, Leeper 0-1, Lindsey 0-1). Rebounds: MA 24 (Gilbertson 6, Knight 6, Stewart 5, Wasteney 3, Nickle 3, Jones 1), CD 30 (Smith 8, Schreck 5, Lindsey 5, A. Leahy 4, M. Perkins 2, Leepeer 2, Helton 2, Cook 1, Buckingham 1). Assists: MA 17 (Stewart 5, Knight 4, Shaffer 3, Gilbertson 2, Nickle 1, Jones 1, Wasteney 1), CD 8 (Perkins 3, Leahy 2, Helton 1). Steals: MA 20 (Knight 8, Stewart 2, Shaffer 2, Larson 1, Reynolds 1, Jones 1), CD 13 (Perkins 5, Lindsey 3, Leeper 2, Schreck 2, Smith 1). Blocked Shots: MA 3 (Stewart 1, Nickle 1, Knight 1), CD 3 (Lindsey 3). Turnovers: Mount Ayr 17, CD 27. Total Fouls: Mount Ayr 10, Central Decatur 13. Fouled Out: none.