13 Area Teams Qualify for Iowa Girls State Basketball Tournament

It's an exciting time of the year at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Last week, the grapplers had the arena floor covered in wrestling mats. They're gone now and next week comes the basketball tournaments. Ladies first. Forty teams and five eventual state champions make up the field for the Iowa Girls State Basketball Tournament and 13 of them come from our area.

In Class 5A, half the field comes from the Mississippi Valley Conference with Iowa City High, Cedar Rapids Prairie, Cedar Falls, and Waterloo West all in the bracket. City High plays Prairie and Cedar Falls plays Waterloo West. That means two will be out after the first round, but it also means two will make the semi-final round!

In Class 4A, Clear Creek-Amana, Center Point-Urbana, and Waverly-Shell Rock all made the final eight.

In Class 3A, top-seeded Dike-New Hartford plays Jesup in the opening round.

In 2A, top-seeded and 25-0 Cascade (one of four undefeated teams in the tournament), along with West Branch, and North Linn are all in the field.

In Class 1A, Montezuma is the #4 seed.

It will be another fun week for the players and their families and it all begins Monday morning. Good luck, everyone!