The Iowa Falls-Alden girls basketball team have leaned on defense and patience as they head into the holiday break, building confidence through steady growth and key conference wins.
The Cadets (3-3) closed the first portion of its schedule with a 55-13 road win over Clarion-Goldfield-Dows on Dec. 19, earning its second North Central Conference victory of the season. Earlier in the week, the Cadets also picked up a 40-30 road win over Webster City, holding the Lynx to just 30 points.
Head Coach Michael Collison says defense has been the foundation for the Cadets throughout the season.
“We’ve talked all season about defense is kind of going to be the thing that allows us to be in games with good teams,” says Collison.
Iowa Falls-Alden’s roster includes just one senior which has allowed several underclassmen to gain varsity experience, a process Collison says requires patience and trust.
“We’re a really young team, and when you have a young team, you gotta have patience,” says Collison. “And what you don’t want is you don’t want kids thinking, you know, oh, I’m only gonna be able to do this, or this is I don’t do this well, but I do this. The only thing I can do is this. And, you know, we’re really trying to preach to them every day, um, you guys all can get better. Even our best players, you know, that have started all year have things that they can improve on. So, we’re going to take it day by day. Our motto is habits over hype, and we just want to continue to build good habits.”
Sophomore Elody England has led the Cadets offensively, while juniors Isabelle Janssen and Danika Rieks have taken on expanded roles. Senior Andrea Hernandez has emerged as a leader as the team’s only senior and a captain as voted on by her teammates.
Iowa Falls-Alden returns to action Jan. 3 with a neutral-site game against West Fork at the Casey’s Center in Des Moines. The game will air on 104.9 KLMJ and RadioOnTheGo’s YouTube channel.
