The North Butler girls basketball team navigated a challenging schedule that included three state tournament qualifiers, Saint Ansgar, Dunkerton and Emmetsburg between the regular season and postseason. The Bearcats improved their win total from 3-18 last season to 11-12 this season. Head Coach Jordan Nolz reflects on the Bearcats turnaround.
“Definitely a huge step up from our record from last year. A lot of improvement across all of our age groups, freshman through senior. A lot of accomplishments, lots of things to be proud of,” says Nolz. “It turns out four of our losses are to state tournament teams, so some challenging games we went through all year. I’m super happy with the progress we made. Hopefully we can continue to strive forward in the future.”
Part of that effort were Top of Iowa Conference East all-conference honorees Eden Wix and Zoey Thompson.
“Eden averaged like 11 or 12 points a game in conference play. She shot a pretty good shooting percentage and was second in rebounding. A great offensive player, she’s going to continue to progress offensively. Super excited for her to go to get that. I think Zoey was one vote off of the second team and got all-conference honorable mention. She provides a lot of things off the stat sheet. I don’t think she got as represented as well as she probably should have. She was second in the conference in assists. She doesn’t turn the ball over like other girls in the conference. We’re happy for both of them but really our whole team.”
Wix led the team with 11 points and eight rebounds per game. Thompson led the team with 4.1 assists per game (second most in the conference) and added 6.5 points and six rebounds per game.
The Bearcats after graduating seniors Jady Thorne, Alexis Rose and Izzy O’Dowd are projected to return 12 players next season.
