The WACO Warriors and Hillcrest Academy Ravens have a big game on Saturday. They will travel to Burlington to take part in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference Shootout. The WACO Warriors will take on Burlington Notre Dame. WACO is 15-4 on the season and is coming off a 45-40 victory over Winfield Mt.Union. They are currently on a four game winning streak. This season, they have been averaging 57 points, 30 rebounds, 16 assists, 10 steals and 1 block per game. The Warriors are fifth for the most points, fourth for rebounds, third in assists and fourth for steals in the Super Conference North. They shoot 41% from the floor, third best in the conference, 33% at the three point line and 62% from the free throw line. The junior Christian Stacy is the team’s leading scorer as he averages 20 points a game.
WACO Warriors head boys coach Chayse Roth joined KCII Sports to talk about their hot start in the first quarter vs WMU. “We knew we had to come out quick and establish really good energy and effort in that first quarter. We knew if we were just going to play a half court game with them, we were going to struggle. They (WMU) are really good in the half court. They’re so big, they make it really difficult. We really needed to get the ball up and down the floor and score in transition. We did a really good job of that. When our shot was falling early, we were able to get our press and get some traps and force them into turnovers and score off that too. That really set the tone for the game. I think we led the game from start to finish, which was huge. We never really let them back into the game, so it was a really good start for us.”
WACO will play before Hillcrest and will take on Burlington Notre Dame. Burlington Notre Dame is also 15-4. Since 2006, Burlington Notre Dame leads the series 9-5 with the last meeting going the Nikes way.
Hillcrest Academy will play right after WACO. The Ravens take on the Falcons of West Burlington. Hillcrest is 18-2 and 14-2 in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North. The Ravens have won 9 of their 10 games. The Ravens defeated Lone Tree in their last contest winning 77-27. In the 2024/2025 season, the Ravens are averaging a conference best 68 points per game. They are hauling 26 boards per game. They dish out 18 assists per game, which is also best in the conference. The Ravens average 11 steals per game, which ranks third in the SEISC North. They come into this matchup shooting a conference best 51%. From the three point line, they shoot 34% and at the charity stripe they shoot 61%. Leading the way for the Ravens is senior Seth Ours, who averages 15 points per night.
Hillcrest Academy Ravens boys coach Dwight Gingerrich joined the KCII Coaches Corner to talk about their big first half over Lone Tree.”It felt like we got off to a decent start. It was fairly even in the first quarter. We were able to score late in the first quarter and then just amped it up in the second. I thought the defense was solid. The ball was moving offensively, the guys were sharing the ball. It was a good overall team effort. Getting a number of guys involved throughout that second quarter. That moved into the second half. Everyone got in and had some good minutes. I thought the effort started on the defensive end. I thought offensively it was a better flow early and then it just grew and then we got some turnovers off our pressure that we were able to convert into points. The ball was going through the hole”.
Hillcrest will follow WACO vs Burlington Notre Dame on Saturday night. Hillcrest will try to keep their winning streak alive. West Burlington is no joke as they are 17-2 on the year. The Falcons are coming off a win over Burlington 77-48.
You can catch all the action on the free KCII3 stream on KCIIradio.com. The WACO vs Burlington Notre Dame game will start first at 5:00 with the Hillcrest Academy vs West Burlington to follow at 6:30 p.m.