The KCII Area Game of the Week returns this evening when the Winfield-Mount Union boys and girls basketball teams hit the road to take on Wapello in their first action of the new year.

The WMU girls continue the search for their first conference win tonight. The Lady Wolves fell in their last game 81-29 at No. 10 in Class 3A Mediapolis on December 18th. Suttyn Schlee paced WMU with 12 points and an assist. This season, the Lady Wolves score 36 points per game and give up 57, shooting 29% from the field, 21% from three and 58% at the line, with 34 rebounds, nine assists, 10 steals, three blocks, and 31 turnovers per game. Individually, Madisen Kellogg’s 82% foul shooting leads the Superconference North, and she is also top five with over 14 points a night.

Wapello enters 2026 winners of four of their last five contests, the latest being a 48-40 home win against Columbus December 19th. Macey Kuntz and Jakayla Nelson led the way, combining for 33 points and 15 rebounds. This year, the Arrows score 46 points per game and give up 45, shooting 37% from the floor, 21% from deep and 57% from the stripe, with 30 rebounds, nine assists, 12 steals, one block, and 23 giveaways per game. The individual leaders are Kuntz and Nelson each scoring over 10 points a game.

This week, WMU head coach Mendy McCreight spoke with KCII Sports about the benefits her team has received over the holiday break, including scrimmages this week.

“ That gives us a good opportunity instead of facing ourselves every day to reach out to other schools to help each other,” McCreight said about the scrimmages. “It’s nice that we work with all these girls on what they need to work on, and then we are just going to practice a couple more days and then go into Wapello.”

In the Varsity Bound era, WMU holds a five-game advantage in the all-time series with Wapello. However, the Arrows have taken three of the last five. The latest went the way of the Lady Wolves 53-36 nearly one year ago.

The WMU boys have positioned themselves nicely to begin their January slate at 4-1 in the Superconference North. Their latest action came in a SEISC interdivisional loss to Mediapolis 56-39 in December. Isaac Egli delivered a team-high 15 points. This season, the Wolves score 54 points per game and give up 41, shooting 39% from the field, 21% from downtown and 56% from the free throw line, with 37 rebounds, 12 assists, 15 steals, two blocks, and 16 turnovers per game. Egli and teammate Cody Milks lead individually with 15 and 12 points per game, respectively.

The Indians sit at 2-5 overall, 2-4 in league play looking to break up a three-game skid. They fell 71-53 in their last game at home to Columbus before the holiday break. Justyn Faulkner scored 22, while Wyatt Marlette pulled down six boards. Through seven games, Wapello scores 46 points per game and gives up 55, shooting 35% from the field, 18% from three and 56% at the line, with 32 rebounds, 10 assists, eight steals, three blocks, and 14 turnovers a contest. Individually, Faulkner leads the team in scoring with 15 points a night and is also top five in the Superconference North in assists, steals and blocks per game.

WMU head coach Klay Edwards also spoke with KCII Sports this week to preview his team’s difficult month of January.

“ We hit the road pretty hard,” Edwards said. “We are at Wapello, at WACO Saturday, and then Pekin who is up at the top of the conference too. There are a lot of ball games in January, so you have got to come back ready to go and be in shape.”

Tonight, the Wolves look for their 10th straight win in the all-time series with Wapello that dates back to 2007 in the Varsity Bound era. WMU leads the series 22-13.

You can hear all of the action live tonight on the KCII3 app and streaming online at KCIIRadio.com, beginning with pregame coverage of the girls game at 5:30, tip at 6 with the boys to follow from Wapello High School.