Stacy Jasper is fully aware that when her Hiawatha girls basketball team walks into a gym, it’s not going to blow anyone away with their physical make-up.
 
“If you just look at our roster on paper or just even show up and see us during warm-ups, you’re not necessarily going to be impressed,” Jasper said. “We’re 5-5 down the line. We have no height, two girls on the team that are barely 5-9 and they’re not these big, strong post types. On paper and in person, we just don’t look the part.”
 
What Hiawatha may lack when it comes to physically blowing people away, the Red Hawks have more than made up for with what really counts, their play once the ball is tipped off. And in that regard, they’ve absolutely blown away whatever expectations might have been placed on them based on their physical stature.
 
After beating Rossville 54-46 last Friday, Hiawatha sits 10-0 on the season. It’s the best start for the program since Hiawatha won 60 straight games from 1977-1980.
 
And though Hiawatha has enjoyed success in recent seasons, going 18-4 in 2021-22, the undefeated start has created a different kind of buzz within the Hiawatha community.
 
“Our games have been well attended the past few years, but there was a point last Friday night in a very close, great game with Rossville and I looked up and the roundhouse was packed,” Jasper said. “Usually we only get that kind of attendance when it’s a kiddie clinic or pre-schoolers are doing the national anthem or something like that. But it was packed and it almost took my breath away for a minute.
 
“This morning I’m walking out of City Hall and the mailman shouts, ‘Hey, great season!’ The vibes in our town are so awesome right now and everybody’s noticing and with our boys program off to a great start too, it’s just been a fun atmosphere.”
 
Jasper took over the program last year when her husband, Brady, shifted from being the head coach of the girls program to taking over the boys program. It was a smooth transition with Stacy having served as Brady’s assistant since 2016 and last season, Hiawatha was a respectable 12-9.
 
After losing just one senior starter, honorable mention All-Big-East League selection Alija Contreras, and just one other player off last year’s team, Hiawatha returned a wealth of experience this season. Leading the cast of returners were the Nelson sisters, senior Kenzie and junior Kylie.
 
Kylie was a third-team all-league selection last year as a sophomore, leading the Red Hawks in scoring at 16 points per game. This year, she’s raised her scoring average to 20.5 points per game and in the four games since the Christmas break she’s put up outings of 19, 15, 24 and 16 points.
 
Kenzie, meanwhile, has been the workhorse inside. Despite being just under 5-5, she’s battled in the post against much taller competition and is averaging 10.4 rebounds per game. She tied a school record with 18 rebounds in a 52-36 win over Holton to start January and had a double-double in the win over Rossville with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
 
If one sister act isn’t enough, Hiawatha has two with senior Adison and sophomore Michaela Williams also in the starting lineup. Michaela is averaging 12.5 points per game while Adison adds 5.6 points per game and 2.6 steals a contest.
 
The sets of sisters also happen to be cousins.
 
“We call them the sister cousins,” Jasper said. “They’re so competitive and it’s funny, we’re always preaching good body language and good attitudes, but you’re going to catch those girls nipping at each other on the floor. To anybody that doesn’t know, they’d be like, ‘Oh gosh, they’re not getting along. Their chemistry is off.’ No, it’s just a bunch of sister cousins holding each other accountable.
 
“Kylie is twice the player she was last year and she was really good last year. She put in so much time this summer. She’s become so much more than a scorer. Last year she was just points, points, points. This year she’s doing it all, getting boards, more of a factor on defense. And then we’ve unleashed Michaela. She got some minutes last year, but was behind our senior and this year she is the fire of the team. She’s the shortest girl out there, but she’s leading our defensive schemes and she’s just a ball of fire. The whole squad is like it, but those girls are so competitive.”
 
Hiawatha opened the season with three straight road wins over Doniphan West, Troy and Horton – the first two of those opponents coming off state tournament appearances last year with Doniphan West finishing as state runner-up in Class 2A. The Red Hawks are 4-0 in Big East League play, matching their win total in league play a year ago.
 
Big league tests are on the horizon, including Friday’s showdown with Jefferson West, which is 6-3. Next week, the Red Hawks also will play in the Nemaha Central Thunder Classic.
 
“We’re not getting a lot of love in the rankings yet, not that it’s a big deal at all – I assure you it’s not,” Jasper said. “We have all these great teams in our league and maybe there’s a feeling of, ‘Well Hiawatha hasn’t really played anybody.’ But if you look at those teams, they’re full of these big post players or great individual players. … We’re facing all of these mismatches that shouldn’t be going our way.
 
“But I tell you, there’s not a team out there that wants it more right now than our girls do. I would take this group of girls over and over and over again,” Jasper said. “They’re just so tenacious. We are such an underdog story right now and it’s just been so fun.”
 

  
TROY’S WHETSTINE, CLIFTON-CLYDE’S WURTZ HIT MAJOR MILESTONES
 
Getting to 1,000 career points is no small feat.
 
But getting to 1,500? Well, that’s a different level altogether.
 
Yet that club has added two more on the girls’ side in recent weeks.
 
Troy’s Harper Whetstine was the first to reach the mark, going over 1,500 points in the Trojans’ 47-46 loss to Doniphan West on Dec. 19. Whetstine scored 23 points in the game and this season has scored 223 points in nine games, averaging 24.8 points per game.
 

 
Whetstine hasn’t scored less than 18 points in a game this season and has a high of 35. After scoring 23 against Atchison County last Friday, she now sits at 1,610 career points.
 
Wurtz, meanwhile, went over the 1,500 mark in the Eagles’ 75-10 win over Thunder Ridge last Saturday. Wurtz scored 30 points in the game, one off her season-high of 31, and has now scored 267 points in 11 games this year, averaging 24.3 per game, and is at 1,506 points in her career. 
 

 
OTHER GIRLS’ BASKETBALL STANDOUTS

• Little River’s Arika Feldman scored her 1,000th career point against Herington last Tuesday. The Fort Hays State commit is averaging 20.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.5 steals per game this year and is shooting 45.5% from 3-point range in leading the Redskins to a 9-0 mark, which includes wins over Moundridge (52-40) and Linn (58-29).
• Wellsville’s Savannah Viets had a pair of big games last week in leading the Eagles to a pair of Pioneer League wins. In a 55-41 win over Prairie View, Viets had 28 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. She followed that with 35 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals in a 52-48 win over Anderson County on Friday.
• Burlington is off to its best start since the 2012-13 season at 8-0. In the Wildcats’ final game before the Christmas break, Hattie Burgio became the first Burlington girl to hit 500 career rebounds, reaching the mark with a 16-point, 14-rebound game against Wellsville on Dec. 19. Burgio was the first Wildcat to record 200 rebounds in a season last year.
• Valley Heights’ Ava Smith also reached 1,000 career points, hitting the milestone on Dec. 30 when she scored 19 against Fairbury (Neb.). Smtih is averaging 18.9 points per game.
• Shawnee Heights’ plethora of weapons have been on display with four T-Birds hitting double figures in a win over De Soto. Pearmella Carter led the way with 19 points while Sami Baum had 15, Imani McGlory 14 and Reianna Vega 13. In a win over Leavenworth, three T-Birds hit double figures as McGlory had 18, Carter 12 and KK Emmot 10. Emmot also scored 18 in a win over Hayden.
• Marysville’s Kacy Roesch had 16 points and 19 rebounds in a win over Clay Center last week.
• Goessel freshman Mackenzie Voth hit 5 3-pointers against Solomon in a 19-point game and is shooting 41% from 3-point range this season, averaging 9 points per game.