Great senior groups exit, lot of area basketball talent back next year
The Shenandoah boys, Clarinda girls and Sidney girls all earned postseason wins this basketball season.
The Shenandoah boys and Essex boys enjoyed more success than they have had in several years while the Shenandoah girls had another big season with a lot of new faces.
This is the last of three winter sports recaps that have been put together this month. The bowling and wrestling stories ran over the last two weeks. The Winter Sports All-Area Team is scheduled to be released next week, followed by stories on the top male and female athletes the following week.
The Shenandoah boys put up 13 wins this season, including one in the postseason. The 13 wins were more than the past three seasons combined and the most the program has enjoyed in 10 years.
The Mustangs showed early that this wasn’t a typical Mustangs team putting together a four-game winning streak over a span of seven days in December. Under first-year head coach Luke Buttry, they took a 4-3 record into Christmas Break and then won four of five coming out of break. They finished their final season of Hawkeye 10 Conference play with a 5-5 record.
The Mustangs had a pair of double-digit scorers in Carter Sells and Gabe Buttry, who are both just sophomores, giving the Mustangs a lot of promise going forward. In fact, four of the six athletes who saw multiple starts this winter return next season.
Shenandoah senior Logan Twyman attacks the Atlantic defense in transition Friday, Jan. 3, during a Mustang home win over the Trojans.
Two of their starters were seniors, though, in Brody Burdorf and Logan Twyman. Burdorf led the Mustangs in rebounds and broke the program’s single season blocks record. He led the Hawkeye 10 Conference and was fourth in Class 2A with 59 blocked shots. Twyman was also a big piece as quite a bit of his 4.3 points per game seemed to take place when the Mustangs needed a bucket.
Cole Graham didn’t play as much as he had in past years but was a strong rotational piece in the post for Shenandoah. Zane McManis, John Martin, Ayden Johnson and Teagan Brunk also exit the program.
Isaiah Sholes led an improved Essex bunch with eight wins, the most the Trojans have enjoyed in 10 years. Sholes was second in Class 1A blocks and 15th in rebounds, averaging 17.8 points to go with his 11.5 rebounds and 4.4 blocks each time out.
Essex senior Will Roberts takes on Griswold's Brayden Lockwood (15) during a fastbreak opportunity Friday, Jan. 30, in an Essex win.
Damien Aradanas and Will Roberts became valuable pieces for the Trojans during their senior seasons while senior Ashon Kline and junior Dominic Kirk controlled the game from outside.
Essex won two straight in December after opening 0-4, then won three straight in January, bringing their record to 5-7.
The Sidney girls played their best ball late in the season, winning four games in a row to get to .500 before falling to eventual state semifinalist St. Albert in the second round of the regional tournament.
The Cowgirls won two of three against East Mills and nearly toppled the conference champions from Fremont-Mills late in the season.
Sidney got healthy after Christmas with sophomores Charli King and Alyssa Dowling joining the lineup. King’s nine points and 8.6 rebounds per game were both best marks on the team. Dowling was second in scoring at 8.2 points per game.
Sidney senior Alyssa Melvin breaks ahead for a layup while Stanton freshman Quinn McDonald tries to catch up Tuesday, Dec. 9, during a Cowgirl victory.
Junior Addy Foster and the team’s only senior, Alyssa Melvin, proved essential to the team’s success, both around eight points per game.
The Cowgirls were 9-7 after Christmas Break with five of those seven losses coming by six points or less. Watch out for this group next season.
The Clarinda girls also won four straight games late in the season before losing to an eventual state semifinalist, this one being Des Moines Christian.
Clarinda was just 5-6 after the first game of 2026 under first-year head coach Jacob Privia, but showed well after that, beating Lewis Central, Atlantic, Creston and Shenandoah twice.
Their top four scorers were seniors with Addison Wagoner leading the charge with 12.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. She finished her career with 981 points, the program record, and 496 rebounds. Also in the record book is Carsen Wellhausen as the program’s rebounds and blocks queen, ending with 726 rebounds and 253 blocks.
Clarinda senior Kylie Meier whips a pass down the court during the Cardinals' home win Tuesday, Jan. 27, over Red Oak.
Seniors Maddie Cole and Kylie Meier were a huge part of the program over the years as well. Cole scored 9.7 points per game and Meier 7.4. Ellie Cole and Kelby Gray were the other two seniors while sophomore Miley Wagoner and freshman Aylah Johnson combined for 11 points and eight rebounds per game for the Cardinals and will be counted on to lead next year’s team.
While Clarinda loses a bunch of seniors this year, that was last year for Shenandoah and the Fillies enjoyed another great season with a different group, winning 14 games, their sixth straight double digit wins season.
A win over Abraham Lincoln to open the season showed immediately that this Shenandoah team was still going to be a force. A five-game winning streak in December had them at 7-1 and they had big wins all season, beating senior-laden Clarinda and Creston during that run. They added another win over Creston and a victory over Lewis Central late in the year.
Kalyn Scamman was Shenandoah’s only returning starter and she was incredible, nearly scoring 500 points this season. She led Class 3A at 22.3 points per game. Freshman Ava O’Rourke had a huge debut season at 12 points per game. Take out the first seven games of her high school career and O’Rourke averaged nearly 14 points per game and shot 45 percent from behind the 3-point line.
Shenandoah senior Addie Estes and Clarinda senior Carsen Wellhausen battle for position Friday, Jan. 16, during the Cardinals' win over the Fillies.
Addie Estes and Abbey Dumler were the team’s seniors. Estes led the team with 7.7 rebounds per game and played a big role down low. Dumler hit some big shots and made huge strides, taking over a leadership role.
Besides Scamman and O’Rourke, there’s plenty to like about Shenandoah going forward with sophomore starters Sloane McGinnis and Brynlee Cullin returning and a few more sophomores and freshmen ready to step into bigger roles next season.
Addy Stalzer took over the head coaching position for the Essex girls and had just eight athletes. Then, early in the season, their leading scorer and rebounder from last year, Paityn Vanatta, went down with a season-ending injury.
Essex senior Mariska Kirchert drives the baseline Friday, Jan. 30, during a home loss to Griswold.
Mariska Kirchert led the Trojanettes in scoring and rebounding at 6.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per contest. Kylie Valdez was another senior starter for Essex while Addy Resh stepped back into the program as a senior.
After that came three juniors in Aila Valdez, Ella Sandahl and Taylor Juarez and a promising freshman in Piper Maher, who was Essex’s representative on the all-conference team.
The Trojanettes won five games, including the program’s first win over Stanton in nearly eight years.
The Clarinda boys had a big senior group returning ready to lead a team that won 13 games last season. Unfortunately, the wins just weren’t there this season as Clarinda won eight.
The Cardinals had a strong four-game stretch in January that included wins over Atlantic, Shenandoah and ACGC and a competitive game with conference champion Kuemper, but that was followed by a four-game losing streak. They won their final two regular season games but lost in the district opener.
Clarinda senior Noah Harris goes up for a layup Friday, Jan. 16, during the Cardinals' home win over Shenandoah. Harris scored all 10 of his points in the first half.
Senior Sam Kline led the Cardinals at 14.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Elsewhere in the senior class, Warner Schmitt and Noah Harris were starters for much of the season and Kaiden Roop and Aidan Johnson saw significant time. Jordan Butt and Devin Barlow also exit the program.
Junior Ryan Wagoner and sophomore Cooper Baumgart are the top underclassmen coming back for Clarinda with several spots available for other younger players to step up going forward.
Sidney’s first-year head coach Zach Wallace won his first game, but the Cowboys won just twice more after that and ended up forfeiting several games late in the season, including the district tournament game.
Sidney sophomore Zach Boyd launches a shot from the outside Tuesday, Jan. 6, during a home loss to Hamburg.
The Cowboys didn’t have great numbers to start the season and those dwindled for various reasons as the season continued. Calvin Johnson ended up as the team’s leading scorer and has one more season left in the program.
The best of the area basketball players will be featured again in next week’s release of the Winter Sports All-Area Team.
