Linn-Mar junior Kiah Stokes has been selected as the 2010 Gatorade Iowa Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year.
The 6-foot-3 post led Linn-Mar to a 26-0 record and the Class 4A state championship. She averaged 19.5 points, 12.8 rebounds and 5.1 blocks per game. She clicked for 20 points, 18 rebounds and six blocks in the Lions’ 38-35 win over Des Moines East in the state final.
“I didn’t know I was going to get this,” she said. “I thought it was an award only for seniors. I was very surprised. I …

John Sears, Jeff Linder and myself talk a little boys and girls basketball. Thank you John for relating one of the questions to wrestling for me.

With minimal changes in classification (it appears Storm Lake will replace Oskaloosa as the 48th school), here is a preseason rankings list for Class 4A girls’ basketball in 2010-11. These are based somewhat on mathematics, somewhat on hunch.
1. Des Moines East (25-1)
2. Ankeny (21-3)
3. Linn-Mar (26-0)
4. Pleasant Valley (20-4)
5. Iowa City High (14-9)
6. Mason City (13-8)
7. Cedar Rapids Washington (14-9)
8. Waterloo West (14-10)
9. Waukee (24-2)
10. Iowa City West (16-7)
11. Lewis Central (18-5)
12. Ames (17-8)
13. Sioux City North (15-7)
14. Bettendorf (17-5)
15. Ottumwa (10-12)
16. West Des Moines Valley (12-11)
17. Sioux City East …

After adjusting for changes in classification, here is a preseason rankings list for Class 3A girls’ basketball in 2010-11. These are based somewhat on mathematics, somewhat on hunch.
1. Ballard (23-2)
2. DeWitt Central (19-4)
3. Mount Vernon (25-3)
4. MOC-Floyd Valley (21-2)
5. Davenport Assumption (22-3)
6. Pella (15-5)
7. Carroll (16-5)
8. Sergeant Bluff-Luton (18-5)
9. Harlan (21-3)
10. Dallas Center-Grimes (19-3)
11. Union (16-7)
12. Keokuk (14-9)
13. Glenwood (14-9)
14. Williamsburg (16-7)
15. Winterset (12-10)
16. Grinnell (12-10)
17. Charles City (16-7)
18. Sioux City Heelan (26-1)
19. Dubuque Wahlert (10-13)
20. Denison-Schleswig (13-9)

Updated after adjusting for enrollment changes, here is a preseason rankings list for Class 2A girls’ basketball in 2010-11. These are based somewhat on mathematics, somewhat on hunch.
1. Roland-Story (25-2)
2. Ida Grove OA-BCIG (21-4)
3. Mount Ayr (26-2)
4. West Central Valley (18-4)
5. Logan-Magnolia (21-3)
6. Hinton (21-2)
7. Maquoketa Valley (17-5)
8. Bondurant-Farrar (13-8)
9. Carroll Kuemper (22-3)
10. Estherville-Lincoln Central (17-6)
11. Ackley AGWSR (19-4)
12. IKM-Manning (19-5)
13. Wapsie Valley (21-2)
14. Panorama (21-3)
15. Des Moines Christian (18-5)
16. Lawton-Bronson (18-8)
17. North Linn (16-7)
18. South Winneshiek (12-8)
19. West Branch (16-6)
20. Highland (18-7)

With an update to next year’s enrollment changes, here is a preseason rankings list for Class 1A girls’ basketball in 2010-11. These are based somewhat on mathematics, somewhat on hunch.
1. Martensdale-St. Marys (26-2)
2. Stanton (22-1)
3. Ar-We-Va (16-4)
4. Tripoli (18-4)
5. North Mahaska (24-1)
6. Sidney (17-8)
7. Lynnville-Sully (18-7)
8. Clinton Prince of Peace (17-8)
9. Bedford (14-5)
10. Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira (12-9/26-0)
11. Lamoni (15-8)
12. Lone Tree (16-8)
13. Essex (17-5)
14. Moulton-Udell (16-5)
15. Northeast Hamilton (20-3)
16. North Sentral Kossuth (22-3)
17. West Hancock (16-7)
18. Akron-Westfield (14-7)
19. George-Little Rock (15-7) 
20. Harris-Lake Park (14-7)

Here’s a preliminary set of predictions for the area girls’ basketball conferences next year:
MVC MISSISSIPPI DIVISION
1. Linn-Mar, 2. Iowa City High, 3. Cedar Rapids Washington, 4. Waterloo West, 5. Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 6. Dubuque Senior, 7. Waterloo East.
MVC VALLEY DIVISION
1. Iowa City West, 2. Dubuque Wahlert, 3. Cedar Rapids Jefferson, 4. Cedar Rapids Xavier, 5. Cedar Falls, 6. Cedar Rapids Prairie, 7. Dubuque Hempstead.
WAMAC EAST DIVISION
1. DeWitt Central, 2. Mount Vernon, 3. Solon, 4. Anamosa, 5. Maquoketa, 6. West Delaware, 7. Western Dubuque, 8. Dyersville Beckman.
WAMAC WEST DIVISION
1. Williamsburg, 2. Benton …

Miss Iowa Basketball — Carli Tritz, Sioux City Heelan.
CLASS 4A
First Team
Kiah Stokes, 6-3, jr., Linn-Mar; Jade Rogers, 5-11, sr., Cedar Rapids Kennedy; Virginia Johnson, 6-1, jr., Iowa City High; Amber Harrington, 5-10, sr., Davenport North; Riley Norman, 6-1, sr., Des Moines Roosevelt; Brittni Donaldson, 5-7, jr., Sioux City North; Markisha Wright, 6-2, jr., Des Moines East; Laura Johnson, 6-0, sr., Cedar Falls.
Second Team
Kionna Kellogg, 6-2, sr., Ames; Jadyn Spencer, 5-11, jr., Waterloo West; Kiersten Orton, 5-11, sr., Waukee; Kyley Simmons, 5-7, jr., Lewis Central; Shronda Butts, 5-7, jr., Des Moines …

DES MOINES — It can be argued that the Metro has never been stocked with so many big fish at one time.
Kiah Stokes, Morgan Paige and Jade Rogers and high-level Division-I players, one and all.
First-team all-staters, too.
Sportswriters selected the trio — and four others from the area — to the top team in their respective classes during Iowa Newspaper Association girls’ basketball all-state voting Saturday.
Stokes, a junior at Linn-Mar with a state championship and college offers galore, was named to the Class 4A first team. So was Rogers, a Cedar …

Linn-Mar’s state girls’ basketball champs mingle with fans in the stands. Star Kiah Stokes is congratulated by her father, Greg, who sheds a tear. Linn-Mar (Marion) beat D.M. East 38-35.
This video is from IowaHSInsider and posted on YouTube.