Waukee to Wells Fargo?

The 2023-24 basketball season has been a huge success for the Waukee Warriors. Coming into the season, huge amounts of doubt arose following the departure of a heavily talented senior class, so not many people had expected the Warriors to go on and become CIML Conference Champions. Only five seniors and two sophomores have participated in all twenty-two games this season, all seven have a field-goal percentage of at least 41.0%. To put that into perspective these players are making almost half of their shots. Senior Owen Schipper is making more than half of his shots and currently has the highest percentage among those seven players, with a 54.1%.

Heading into the playoffs, Waukee is facing the 16-loss Southeast Polk Rams. The Warriors have defeated the Rams twice this season by a combined amount of 61 points. Despite already defeating Polk, Senior Deion Jenkins expressed how hard his team has been working to get ready, “We’ve just been practicing even harder to prepare for anyone we play and just staying positive,” Jenkins said. His fellow senior teammate, Keysean Moore felt similar, stating, “You know when playoffs come it’s a whole new season so we all have high expectations for ourselves and we know we must perform to get the outcome that we want,” Moore stated. Both of these seniors are a part of the seven players who have participated in every game and they each have played big roles in the Warriors’ success this season.

After all of the doubts and uncertainty the Warriors have faced throughout the whole season, getting back to Wells Fargo Arena and playing in the state tournament would be a great accomplishment for this Warrior team. Cooper Andrews, a senior, and team captain for the basketball team as well as the football team this past season, explained what it would mean for the team to get back to Wells, “I believe going to Wells Fargo in back-to-back years is very influential for the younger classes and also the school has a whole…Giving students who are not necessarily involved in sports, the ability to cheer on a team within Waukee I believe is very powerful. It gives the school a sense of togetherness and connection that makes the whole school a more positive place to be in.”