Area teams pick up experience in Lone Tree summer league

By Jeff Yoder
Posted 7/7/21

The Lone Tree High School gym and Wellness Center basketball courts hosted nine teams from all over Eastern Iowa for a summer basketball league that wrapped up on June 27. 

“It was a …

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Area teams pick up experience in Lone Tree summer league

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The Lone Tree High School gym and Wellness Center basketball courts hosted nine teams from all over Eastern Iowa for a summer basketball league that wrapped up on June 27. 

“It was a chance for all of us, coaches and players, to do something after everything was shut down last summer, to get everybody back to the gym,” Lone Tree coach Tom Squiers said. 

“The games were competitive for the most part and I thought it was really good for our kids. We didn’t have to travel and we got to see some really good competition. There were some good teams here.”

There were four conferences represented on the courts with Belle Plaine, Sigourney, and English Valleys from the South Iowa Cedar League, Tipton from the River Valley, Cedar Valley Christian out of the Tri-Rivers along with Lone Tree’s fellow SEISC members WACO, Highland, and Hillcrest. 

“A great opportunity, especially for our younger guys who’ve been coming in and getting after it for a little bit in workouts,” Hillcrest coach Dwight Gingerich said. “It was a good opportunity for those guys to get out and play a game for a little bit. We just haven’t had a lot of opportunities. So any chance we get, we want to do that.”

Lone Tree will finish its summer basketball workouts with a team camp at NIACC from July 18-21. Squiers has been pleased with his squad’s offseason effort so far. 

“I’ve been really impressed with the amount of time that our kids have put in the gym this summer,” he said. “After going 2-17, when you talk to these guys that are going to be juniors and seniors, they don’t want to repeat that. We’ve had great attendance and our kids have worked really hard.”