Beacon File Photo. Above: West Burlington's Abbey Bence (20) and Fort Madison's Camille Kruse (21) go shoulder-to-shoulder down the court in a varsity basketball exhibition game in November.
By Chris Faulkner
Abbey Bence is a big reason the West Burlington girls basketball team is ranked No. 12 in the state in Class 2A by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.
Bence was third in the state for Class 2A scoring 197 points. She's tied for 33rd in rebounds with 68.
But Falcons coach John Vandenberg knows there's a strong supporting cast that has his team is 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the South Division after the pre-Christmas portion of the season.
The Falcons come out of the break with a game against fourth-place Danville on Jan. 6 and then take on the current South leader Burlington Notre Dame at Father Minett Gym.
“Abbey is the leading scorer,” Coach Vandenberg said, “but she gets some of her points from other players who work hard to get a steal or make an excellent pass to get her points.”
Senior McKenna Marlow is fifth in the state in steals with 36.
Around the area, Mediapolis is 13th in 2A and Winfield Mount Union is 11th in 1A behind Notre Dame which is 10th.
See more of the story in the Dec. 30 print edition of The Beacon!