It’s early in the high school basketball season, but tonight’s boys’ game in Jewell between Greene County and South Hamilton to begin Heart of Iowa Activities Conference play already falls into the “Big Game” category, according to some. That’s because the Hawks return several players from the past two HOIAC championship teams, and both those teams made the 2A State Tournament. SH was 24-1 last season and they swept both games from Greene County. In 2016-17, the Rams were the lone HOIAC to hang a loss on the Hawks, and that was in Jewell.

SH can score points, but so can Coach Chris Nelson’s Rams. The Hawks are ranked fifth in 2A to start the season. They are 1-0 with a 72-58 home court win on Tuesday of this week over South Central Calhoun (Lake City).

Greene County has the ability to score a lot of points as well. The Rams opened the season Monday with a 96-91 victory in Jefferson over Ogden, then played on Tuesday night in Perry and won by a 69-46 final.

It’s a girl/boy doubleheader tonight on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com. Coverage starts at 5:45 p.m. with the girls playing at 6 p.m. and the boys to follow