The Iowa High School Girls State Basketball tournament begins this morning for the Panorama Panthers, and their quarterfinal opponent reminds head coach Dan Druivenga a lot of his squad. The second-seeded Panthers will play in the second Class 2A state quarterfinal at 11:45 a.m. against a first-time qualifier in the seventh-seeded North Union Warriors. The Warriors clinched their first trip to Wells Fargo Arena by upsetting the defending Class 2A champions, the Western Christian Wolfpack, 50-48 on a game-winning bank shot by senior Hallie Reese. The result impressed coach Druivenga. “You have to tip your hat to North Union,” Druivenga said, “First off all beating a power in Western Christian who are always at the state tournament.”

Druivenga adds the Warriors remind him a lot of this year’s Panther squad. “They have four or five seniors, a couple of juniors, and they have a sophomore or two that are very talented.” Druivenga said, “They play about seven girls, they don’t throw the ball away often, they’re not overly tall. We match up well with that. They handle the ball well. It’ll be a tough game for us.”

The winner of today’s quarterfinal will advance to Friday’s semifinal round against the winner of today’s first Class 2A state quarterfinal between Cascade and Dike-New Hartford. The Raccoon Valley Radio Network will have live play by play coverage of the Class 2A State tournament on True Country K 107.9 and worldwide at raccoonvalleyradio.com and the KKRF mobile app. Pregame comments start around 11:15 a.m. and tip-off set for 11:45 a.m.