Newell, Ia (Northwest Iowa Now) – With the 2024-2025 Iowa High School Sports season winding down, we continue our series of the best teams from the past sports year in the KICD 9-County Area.

We now go to Girls Basketball where the Newell-Fonda Mustangs put together their 9th straight 20+ win season.

The Twin Lakes Conference provides a nice, competitive slate, but that’s not enough for Newell-Fonda who makes a point to schedule a lot of tough out-of-conference opponents such as Lakes Conference schools, St. Alberty, and Exira-Elk Horn Kimbalton.

Newell-Fonda jumped out to a 4-0 start, including a 76-60 win over a decent Bishop Garrigan of Algona team on the road.

Their first loss came at the hands of Estherville Lincoln Central, a team that made it as far as the Class 3A State Semifinals. ELC topped the Mustangs 63-52. There was a 2nd scheduled meeting between the two teams in Newell that was cancelled due to weather.

After putting together, a couple of dominant wins, Newell-Fonda hosted St. Albert of Council Bluffs, who at the time was right in the top 5 of Class 1A with Newell-Fonda.

Despite a 20-point 12 rebound double-double from Kinzee Hinders, the Mustangs couldn’t keep up with the Saintes. Newell-Fonda had an uncharacteristic 22 turnovers on the evening while only forcing 16 from St. Albert.

The Mustangs bounced back with a statement 77-59 win over Pocahontas Area, then rattled off 8 straight wins before running into a Cherokee Buzzsaw on February 6th when the Braves were playing their best Basketball.

Newell-Fonda couldn’t pick up a win against Lakes Conference schools in 2024-2025, losing to Storm Lake 67-62. The Tough schedule prepared the Mustangs well though for the Class 1A Region 3 Tournament.

Newell-Fonda beat regional opponents by an average of 40.6 points, cruising into the Class 1A State Tournament.

The Mustangs opened up with a statement 60-32 route of State Tournament regular Springville in the quarterfinals. North Linn stood in there way for the Semifinals, and Newell-Fonda was able to grind out a low scoring win against another tournament regular 48-38, advancing to the State Championship game where they would get a rematch against St. Albert of Council Bluffs.

32 minutes wasn’t enough to decide this game, and neither was 4 more as the contest went to a double-overtime with the Mustangs and Saintes tied at 46.

St. Albert outscored Newell-Fonda 5-2 in the final overtime to win 61-58, finishing a State Runner-Up year for the Mustangs.

In the 2024-2025 season, Senior Kinzee Hinders averaged 19.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 3.8 steals per contest. She may graduate, and will be a big loss, but Newell-Fonda brings back their other 4 top scorers, including Ellie Sievers, who as a freshman came off the bench to average 13.9 points per game. Jocee Walsh will be a Senior this upcoming season for Newell-Fonda, she averaged 8.3 per game but pulled in 6.6 rebounds and averaged 3.3 steals per contest, both numbers good for 2nd on the team behind Hinders.

The Mustangs will be looking to do what they have been doing since before the turn of the century, and that is dominate when the next season rolls around.

The 2024-2025 KICD Area Teams of the Year Series continues next time with Boys Basketball.