6 observations from day 1 of Waterloo girls basketball tournament

The eight-team, pool play affair will conclude with the championship game at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Here are a few observations from the opening day of play:

Marissa sophomore makes most of hair loss

Peyton Biekert likes to look on the bright side.

The 6-foot forward suffers from Alopecia, an autoimmune disease that results in severe hair loss.

Biekert began losing her hair at age 11.

A year later, she was almost totally bald.

"At first it was falling out in patches and it was scary because I didn't know what was wrong with me," Biekert said. "Later on, I realized it probably wasn't going to come back.

"So, I had to come to terms with it."

Biekert said the hairless look has its advantages, particularly early in the morning.

"Don't have to brush my hair or fool around with it," Biekert said. "I jump right out of bed and get going."

Biekert is used to getting some looks when she ventures out of town, but those things don't bother her at all.

"I feel like it makes me stick out from others," Biekert said.

Actually, her play on the basketball court makes her stick out even more.

She pumped in 27 points in the Meteors' 47-42 loss to Columbia in opening round play on Thursday.

Biekert is also a standout on the volleyball court. A middle blocker, she is well known for her momentum-changing stuffs at the net.

Yet she believes that basketball is her future.

Biekert is still learning the game, according to Marissa coach Darin Degenhart.

"She's got a pretty high ceiling," Degenhart said.

Daisy bombs

Roxana High junior Daisy Daugherty was in a groove Thursday afternoon.

"I felt like I couldn't miss, " the 5-foot-7 inch guard said.

She rarely did.

Daugherty set a school record with eight 3-pointers to lead the Shells to a 45-39 win over Chicago Hope in opening round pool play.

The three-year starter finished with a career-best 29 points.

"They just kept falling," Daugherty said. "Once I get in a flow, I just kept making them."

Daugherty triggered an 11-0 outburst in the second half that turned a five-point deficit into a 35-29 advantage.

Ava Cherry and Josie Brannon hit key free throws down the stretch to hold off Hope.

Another challenge

Mike Arbuthnot is home.

The long-time successful girls basketball coach at a host of schools is in his initial season at the helm at Roxana, where he coached numerous sports earlier in his career.

The 62-year-old Arbuthnot has the Shells off to a 6-5 start following the win over Hope.

His coaching career began at Roxana 32 years ago and his children went there as well. He considers it home after serving as a coach in six different sports there during the 1990s.

Arbuthnot guided Civic Memorial to the state tournament in 2022 and helped Highland get to the final four in 2016.

He welcomes the new challenge.

"It's all about building up the program," he said.

Arbuthnot is doing just that.

The seventh- and eighth-grade teams at Roxana had just seven players on each squad last season.

This year, there are 53 girls involved in the two teams.

"We went out and beat the bushes," Arbuthnot said.

Arbuthnot recorded successful girls basketball coaching stints at Civic Memorial, Highland and Triad.

No doom and gloom in Randolph County

This was supposed to be a rebuilding year at Red Bud.

But someone forget to tell the Musketeers.

"We don't care what everybody thinks," sophomore guard Talia Carter said.

Added junior guard Ava Wagner, "I think we all knew we could be good."

Red Bud lost two key players — Addi Dilley (10.1 points per game) and Lyla Hess (9.7) — from last year's team that set a school record with 22 wins.

Despite losing its top two scorers, the Musketeers are out to an 11-4 start after a 38-34 win over Gibault in the opening round of pool play on Thursday.

Wagner, a softball player who has committed Western Illinois University, led the charge with 11 points. Carter chipped in with nine.

Red Bud got out to a 6-0 start this season on the way to winning the Sparta Tournament.

"It's been a different," Red Bud coach Eli Rogers said. "The girls we lost were studs. So far, we've been doing a good job with everyone stepping up to fill in."

Freshman steps up

Columbia High freshman Riley Bahr might get rid of her old duties.

The lone newbie on a roster of veterans, Bahr serves as one of the first guards off the bench for longtime coach Scott Germain.

Bahr also gets the chore of cleaning up the team's bench area after each game. 

She could be in for a promotion after a strong performance in Thursday's 47-42 win over Marissa.

Bahr recorded an old-fashioned 3-point play with 2 minutes 13 seconds left to put her team in front to stay, 40-39.

Senior Sam Schmuke, who finished with a game-high 24 points, added a steal and layup to the Eagles' 10-3 closing spurt.

But it was Bahr who came up big at the right time.

"Not much was going through my head," Bahr said. "I don't think a lot during the game. We were coming off a few bad (possessions) and something good had to happen."

Schmuke knew that Bahr, who finished with seven points, had the capability of coming through during crunch time.

"It was a huge play, it turned the game around," Schmuke said.

Hope springs eternal

Chicago Hope made the five-hour trip from the Windy City to participate in the Waterloo affair for the first time.

Hope was replacing Carlyle, which moved into the Benton Tournament.

"This is great, they've treated us so well," Eagles coach Keith Sanders. "I hope they have us back."

Hope Academy makes an out of town trip each season. It was scheduled to participate in a tournament in Detroit.

But that fell though and Sanders went searching for new location.

"It's good see different teams and just see how we do on the road," Sanders said.