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Washington downs Albia
Demon boys and girls basketball pick up home wins
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Washington boys basketball didn’t stumble over the first hurdle of the 2025-26 season. The Demons welcomed South Central Conference side Albia on Tuesday, and promptly dispatched the Blue Demons 49-29.
This wasn’t the same Albia team that beat Washington 82-49 a year ago. The Blue Demons lost 11 seniors from that team, including five of its top six scorers. Washington, which returned a member of the All-Southeast Conference second team in Rajan Roth, and All-SEC honorable mention players Nic Stone and Drew Conrad, proved too much for an inexperienced Albia side.
All three players were in double figures Tuesday. Roth paced the Demons with 16 points. Conrad and Stone scored 12 each.
“It’s great knowing we all trust each other really well,” Conrad said. “Nic always says we’d rather have four guys with 10 points than one guy with 40. So, it’s just good to trust each other and know that they trust you to make shots when you’re open.”
The Demons got contributions across its lineup. Sophomore Tate Greiner hit a corner 3 with 1:52 left in the third to put Washington up 33-19. That was part of a 10-5 run out of halftime that gave the Demons a critical cushion in the second half.
The Blue Demons managed to hang around for much of the first half, but a 3-pointer by Stone and a halftime buzzer-beating jumper by Kael Williams gave Washington a nine-point cushion, which it was able to build on in the second half.
“That’s just our identity this year is any guy can step up whether it’s Raj, whether it’s Drew,” Demons coach Collin Stark said. “Kael Williams might not have scored a lot today but was hustling around. Aidan Schmitz constantly gives it his all and that’s just the mentality that this group has. When Washington is a good basketball team is (when) we just have those grinders that just want to win basketball games.”
The Washington girls basketball team set up the Albia sweep when it defeated the Lady Dees 41-33. The win gets the Demons to 2-0 under first-year coach Colin Mulford.
The two teams went back and forth for much of the first half. The Demons broke away with a 9-2 run in the first four minutes of the third quarter.
With a 38-29 lead in the fourth, Washington senior Addison Miller blocked two shots in quick succession, which turned into a layup for Vivienne Kroll. Kroll then blocked a shot on Albia’s ensuing possession.
Washington didn’t turn that stop into points, but got three offensive rebounds on its next possession, allowing it to bleed the clock with a late lead. The Demons finished the game with 20 offensive boards.
“We got every offensive rebound I felt like, or at least at minimum we got a tip on the ball,” Mulford said. “So, I know our girls are battling for it and so that’s a huge part in winning basketball games.”
Washington settled into its first home game of the season after Albia’s defense caused some havoc early, and forced 20 turnovers Tuesday night.
The Demons countered through Leighton Messinger. The senior drilled three first quarter 3s to give Washington some much needed early life on offense.
Messinger led Washington with 12 points on 4 of 11 from beyond the arc. Her performance comes just one game after she shot 0 of 5 from the field against Muscatine.
“That was really big, especially for her first year back (since) her freshman year,” Mulford said. “I expect her to have some jitters, but hopefully just seeing a shot go in will definitely help a ton.”
Adalyn Long also finished in double figures with 11 points and added six rebounds, six assists and five steals. Kroll added five points, eight rebounds and three steals.
Off the bench, Ashlynn Long was a spark for Washington, making 1 of 2 3-point attempts and finishing with five points. Reagan Miller had just two points on 1 of 8 shooting, but grabbed seven rebounds and had two steals and an assist.
Both the Washington girls and boys teams will be back at home for their next games. The Demons will take on SEC foe Keokuk on Friday. The girls game will tip off at 6:15 p.m. with the boys game to follow. The games will be broadcast on the Southeast Iowa Live YouTube and Facebook pages.
