Third-Ranked Storm Lake to Host Denison‑Schleswig in Substate Quarterfinal Feb. 23

Storm Lake High School will host Denison‑Schleswig in a Class 3A substate quarterfinal game on Monday, Feb. 23, a pairing announced in local sports coverage on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. Local headlines described Storm Lake as "third-ranked" in its class; the matchup appears on MaxPreps as an away non-conference game for Denison‑Schleswig scheduled for Feb. 23 at Storm Lake.

The teams last met on Tuesday, Feb. 3, when MaxPreps recorded a 73-26 victory for the Tornadoes. As MaxPreps put it, "The Storm Lake (IA) varsity basketball team won Tuesday's away non-conference game against Denison-Schleswig (Denison, IA) by a score of 73-26." In the MaxPreps narrative following that game, Storm Lake was shown at 14-2 while Denison‑Schleswig was listed at 3-15 in that context.

Season records reported in available sources vary. The Storm Lake Times Pilot excerpt listed the Tornadoes at 18-2 and Denison‑Schleswig at 3-18. MaxPreps displays multiple figures: a rankings-and-records table lists Storm Lake at 20-2 with a conference record of 8-0 and a Win % of .909, while Denison‑Schleswig appears as 4-18 with a 1-12 conference mark and Win % .182. Those discrepancies reflect different snapshot dates across the public records; the Feb. 16 pairing announcement and MaxPreps game pages both name Feb. 23 as the scheduled date.

Statistical context from MaxPreps underscores the scale of the expected mismatch. The MaxPreps table lists Storm Lake with 1,742 points for and 1,108 points against and a season scoring average listed as Final 79.2 with quarter splits Q1 21.8, Q2 20.5, Q3 23.2, Q4 14.0. Denison‑Schleswig’s MaxPreps entries show points for 1,000 and points against 1,363 with quarter averages Q1 9.6, Q2 10.3, Q3 12.3, Q4 13.6; a common-opponents fragment shows Storm Lake opponents at a combined 4-1 versus Denison‑Schleswig opponents at 0-5. Junior varsity records in MaxPreps list Storm Lake JV 7-8 and Denison‑Schleswig JV 6-12.

Logistics remain partly unresolved in the publicly available material. The local notice and the Storm Lake Times Pilot page displayed headlines and the Feb. 16 announcement but required subscriber login for full text; the Storm Lake Times Pilot contact details visible on the page are 220 W. Railroad St., P.O. Box 487, Storm Lake, IA 50588, Phone: 1-712-732-4991. Neither the announcement nor the MaxPreps scheduling snippet supplied a confirmed tip-off time, ticketing details, or broadcast/stream information for the Feb. 23 substate game.

With the substate pairing set for Feb. 23 at Storm Lake High School, the immediate items to watch are confirmation of tip-off time and any updates to official season records or bracket seeding from Storm Lake and Denison‑Schleswig athletic departments or the IHSAA.