Kraai Among Newest Inductees into IGHSAU Basketball Hall of Fame

Connie Kraai of Holstein, Zoey Artist of CAM, Mason City’s Jadda Buckley and Alexis Conaway of MOC-Floyd Valley are the 2023 inductees into the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s Basketball Hall of Fame. The four will be inducted at halftime of the Class 1A state championship game Saturday, March 4 at Wells Fargo Arena.

Kraai played for her father, Hall of Fame coach Russ Kraai, at Holstein from 1962-66. She was a two-time all-state forward who guided her team to the 1965 state tournament. She finished her career with 3,830 points, averaging 39 points a contest. She earned first-team all-state honors her senior year, averaging 45.6 points a game while also placing second in the state free throw contest.

Artist was a standout for CAM (Cumberland-Anita-Massena) from 1994-98. She led CAM to a state tournament appearance in 1997 and was a four-time Class 2A all-state selection, earning first team honors in 1997 and 98. She finished her career with 1,845 points and averaged over 20 points a game for her career. She played collegiate basketball at Eastern Kentucky and scored over 1,000 points with more than 300 career assists. She averaged 12.1 points a game as a senior and was named the Ohio Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2002.

Buckley starred at Mason City from 2009-2013. She was the point guard for Mason City’s first three trips to the state tournament. Buckley was a two-time Class 4A first team all-state selection. As a senior, she averaged 14 points, five rebounds, 4.9 assists and 3.8 steals a game as the Riverhawks reached the Class 4A semifinals. Buckley was an all-tournament selection that year and finished her Mason City career with 1,146 points, 324 assists and 259 steals. She signed with Iowa State and played four seasons for the Cyclones. She was named to the Big 12 all-freshman team and was twice named honorable mention all-Big 12.

Conaway starrred at MOC-Floyd Valley from 2010-14. The 2014 Miss Iowa Basketball helped the Dutch to three state tournament appearances, where she was named to three all-tournament teams and was captain of the 2014 all-tournament team in leading MOC-Floyd Valley to the Class 3A state title. She scored 1,901 career points with 775 career rebounds while shooting 60.8 percent from the field for her career. Conaway was a three-time first-team all-state selection. An outstanding athlete, Conaway played collegiate volleyball at Iowa State and is a member of the IGHSAU Volleyball Hall of Fame.

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