The 14U Stormers returned to Ames two weeks later for the Iowa AAU 8th Grade State tournament with both their Gold and Black teams.  In pool play, the Gold finished 2-0 with wins over the Des Moines Knicks Orange and a feisty All-Iowa Attack 7th grade team.  The Black team went 1-2 in their pool, losing to the Attack Red and to the Knicks Blue before beating the Johnston Blue Devils.  In tournament play, the Black beat the Knicks Orange in the first round before falling to Martin Brothers in the second round of the tournament.  The Gold team beat the Knicks Blue in the first round, setting up a matchup between Gold and Martin Brothers in the semifinals.  In an intense game in front of a packed house, the Gold beat the Martin Brothers by 7 to advance to the finals against the Attack Red.  The Championship game was hard fought with several lead changes, and came down to the final minute.  With the game tied, the Attack's Travis Perry hit a jumper with :20 remaining to put them up by two points.  In the final seconds, the 'Stormers had two shots that could have won the game, but both rimmed out, giving the Attack the championship in an outstanding game.

The 14U 'Stormers split their roster for the USSSA Midwest Showdown, and entered two teams, Gold and Black.  The Gold team cruised through pool play with a 2-0 record to get first place in their pool, and the Black team had a much tougher time, finishing 0-3 and getting fourth place in pool play.  The two 'Stormers teams had to play each other to open tournament play on Sunday morning, and the Black pulled off a big win against the Gold, winning by 4 points in overtime.  The Black team went on to play the Des Moines Knicks in the second round of the tournament, avenging an earlier 2 point loss from pool play by beating them by 20+.  In the finals, the Black team were down 1 to the Attack at halftime, but ran out of gas in the end and finishing in Second Place.

For their second tournament, the 14U Stormers travelled through ice and snow to Chicago for the Martin Luther King Holiday Classic.  The Stormers came out of the gates with a big win against the Chicago Go-Getters in pool play, before losing their second game by 6 to the Illinois Stars.  In tournament play, the 'Stormers advanced to the semi-finals with a tough 10 point win against the Chicago Rebels.  In the semis, the Barnstormers played the host team, the Illinois Heat.  It was a back-and-forth game, but the 'Stormers found themselves down as much as 8 in the second half, only to fight back and tie it with 1:00 left to go.  After going up 1 with :30 seconds left, the Heat stalled and forced the 'Stormers to foul them guard Wesley Washpun knocked the ball with 2.5 seconds left on the clock.  The 'Stormers had a chance to win the game with some clutch free throws at the end, but they came up short.  The Heat went on to lose to the Illinois Stars in the championship.  Center Christian French and guards Austin Christiansen, TJ Priske, and Josh Oglesby were all selected to the all-tournament team.  The Barnstormers will now take two weeks off before playing in the USSSA Showdown in Ames on February 3-4.

The 14U Gold Barnstormers squad played their first tournament of the year in Cedar Falls at the Panther Shootout.  The 'Stormers faced tough competition right from the start, finishing 2nd in their pool with a 2-1 record, including a one point loss in OT to the All-Iowa Attack Black team, and a two point victory of the All-Iowa Attack 13s.  In tournament play, the 'Stormers defeated a very tough Des Moines Knicks team in the first round by 23 points, only to lose to the eventual champions, the All-Iowa Attack Red, in the semi-finals, finishing 3-2 in the tournament and tying for 3rd place.  After taking some time off over the Christmas Break, the 'Stormers will be in action again at the Martin Luther King Holiday Classic in Chicago, IL on January 13-14.