High School Basketball
Mt. Pleasant split their night against Mid-Prairie with the girls’ team falling, 61-32, and the boys’ team scraping past the Golden Hawks, 49-42. Abigail Shelangoski was the main source of offense for the Panthers, cashing in for 14 points in the effort.
The boys’ team found the right time to be clutch from the free throw line as the Panthers sank 10 of 12 in the final quarter to generate the seven-point win, including a four-for-four performance from Aiden Humble, who finished with 10 points. Isaiah Lange led the team with 13 points. Panther boys’ head coach Eric Rawson knew it was going to take a yeoman effort to get the win,
“…They like to play a little fast and sped us up and we weren’t very patient. Once we got across half court with the basketball, I mean, that was the conversation at half was, continue to stay locked in defensively. You held them to 20, but we’ve got to do some things a little bit differently offensively and be a lot more patient and get some block touches and eventually guys, your shots are gonna fall from outside, but definitely focus again on the post play and just work that inside-outside combination and we’re a lot more patient offensively, I thought, in the second half.”
Mt. Pleasant will celebrate their Senior Night on Friday, January 30th, against Washington at home with game one tipping-off at 6 pm.
The Central Lee boys’ team lost a tight one to West Hancock last night, 48-43. Owan Swan collected a team-high 14 points in the loss. The Hawks will look to upset Mediapolis tonight with the girls’ teams playing first at 6 pm on the road.
Burlington Notre Dame will make the trip to Danville tonight for the Bears’ Senior night with game one at 6 pm.
WACO will look to bounce back tonight at home against Highland at 6 pm.
Holy Trinity Catholic will compete against New London on the road tonight with the night starting at 6 pm.
Columbus will square off against Wapello tonight with gametime at 6 pm at home.
The Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team will face off against West Burlington at home tonight with gametime at 7:30 pm.
Fairfield will clash with Washington on Thursday, January 29th, with the girls’ playing at 6 pm.
Boys’ High School Basketball Rankings
The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) released their fifth edition of the boys’ high school basketball rankings and despite the #1 team in Class 1A falling, Burlington Notre Dame kept still at #3.
In a top-four showdown last week, Bishop Garrigan pulled off the upset against St. Edmond, resulting in the two team flipping spots as the Golden Bears now sit at #1 in Class 1A.
The Nikes, who currently has the most wins in the state at 17-0, remained put at #3 in Class 1A. In a three-game week, Notre Dame defeated all three opponents by double figures, including holding two of their opponents under 50 points. The squad does an excellent job in distributing the ball and not turning the ball over with an assist to turnover ratio of 1.86, which ranks 2nd in Class 1A and 10th amongst all classes.
High School Wrestling
The Southeast Iowa Super Conference girls’ teams met up last night for the conference championship and Van Buren County snatched the title with a dominating 203-point performance followed by Pekin with 130 points.
The Warriors finished with five individual conference champions in Brystol Wiley (100-pound weight class), Rylee Caviness (125-pound weight class), Hadley Noe (135-pound weight class), Lexie Wiley (140-pound weight class), and Teagan Sickles (170-pound weight class).
Wapello’s Kenadee Helscher took the 105-pound title as sits at 36-0 entering the state qualifier. Clara Ball helped the Arrows with an undefeated night and the gold in the 115-pound weight class.
WACO had Emorry Davis (115-pound weight class) and Makayla Morrison (120-pound weight class) each take home the silver in their respective weight class, while Mediapolis was led by Kaiya Swafford, who finished as the runner-up in the 130-pound weight class. Lastly, Lizbet Herrera and Jada Moats of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union each took the silver in their respective weight classes.
The Fairfield, Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, Mediapolis, Van Buren County, and WACO girls’ teams will make the trip to Wapello for the Class 1A Region 6 state qualifying meet on Friday, January 30th.
Mt. Pleasant will duel Burlington on Thursday, January 29th, on the road.
The Burlington Notre Dame, Van Buren County, and New London boys’ teams will travel to Louisa-Muscatine for a quad on Thursday.
Wapello will host WACO in a quad on Thursday.
The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will wait for their Class 2A Region 5 state qualifying meet on Friday in Ottumwa.
High School Bowling
The Southeast Conference tournament will take place today at Arrowhead Bowl.
Southeastern Community College
The women’s basketball team will compete against North Iowa Area Community College tomorrow, January 28th, at 5:30 pm.
The men’s basketball team will host Kennedy-King College on Thursday, January 29th, at 7 pm.
The men’s and women’s wrestling teams will host Iowa Lakes Community College tomorrow.
College Basketball
The Iowa State women’s team will hit the road to face off against Texas Tech tomorrow, January 28th, at 6 pm.
The #8 Iowa women’s team will travel to USC on Thursday, January 29th, at 8 pm.
The Iowa men’s team will take on USC tomorrow at 6 pm at home.
The #8 Iowa State men’s team will host Colorado on Thursday at 6 pm.
This Day in Sports History
1969 – Chuck Noll is named head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the youngest coach in NFL history at the time.
1989 – Detroit Red Wings center Steve Yzerman becomes the 4th NHL player to record 100 points in 50 games or less with a goal and 2 assists as the Red Wings beat Toronto, 8-1.
1991 – Super Bowl XXV, Tampa Stadium, Tampa, FL: the New York Giants beat the Buffalo Bills, 20-19; MVP: Ottis Anderson, NY Giants, RB. Scott Norwood’s game-winning kick sails wide right for the Bills.