High School Basketball
In a night of triumph and heartbreak, the Mt. Pleasant girls’ team snapped a nine-game losing streak by beating West Burlington 42-37, while a shorthanded boys’ team lost to the Falcons 51-50 in overtime.
The Panthers gained separation in the 3rd quarter by going on a 17 to 6 run on a night that every point was needed. Abby Carthey swarmed the court with 16 points and six steals in the winning effort. The Panthers finished the regular season with a 4-17 record. Presley Prill’s 11 points led the Falcons, who finished the regular season with an 11-10 record.
The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team got out to a fast start from beyond the arc last night, hitting five threes in the first quarter, including four from Ryan Helling. However, without Noah Lange, who will miss the rest of the season due to injury, the Panther offense stalled and was unable to overcome the Falcons going 6 of 8 from the free throw line in overtime.
Isaiah Lange put up 18 points for the Panthers, while Silas Lotzow and Ayden Figuereo each collected 18 points for West Burlington, who finished the regular season with an 12-8 record.
Panther boys’ head coach Eric Rawson understands it will have to be a complete team effort to fill in the gap left by Noah Lange,
“Yeah, certainly your defense leads to your offense. And there in the second quarter, we struggled offensively, and they were able to execute offensively and score. So, we gave up some second chance opportunities on long rebounds and backside rebounds. Those things happen when you’re not used to having a 6’7 guy there to clean it up. So, and it’s not like we’re asking one guy to come out and get an extra ten rebounds. It’s gotta be a collective from the group. And we’ll certainly get that figured out.”
The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will hit the road to take on Fairfield on Friday, February 13th, with tip-off at 7:30 pm.
The Fairfield girls’ team fell to Davis County last night, 60-50. The Trojans finished the regular season with a 4-15 record.
The Danville boys’ team clobbered Davis County last night 75-44 to end the regular season having won five of their last six. The Bears enter postseason play with a 12-9 record.
The WACO boys’ team collected a much-needed victory last night, handling Wapello, 61-48. Holden Hughes led the Warriors with 20 points, while Kinnick Richenberger put up 17 points in the effort.
The WACO boys’ team finished the regular season with an 11-10 record, while the Wapello boys’ team collected a 5-16 record.
The Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team was unable to overcome a slow start against Pekin last night, falling 46-44. The Wolves will enter districts with a 13-7 record.
The #3 Burlington Notre Dame boys’ team gave Keokuk all they had last night but a late surge left the Nikes short, 59-57. Notre Dame put up a 20-2 regular season record.
The Central Lee boys’ team will hit the road to take on Davis County tomorrow, February 12th, at 7:30 pm.
Girls’ Regional Basketball
The regional brackets for Class 1A are set to start tomorrow, February 12th, at 7 pm and Classes 2A and 3A starting on Saturday, February 14th, at the same time. Here’s a look at our local competition.
In Class 1A Region 4, New London will make the trip to Lone Tree.
Wapello will host Burlington Notre Dame.
Over in Region 6, Winfield-Mt. Union will travel to Highland.
WACO will face off against Pekin on the road. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.
In Class 2A Region 8, Van Buren County will host Columbus.
For Class 3A Region 5, the Southeast Conference will meet up in Washington as the Demons will face off against Fairfield.
In Region 6, #9 Mediapolis will get another swing at Central Lee at home.
Boys’ District Basketball
The Class 1A district bracket is scheduled to start on Friday, February 13th, with the preliminary round. The first round for Classes 1A and 2A is scheduled for Monday, February 16th, with all games tipping-off at 7 pm.
Class 1A Substate 5 District 9 is where most of our local teams were placed with #3 Notre Dame grabbing on to the top seed.
To start off the bracket, New London will host Highland on Friday with the winner advancing to play the Nikes. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.
On Monday, Winfield-Mt. Union and Danville will square off in the #4-#5 seed contest with the Wolves getting to host.
Holy Trinity Catholic will take on WACO at home. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.
Over in Substate 5 District 10, Wapello will travel to Hillcrest Academy on Monday.
In Class 2A Substate 5 District 9, Central Lee earned the first round bye and will take on the winner between West Burlington and Cardinal with the Falcons getting to host.
On the top half of the bracket, Van Buren County will hit the road to play Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont to open the first round.
In Substate 5 District 10, Columbus will face off against Durant on the road and Mediapolis will host Louisa-Muscatine for their first round showdowns.
The Class 3A and Class 4A brackets will be released on Monday.
High School Wrestling
The boys’ district wrestling meets are scheduled for Saturday, February 14th.
High School Bowling
The girls’ state meet commenced yesterday and the Keokuk girls’ team was looking to defend their Class 2A championship, instead Decorah walked away with the title over Clinton, 3-1.
The Chiefs were sent to the consolation bracket after bowling the 7th best score of the field with 2,467 pins. There, Keokuk would get swept in the first round by Denison-Schleswig before overcoming Newton for 7th place in a 3-1 final.
Over in the Class 1A individual tournament, despite starting as the 5th seed, Olivia Steines of Camanche rolled her way to a narrow victory in the championship match, 193-185.
The Class 2A individual tournament will get underway today with Mt. Pleasant’s Shyann Smith and Keokuk’s Allison Sapp, Jaelynn Ketterer, and Josie Sapp all competing.
The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) released the state qualifying meet assignments for the boys’ teams and Central Lee will host West Burlington, while Fairfield will travel to Monticello in Class 1A.
In Class 2A, Clinton will play host to Burlington, Keokuk, and Mt. Pleasant.
Both meets are scheduled for Monday, February 16th, at 10 am.
Southeastern Community College
The women’s basketball team will travel to Ellsworth Community College tonight at 5:30 pm.
The men’s basketball team will travel to Indian Hills Community College on Saturday, February 14th, at 7 pm.
The men’s and women’s wrestling teams will travel to North Iowa Area Community College for the District Championships on Sunday, February 15th.
College Basketball
The Iowa State women’s team had their five-game win streak snapped last night, losing 83-69 to BYU. Audi Crooks cashed in for 18 points. The Cyclones will tip-off at 1 pm on Sunday, February 15th, at home against Kansas State.
The #15 Iowa women’s team will host Washington tonight at 6:30 pm.
The Iowa men’s team will travel to Maryland tonight at 5 pm.
The #5 Iowa State men’s team suffered their second unranked loss of the season, falling to TCU on the road last night 62-55. In an all-around sloppy game, the Cyclones committed 17 turnovers and shot just 21.7% from three-point land. Joshua Jefferson and Tamin Lipsey tied for the team lead in points with 12 apiece. The Cyclones will look for redemption against #9 Kansas at home on Saturday, February 14th, at noon.
This Day in Sports History
1965 – Braves propose to pay 5 cents from each ticket to bring a new team to Milwaukee.
1974 – First Major League Baseball arbitration case; Minnesota Twins pitcher Dick Woodson seeking $29,000 wins; Twins offered $23,000.
1990 – In a huge upset, James “Buster” Douglas KOs Mike Tyson in the 10th round in Tokyo, Japan to win the world heavyweight boxing title.