High School Basketball
The Central Lee boys’ team will hit the road to take on Davis County tonight at 7:30 pm.
The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will travel to Fairfield tomorrow, February 13th, with tip-off at 7:30 pm. Panthers head coach Eric Rawson talked about his team’s approach as the postseason looms,
“Yeah, I mean, we’re just gonna have to have some guys that step up. And again, don’t try to do too much and overcompensate. Gotta play within your abilities and trust each other and lean on each other. I think we do a really good job of that. Again, we’ll get through this little bump in the road. Life’s all about adversity and how you’re gonna handle it. And those guys are gonna meet it head on and we’ll certainly take on the challenge.”
Girls’ Regional Basketball
The regional brackets for Class 1A are set to start tonight 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, #8 Mediapolis will get another swing at Central Lee at home.
Girls High School Rankings
The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) released their 10th and final rankings for Classes 1A, 2A, and 3A and no teams were dropped from the top 15 in all five classes.
In Class 3A, Mediapolis vaulted up one spot to #8 as the Bulldogs finished the regular season with a perfect 21-0 record. Mediapolis ranks top five in the entire state in point difference (2nd), assists per game (2nd), steals per game (4th), and three pointers made per game (1st). Mediapolis will be looking to book their first trip to the state tournament since 2015.
Boys’ District Basketball
The Class 1A district bracket is scheduled to start tomorrow, 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 tomorrow 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.
In Class 1A, New London and WACO will make the trip to Lisbon, while Van Buren County, Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, and Wapello will travel to Sigourney.
For Class 2A, Fairfield and Fort Madison will wrestle at Centerville. Burlington Notre Dame, Mediapolis, Keokuk, and Washington will compete at Williamsburg. Lastly, Mt. Pleasant will journey up to Central DeWitt.
Only the top-two place winners from each weight class will advance to the state tournament.
High School Bowling
The Class 2A individual state tournament commenced yesterday and the top eight scores from the preliminary round moved on to the finals and Keokuk’s Jaelynn Ketterer snuck it at the #8 spot with 658 pins and bowled her way to a 4th place finish through bracket play. Emily Whitehead of Clinton won the Class 2A individual title.
Josie Sapp and Allison Sapp of Keokuk finished in 15th and 17th place, respectively, while Mt. Pleasant’s Shyann Smith claimed 31st place with 499 total pins.
For the Class 3A team championship, Des Moines Lincoln earned the banner with a 3-1 victory over Ottumwa.
The girls’ state bowling meet will wrap up today with the Class 1A team tournament and the Class 3A individual tournament.
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 fell to Ellsworth Community College last night, 75-51. The Blackhawks will look to bounce back on Saturday, February 14th, against Iowa Lakes Community College at 1 pm at home.
The men’s basketball team will travel to Indian Hills Community College on Saturday 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 will tip-off at 1 pm on Sunday, February 15th, at home against Kansas State.
The #15 Iowa women’s team rallied past Washington last night, 65-56. Chit-Chat Wright led the team with 21 points, as Hannah Stuelke tabbed a 14 point/16 rebound double-double. The Hawkeyes will make the trip to Nebraska on Monday, February 16th, at 11 am.
The Iowa men’s team fell to Maryland last night, 77-70, to snap a six-game winning streak. Bennett Stirtz was a one-man wrecking crew, scoring 32 points and dishing out six assists. The Hawkeyes will be tasked with hosting #13 Purdue on Saturday, February 14th, at 4 pm.
The #5 Iowa State men’s team will look for redemption against #9 Kansas at home on Saturday at noon.
This Day in Sports History
1878 – Frederick W. Thayer patented the baseball catcher’s mask.
1937 – The Cleveland (now Los Angeles) Rams is granted an NFL franchise.
1982 – Wayne Gretzky scores hist 153rd point of the season, breaking a then-NHL record. Gretzky holds the record with 215 points.