Iowa City — Iowa got 30 points and 10 boards from Monika Czinano has the Hawkeyes claimed the Big Ten Women’s basketball tournament championship with a 74-67 win over Indiana.
Caitlin Clark added 18 points and seven boards for the Hawks, while Kate Martin chipped in with 14 points, eight assists and four rebounds.
Iowa is now 23-7 on the year and earned an automatic qualification to the NCAA Women’s Basketball tournament.
Most bracket experts have Iowa pegged as a three-seed on Monday.
St. Louis — Loyola held off Drake, 64-58, to win the championship game of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament yesterday.
Guard Roman Penn led Drake with 18 points, including 12 in the second half, while dishing out four assists. Freshman Tucker DeVries added 15 points, while setting a career high with five blocked shots. DeVries moved into No. 7 on the MVC freshman single season scoring list with 474 points
DeVries and Penn were selected to the MVC All-Tournament team.
The Bulldogs, who had a season-best seven-game winning streak snapped, slipped to 24-10 and will now await their postseason fate.
Prep Basketball: State Basketball Opens Today
The IHSAA boys’ state basketball tournament begins today at Wells Fargo Arena with action kicking off in Class 1A.
The tournament will begin with Super Conference power and fifth-seed Danville hooking up with Lake Mills, who enters the tournament 24-1.
The Bulldogs cruised through the tournament rail with easy wins over West Bend-Mallard, West Hancock and Dunkerton after being tested by Graettinger-Terrill.
They’re paced by their outstanding senior tandem of Wyatt Helming and Bennett Berger
Helming scores 18.3 points per game, while Berger adds 14.4.
Both men shoot better than 33% from three and will be a tough cover for Danville’s wings.
They key to Danville has been the play of their senior forward Sawyer Nelson.
The big man is coming off a 20 point, 20 rebound effort in Danville’s three overtime substate final triumph over WACO.
Drake Johnson still leads the team with 13.5 points per game, while Caiden Gourley checks in just underneath that.
Today’s game will tip at 10:30 a.m. from Wells Fargo Arena.
Coverage will begin at 10:10 a.m. on FM 105.5 and kilj.com.
Nathan Bloechl and Kent Bennett will have the call.
Other action today will include:
Girls’ Basketball: Garrigan Closes Season with Win
The girls’ basketball season came to a close on Saturday with three state finals being played.
Algona Garrigan, who defeated Notre Dame in the quarterfinals last week went on to win the 1A State Championship after a 52-49 win over Marcus-Meridan-Cleghorn-Remsen-Union.
Other state finals played Saturday:
College Wrestling: Iowa Advances 10 to NCAA Nationals
Ten Hawkeyes earned automatic berths to the NCAA Championships in Detroit on March 17-19 following this weekend’s Big Ten Tournament.
It marks the first time since 2010 Iowa earned 10 automatic berths to the national tournament.
The Big Ten Conference tournament is one of seven NCAA qualifying tournaments across the country.
The NCAA will announce the NCAA at-large qualifiers Tuesday. NCAA tournament brackets will be released Wednesday.
Among those qualifiers was Alex Marinelli who is now the eighth four-time conference champion in program history and the first since Mark Ironside in 1998.
Drake Ayala, a freshman from Fort Dodge, is just the fourth true freshman to earn a spot in the NCAA Championships.
He’s the first since 2020 and Abe Assad.
Women’s College Basketball: Iowa Claims Big Ten Championship
Iowa got 30 points and 10 boards from Monika Czinano has the Hawkeyes claimed the Big Ten Women’s basketball tournament championship with a 74-67 win over Indiana.
Caitlin Clark added 18 points and seven boards for the Hawks, while Kate Martin chipped in with 14 points, eight assists and four rebounds.
Iowa is now 23-7 on the year and earned an automatic qualification to the NCAA Women’s Basketball tournament.
Most bracket experts have Iowa pegged as a three-seed on Monday.
Men’s College Basketball: Drake Falls in MVC Champ
Loyola held off Drake, 64-58, to win the championship game of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament yesterday.
Guard Roman Penn led Drake with 18 points, including 12 in the second half, while dishing out four assists. Freshman Tucker DeVries added 15 points, while setting a career high with five blocked shots. DeVries moved into No. 7 on the MVC freshman single season scoring list with 474 points
DeVries and Penn were selected to the MVC All-Tournament team.
The Bulldogs, who had a season-best seven-game winning streak snapped, slipped to 24-10 and will now await their postseason fate.
Women’s College Basketball: Iowa Advances to Big Ten Semis
The No. 2 seeded Iowa women’s basketball shot 57.7 percent from the field in the second half, coming away with a 72-59 win over No. 7 seed Northwestern, advancing to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
Monika Czinano paced the Hawkeyes with 21 points while Caitlin Clark finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Clark registered her 14th season and 24th career double-double with her terrific effort.
Iowa will now play sixth-seeded Nebraska Saturday inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Tip is set for 5:00 p.m.
Men’s College Basketball: UNI Rolls in MVC Opener
UNI men’s basketball opened up the 2022 edition of Arch Madness with a hot shooting afternoon as the top-seeded Panthers defeated the 8th-seeded Illinois State Redbirds on Friday, 78-65 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
The Panthers improved to 19-10 on the year and advanced to the MVC semis for the first time since 2019.
A.J Green led led the afternoon with a team-high 17 points with 6 rebounds and a game-high 7 assists, as Noah Carter posted 16 points with 5 boards.
UNI will battle fourth-seeded Loyola-Chicago today, with tip scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
Men’s College Basketball: Drake Uses Second Half Flurry to Sink Salukis
ShanQuan Hemphill, Tucker DeVries and Roman Penn combined for 32 of Drake’s 37 points in the second half to power the Bulldogs to a 65-52 victory past Southern Illinois in the quarterfinal round of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Enterprise Center Friday night.
The Bulldogs, winning a season best sixth straight game, improved to 23-9, marking the second straight season the program has won 23 games and fifth time in school history.
The Bulldogs will now meet No. 2 seeded Missouri State in the semifinal round with a 5 p.m. tip-off.
Drake advanced to the semifinal round of the MVC Tournament for the 10th time in program history, including the fourth straight year under coach Darian DeVries.
Prep Girls Basketball: Two State Champs Crowned
Two state champs were crowned, while the rest of the tournament was finalized following Friday’s tilts.
Here’s a look at the full scoreboard:
Class 1A Semis
Marcus-Meridan-Cleghorn-Remsen-Union 66, Newell-Fonda 62
Algona Garrigan 74, North Linn 57
Class 2A Semifinals
Dike-New Hartford 67, Panorama 23
Central Lyon 53, Denver 35
Class 3A State Finals
ELC 42, Ballard 30
Class 5A State Finals
Johnston 51, Waterloo West 31
Women’s College Basketball: Wesleyan Earns No. 15 Seed in Naismith Region
The Iowa Wesleyan women’s basketball team has earned the No. 15 seed in the upcoming NAIA National Tournament.
The Tigers will play in the Naismith Region against second-seeded Morningside, with the two teams doing battle in Sioux City.
Iowa Wesleyan, 18-5 on the year, completed a magical about-face in year one under legendary head coach Steve Williamson.
Coming off a two-win season, Williamson and his crew of just seven managed to win the CAC regular season and conference tournament, clinching their spot in the field of 64.
The Tigers have been led all season by the terrific play of Kyla Moore and Brittany West.
Moore was named the CAC Player of the Year, while West was decorated with Newcomer of the Year honors.
Both are averaging 17-plus points per game and will need to be at their best to pull off an upset of the second-seeded Mustangs.
This is the Tigers first NAIA Tournament berth since 2011 and their sixth all-time in school history.
Prep Girls’ Basketball: Three State Finals Set
Three state finals are set for this weekend at Wells Fargo Arena as Classes 3, 4 and 5A played their semifinals yesterday.
Here’s a full look at the scoreboard:
Class 3A
Estherville Lincoln Central 57, Unity Christian 44
Ballard 56, West Lyon 51
Class 4A
Bishop Heelan 68. Glenwood 51
Cedar Rapids Xavier 55, Dallas Center-Grimes 50 F/3OT
Class 5A
Johnston 64, Pleasant Valley 44
Waterloo West 58, West Des Moines Valley 48
Men’s College Basketball: Jacobson Earns MVC Coach of the Year
UNI head men’s basketball coach Ben Jacobson has been named the Missouri Valley Conference’s (MVC) Coach of the Year, as announced by the league office on Thursday.
In his 16th season at the helm of the UNI program, Jacobson becomes the first coach in MVC history to earn Coach of the Year honors five times (2009, 2010, 2015, 2020), breaking a tie with Maury John of Drake.
Under Jacobson, the Panthers claimed the program’s fourth regular season championship and third outright in school history this season.
All four regular season titles in UNI history have come under Jacobson’s leadership.
UNI enters the 2022 MVC Tournament as the top-seeded team in the field, seeking a fifth conference tournament championship in the Jacobson era (2009, 2010, 2015, 2016).
The MVC Tournament begins today in St. Louis.
Prep Sports: Iowa Law Now Bans Trans Athletes from Girls’, Women’s Sports
A bill banning transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports in Iowa schools, colleges and universities is now law.
The bill passed the Senate yesterday. Governor Kim Reynolds signed it into law Thursday, surrounded by a large crowd of girls, parents and lawmakers.
Reynolds began publicly advocating for this policy last April. Now that the law is in effect, athletes who identify as girls or women, but were identified on their birth certificate as male may be kicked off teams as soon as today.
Iowa is now the 10th state to have adopted similar laws and lawsuits have been filed in four of them to try to block the policies.
Des Moines — Algona Garrigan used a 20-7 first half run to lead 38-20 and then never looked back as the second-seeded Golden Bears rolled to a 77-42 win over Notre Dame yesterday in a Class 1A State Quarterfinal.
Garrigan junior Audi Crooks, arguably the state’s most sought after recruit, finished with a game-high 32 points and seven rebounds, while hitting 15-of-18 shots.
She scored 21 in the second half — including 14 of the Golden Bears’ 17 third quarter points — helping put away any late heroics by the Nikes.
Running mate Molly Joyce chipped in with 25 points, six assists, five rebounds and seven steals.
Abby Korschgen led Notre Dame with 11 points and five rebounds.
Megan Harrell had 10 points and five rebounds, while sophomore Lauren Krieger scored eight for the Nikes, who won the state title in 2014 and made it back to the tournament for the first time since 2017.
Bishop Garrigan has now won 20 straight to improve to 23-3. They’ll play sixth-seeded North Linn who took down Springville 58-56 last night.
That game will be played Friday afternoon at 3:15 p.m.
Here’s the full scoreboard from Day 3 of the Iowa Girls’ State Basketball Tournament
Class 2A Quarterfinals
Denver 58, Underwood 51
Central Lyon 42, Cascade 40
Class 1A Quarterfinals
Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn 50, Exira-EHK 39
Newell-Fonda 77, North Mahaska 44
North Linn 58, Springville 56
Iowa Wesleyan University junior Kyla Moore is the first-time recipient of two awards for her outstanding play during the Continental Athletic Conference’s inaugural 2021-22 season. The league’s all-conference team and signature award winners were announced on Wednesday.
Moore was named the CAC Player of the Year while sharing Defensive Player of the Year honors with Crowley’s Ridge College (AR.) Madison Sellars.
Iowa Wesleyan’s Brittany West earned the Newcomer of the Year award and Iowa Wesleyan’s Steve Williamson was named Coach of the Year.
Moore led the Tigers by scoring 17.8 points per game during the regular season.
West averaged 17 points and six rebounds per contest in her first season in Mount Pleasant.
Williamson, in his first year back roaming the Ruble Arena sidelines, guided the Tigers to a 19-5 season and CAC championship in the program’s first season back at the NAIA level and first season as a league member.
Iowa Wesleyan will be a hosting a selection show watch party tonight at 6:00 p.m.
All are welcome to attend.
