Author: Nathan Bloechl

Prep Wrestling: Panthers Travel to Fairfield; Other Area Scraps:

The Mount Pleasant wrestling team will be back on the mat tonight when they travel to Fairfield for a Southeast Conference dual.

The Panthers are looking to get back in the win column as we head towards postseason wrestling time.

Tonight’s dual will begin at Fairfield High School at 6:30 p.m.

JV will also wrestle tonight, as well.

Other scraps in the Southeast Conference:

• Burlington at Washington
• Fort Madison at Keokuk

Prep Wrestling: New London, Notre Dame Host Home Triangulars:

The New London and Notre Dame wrestling teams are hosting triangulars, headline what should be a great night of Super Conference wrestling.

New London, who has had one of the most difficult schedules in the state this season, will welcome in Highland and WACO.

Notre Dame, the No. 2 ranked team in Class 2A, will host Cardinal and Pekin.

Both of those bouts will begin at 6:00 p.m. tonight.

Columbus Community/Winfield-Mount Union will also host a home triangular this evening.

The Wildcats will bring in Quinten Aney and the Mediapolis Bulldogs, as well as Van Buren County.

They too will begin at 6:00 p.m.

College Basketball: Iowa, UNI and Drake All Beaten:

Rutgers 48, Iowa 46 

Iowa’s Keegan Murray had a chance to win it at the horn, but his three point attempt missed as Iowa lost a 48-46 slog to Rutgers last night in Piscataway.

Murray led the Hawkeyes with 13 points and 13 boards.

Patrick McCaffery had 11 points for the Hawkeyes, as well.

Iowa is now 13-5 and 3-4 in Big Ten play.

Valpo 83, UNI 80 (F/OT)

UNI saw their five-game winning streak come to a close last night with an 83-80 defeat by Valparaiso in overtime.

Noah Carter paced the Panthers with 33 points, 10 rebounds and five dimes.

Bowen Born had 11 for UNI.

UNI is now 9-8 and 5-2 in Missouri Valley action.

Bradley 83, Drake 71

Drake dropped just their second league game in an 83-71 loss to Bradley last night.

Tucker DeVries finished with 17 points for the Bulldogs while Garrett Sturtz added 15.

Roman Penn had 14 points and three assists .

Drake fell to 13-6 overall and 4-2 in the conference.

College Baseball: Texas Preseason No. 1:

In College Baseball, Texas checks in as the preseason No. 1 team in the country in the latest D1Baseball.com poll.

The Longhorns finished last year 50-17.

Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and Ole Miss round out the top-five.

Iowa is unranked.

The Hawkeyes open the season next month at the Swig and Swine Classic in Charleston, South Carolina.

They’ll get matchups there with Air Force, Ball State and Bucknell.

 

Boys’ Prep Basketball: New London Survives; Mount Pleasant Falls:

No. 9 (AP, 1A) New London 67, Cardinal 55

Kade Benjamin scored 20 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out four assists guiding New London to a 67-55 win over Cardinal last night.

Blaise Porter added 17 points and five dimes, while Kooper Schulte chipped in with 12 points and nine rebounds.

New London stayed unbeaten at 10-0.

Cardinal is now 8-5.

Oskaloosa 45, Mount Pleasant 43

Dewon Trent had 15 points to pace Mount Pleasant but it was not enough, as the Panthers were upended 45-43 by Oskaloosa last night in a nonconference scrap.

Mount Pleasant clawed within one at halftime on a buzzer-beating three ball by Aiden Ashton, but could not get over the hump in the second half.

Ashton finished with 11 points for the Panthers.

Owen Vansickel had eight.

The 4-8 Panthers will host No. 4 Washington Friday night.

You can listen to that matchup on FM 105.5 and kilj.com.

Winfield-Mount Union 74, Lone Tree 39 

A season-high 31 points from Cam Buffington led Winfield-Mount Union to an easy 74-39 win over Lone Tree last night.

Buffington, an Iowa football recruit, narrowly missed his career-high of 34 points.

He’s still just a sophomore.

He also hauled in 15 rebounds.

The Wolves are now 13-1.

Lone Tree slipped to 3-10.

Danville 68, Central Lee 33

Caiden Gourley went off for 27 points as Danville won  both legs of their back-to-back, dispatching Central Lee 68-33 yesterday.

Big man Sawyer Nelson finished with 14 for the Bears, who improved to 11-1.

They are receiving votes in the latest Associated Press Top 10 Class 1A poll.

Corbin Pohren paced Central Lee with 10 points.

Central Lee is now 0-13.

Other area finals:

• Hillcrest Academy 51, Louisa-Muscatine 25
• Pekin 45, Wapello 43
• Holy Trinity 62, Van Buren County 52
• Burlington 77, Muscatine 66
• West Burlington 59, Notre Dame 53

Girls’ Prep Basketball: Mediapolis Stays Unbeaten, Winfield Rolls:

No. 11 Mediapolis 69, Highland 37 

Hallie Mohr punished Highland for 27 points and 17 rebounds as the Bullettes walloped the Huskies for a 69-37 win.

Jaydon Wirt chipped in with eight points.

Sarah Burton paced Highland with 12 points.

Mediapolis is now 14-0 on the year.

Highland fell to 6-9.

Winfield-Mount Union 65, Lone Tree 21

All Mitch Wachs does is win, it appears.

His Winfield-Mount Union Lady Wolves improved to 14-2 on the year, rolling to a 65-21 win over Lone Tree last night.

Bradie Buffington paced the Lady Wolves with 20 points. Keetyn Townsley had 13 while Keely Malone poured in 10.

Winfield-Mount Union will get a clash of the titans matchup on Friday night when they host No. 11 (2A) Mediapolis.

Lone Tree is now 5-10.

No. 7 (1A) Notre Dame 62, West Burlington 49

An extended 32-24 second half run guided the seventh-ranked Notre Dame to a 62-49 win over West Burlington.

Lauren Krieger led the Nikes with 13 points, while Gabby Deery finished with 12.

Quincy University recruit Megan Harrell had 11.

Kenna Marlow had 17 to led all scorers for West Burlington.

Notre Dame stayed perfect through 13 games.

West Burlington is now 10-4.

Other area finals:

• Central lee 49, Danville 45
• Van Buren County 39, Holy Trinity 36
• Pekin 43, Wapello 23

Men’s College Basketball: Iowa State’s Kalscheur Named Newcomer of the Week:

Iowa State guard Gabe Kalscheur has been named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week after hitting six 3-pointers to lead the Cyclones to a 79-70 win over Texas on Saturday.

It is Kalscheur’s third honor of the season.

Kalscheur averaged 18.0 points and was 10-for-21 behind the arc last week as the Cyclones split a pair of games against nationally-ranked opponents.

The Minnesota Golden Gopher transfer finished with seven points and one rebound in 32 minutes in Iowa State’s 72-60 road loss to Texas Tech last night.

Women’s College Basketball: Iowa-Indiana Postponed:

The University of Iowa women’s basketball game against Indiana on Sunday, Jan. 23 inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena has been postponed due to COVID-19 protocols within the Indiana program.

Both programs will actively work with the Big Ten Conference to find a rescheduled date to play the game.

The Hawkeyes still plan to head to Minneapolis tomorrow to take on the Gophers inside Williams Arena.

Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m.

Girls’ Prep Basketball: Mount Pleasant Rallies for Win

Mount Pleasant 67, Danville 54

Andrea Lopreato paced Mount Pleasant with 23 points as the Panthers rallied for a 67-54 win over Danville last night, in a nonconference scrap.

The Panthers, trailing by two at halftime, took a three-point lead into the fourth quarter then closed the game on a 16-6 run.

Cassidy Yaley led Danville with 11 points, while Ava Smith and Kenna Furnald each added nine.

The win moved Mount Pleasant to 6-8, Danville dropped to 5-8.

They’ll get Washington on Friday night.

Winfield-Mount Union 51, Highland 36

A balanced scoring attack led Winfield-Mount Union past Highland yesterday, 51-36.

Keetyn Townsley led three Wolves in double figures with 14 points.

Bradie Buffington scored 12 points while Jobey Malone added 11.

Sarah Burton led Highland with 11.

The Lady Wolves are now 13-2.

Highland slipped to 6-8.

Central Lee 55, West Burlington 54 

Central Lee overcame a 10-point fourth quarter deficit rallying to beat West Burlington 55-54 last night in a thrilling Super Conference scrap.

Central Lee went on a 22-11 run to earn the win — led by Makayla Morrison’s 20 points and five rebounds.

Macy Watkins finished with 16 for the Hawks, as well.

Abbey Bence led all scorers with 25 for West Burlington.

McKenna Marlow added 19.

West Burlington fell to 10-3.

Central Lee is now 9-4.

Prep Boys’ Basketball: Winfield Rolls to Another Win:

Winfield-Mount Union 56, Highland 29 

Cam Buffington recorded yet another double-double, finishing with 16 points and 13 rebounds, while Abram Edwards had 14 points and 12 boards as Winfield-Mount Union rolled to another easy win, 56-29 over Highland.

The Wolves are now 12-1.

A 15-3 third quarter run put things out of reach for the Huskies, who had no answers for both of the Wolves’ superstar sophomores.

Highland fell to 1-10.

Winfield will finish off the second leg of their back-to-back tonight when they take on Lone Tree.

Danville 43, WACO 38 

WACO led by three at halftime, but Danville’s second half rally was enough to propel the Bears to a 43-38 win over the Warriors last night.

Danville closed the game on an extended 18-10 run to earn the hard-fought victory.

Drake Johnson led Danville with 12 points while Caiden Gourley added 10.

Reece Oswald led all scorers with 15 for WACO.

The Warriors are now 10-3.

Danville upped their ledger to 10-1.

Other area finals:

• No. 4 Washington 65, Keokuk 49
• Davenport Assumption 56, Burlington 46

Boys’ Basketball: Latest AP Top 10 Rankings Release: 

The latest Associated Press Top 10 rankings have been released, announced yesterday.

Class 1A

1. Grand View Christian
2. Remsen St. Mary’s
3. North Linn
4. A-H-S-TW
5. Lake Mills
6. Gladbrook-Reinbeck
7. Martensdale-St. Mary’s
8. New London 
9. Easton Valley
10. Mason City Newman

Danville and WACO are both receiving votes in this week’s 1A poll.

Class 2A

1. Central Lyon
2. Van Meter
3. Aplington-Parkersburg
4. Monticello
5. Western Christian
6. Mid-Prairie
7. Boyden-Hull
8. Camanche
9. South Central Calhoun
10. Williamsburg

Class 3A 

1. Fort Madison
2. Harlan
3. Humboldt
4. Washington 
5. Pella
6. Dallas Center-Grimes
7. Clear Creek-Amana
8. Spencer
9. Decorah
10. Central DeWitt

Class 4A

1. Ames
2. Pleasant Valley
3. Waukee Northwest
4. Cedar Rapids Prairie
5. Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln
6. Cedar Rapids Kennedy
7. Cedar Falls
8. Ankeny
9. Johnston
10. Sioux City East

College Basketball: Second-Ranked Statesmen Cruise Past Iowa Wesleyan:

Second-ranked William Penn jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as the Statesmen rolled to a 111-69 win over the Tigers last night.

Former New London prep Alex Dentlinger led the Tigers with 13 points and four rebounds despite the loss.

Kolby Williams chipped in with 11.

Now 7-13, the Tigers will take on Haskell Indian Nations University on Friday, January 21st in their first game of the CAC Classic hosted at Ruble Arena.

The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

Women’s College Basketball: Clark Takes Homes Third Straight B1G POW Honor:

University of Iowa sophomore Caitlin Clark was named Big Ten Player of the week, the conference announced Monday.

This is her third-consecutive Big Ten Player of the Week honor and fourth this season.

The West Des Moines, Iowa, native averaged 27.5 points, 9.5 assists, nine rebounds and shot 92.9 percent from the free-throw line in the Hawkeyes’ wins over Purdue and Nebraska.

Clark and the Hawkeyes head to Minneapolis on Thursday to take on the Golden Gophers.

Tip is set for 7:00 p.m.