Author: Nathan Bloechl

Xavier 47, Mount Pleasant 37

Joe Bean led a balanced Xavier attack with 12 points as the Saints outscored Mount Pleasant by nine in the second half for a 47-37 opening night win last night at Panther Gymnasium.

Bean canned 2-of-3 treys and finished 4-of-6 from the foul line.

Trysten Vazquez had 11 points and eight boards for Xavier, as well.

The Panthers were led by Dewon Trent, who finished with a game-high 16 points collecting eight rebounds, as well.

Payton Hagans chipped in with nine.

Xavier has beaten Mount Pleasant in 12 consecutive matchups.

0-1, the Panthers will travel to Fort Madison Friday.

Winfield-Mount Union 60, Pekin 39 

Winfield-Mount Union used a 20-9 second quarter run to pull away from Pekin for a 60-39 win last night in Winfield.

The Wolves outscored Pekin 17-8 in the fourth quarter to prevent any late Panther rally.

Winfield moved to 1-0.

Pekin is 0-1.

WACO 58, Holy Trinity 29 

WACO led 32-8 at the end of the first half as the Warriors dominated Holy Trinity for a 58-29 victory last night.

The Warriors were suffocating on the defensive end and got easy looks at the bucket for the majority of the night.

WACO is 1-0, they’ll take on New London on Friday night.

Holy Trinity will travel to Cardinal.

Other area finals:

• Van Buren County 49, Central lee 42
  • First win under new head coach and Mount Pleasant graduate Trey Magnani
• Danville 45, West Burlington 43
• Cardinal 45, Notre Dame 42
• Mediapolis 50, Hillcrest Academy 35
• Wapello 58, Columbus 20

No. 8 (1A) Notre Dame 65, Cardinal 22 

Quincy University recruit Megan Harrell finished with 15 points and eight boards as No. 8 Notre Dame dominated their way to a 65-22 win over Cardinal last night.

Reagan Engberg chipped in with 11 points while Abby Korschgen had eight.

Notre Dame led 20-0 at the end of the first quarter and 35-2 at halftime.

The Nikes are now 3-0.

Winfield-Mount Union 54, Pekin 20

Leading by 19 at the end of one quarter, Mitch Wachs’ Winfield-Mount Union Lady Wolves steamrolled to a 54-20 win over Pekin last night.

Winfield went on a 15-2 run in the third quarter to put the game on proverbial ice.

The Lady Wolves stayed unbeaten, they’re 3-0.

Pekin is now 0-2.

Other area finals last night:

• Mediapolis 71, Hillcrest Academy 14
• Wapello 49, Columbus 23
• Central Lee 64, Van Buren County 24
• West Burlington 77, Danville 67
• Holy Trinity 55, WACO 30

Columbus — The Mount Pleasant wrestling team was swept in their two duals yesterday at Columbus Community.

The Panthers fell to the Wildcats 59-15 while dropping to Cedar Rapids Prairie 63-18.

Bowen Davis earned a fall victory for Mount Pleasant over Columbus, defeating Jonathan Miranda in 1:16.

William Birdsell won via fall for the Panthers in 1:53 against Prairie, as did Gannon McNamee.

Notre Dame finished the dual with a 48-34 win over Prairie. Blaine Frazier earned a fall victory for the Nikes.

Meanwhile, New London lost all three of their home duals.

The Tigers were beaten by Lisbon 62-13, North Mahaska won 47-35, while West Liberty controlled the dual for a 48-29 win.

New London — namely Marcel Lopez — avoided seeing nationally ranked Robert Avila Jr., who transferred before this season from Lisbon to Iowa City West.

Both Marcel and Dominic Lopez were victorious against the top-ranked Lions. Marcel earned a tech fall over Tiernan Boots, while Dominic won by decision over Lincoln Holub.

Cedar Falls — UNI quarterback Theo Day was among five quarterbacks named to the conference’s All-Newcomer Team.

Day is a transfer from Michigan State.

He played in 11 of the 12 games and made his first start in the Panthers’ home opener against St. Thomas, three games into the season.

Day had 155 completions on 276 passing attempts, for a passing percentage of 56.16%. he threw for 2,316 yards, scoring 16 touchdowns.

UNI saw their season come to a close last Saturday in a 19-9 loss to Eastern Washington in the first round of the FCS Playoffs.

Mount Pleasant 43, Ottumwa 29

Mount Pleasant raced out to an early lead and built it to double figures i n the second half as the Panthers easily rolled to a 43-29 win over Ottumwa last night.

Down to a six-girl rotation, Curt Watson saw star juniors Andrea Lopreato and Tristian Shull carry the offensive burden.

The two finished with 18 points apiece while Lopreato had 11 boards and four steals.

Shull canned one three and went 5-of-6 from the foul line.

Elsie Lange added five points and four boards.

Camdyn Crouse paced Ottumwa with eight.

Mount Pleasant, now 1-1, will take on Fort Madison at Mount Pleasant on Friday night.

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

No. 7 (1A) Notre Dame 62, Albia 32 

One day after losing their head coach Jim Myers’ to a seven year battle with cancer, the Notre Dame girls’ rolled to a 62-32 over Albia last night.

Megan Harrell led the Nikes with a game-high 15 points while Gabby Deery added 14.

Notre Dame improved to 2-0.

Columbus 48, New London 42

Emma Nye had 13 points while Natalie Burden chipped in with 12 but it was not enough as Columbus held on for a 48-43 win over New London last night.

The defeat sent New London to 0-3.

Lily Coil had a game high 17 points for the Wildcats, who are now 1-2.

Other finals:

• Louisa-Muscatine 45, Keota 13
• Wilton 60, Wapello 33
• Fort Madison 58, Davis County 43

KILJ — It will be a busy night of boys’ basketball as the season gets underway tonight for most area programs.

Starting in Mount Pleasant, it will be game number one in the second year of Eric Rawson’s tenure as the Panthers welcome in Cedar Rapids Xavier tonight.

The Saints knocked off Mount Pleasant in the opener one year ago.

You can listen to tonight’s game on KILJ-FM and kilj.com beginning with the pre-game show at 7:15 p.m.

Elsewhere in southeast Iowa, WACO will look to follow up a successful football season with one on the hardwood.

The Warriors will start their campaign tonight at Holy Trinity.

Winfield-Mount Union, under the direction of former All-Stater Klay Edwards, will look to start their season with a bang tonight when they host Pekin.

Iowa football recruit Cam Buffington and Abram Edwards will look to take that program to new heights.

(All Super Conference games are 7:30 p.m. tips)

Other area tilts tonight:

• Van Buren County at Central Lee
• West Burlington at Danville
• Hillcrest Academy at Mediapolis
• Cardinal at Notre Dame
• Columbus at Wapello
• Oskaloosa at Fairfield
• Burlington at Iowa City High
• Keokuk at Iowa City Liberty

KILJ — Anthony Blint’s Mount Pleasant Panther wrestling team will start their season on the road tonight partaking in a quadrangular tonight at Columbus Community.

The Panthers, who did not have a state qualifier last year, are looking to snap that drought and will aim to start their quest tonight.

Joining them in Columbus will be Prairie, Notre Dame and of course, the host Columbus Community-Winfield-Mount Union.

Tonight’s bout will begin at 6:00 p.m.

Other bouts tonight:

• Three time defending state champion Marcel Lopez and the New London wrestlers will host a quad tonight. The Tigers will welcome in perennial power Lisbon, as well as North Mahaska and West Liberty. They’ll start the scrap at 5:00 p.m.