High School Boys’ Basketball

The Iowa Basketball Coaches Association released the 2025 All-Substate teams and 11 players from our local teams made the list. 

Starting in Class 1A Substate 4, four members of our local teams earned a spot, including two seniors in Holy Trinity Catholic’s Luke Hellige and Winfield-Mt. Union’s Jake Edwards. Hellige ranked 10th in the state in points per game, averaging nearly 27, while Edwards led the Wolves in points, assists, and steals per game. 

Also making the team was Christian Stacy of WACO and Shay Stephens of Burlington Notre Dame. In his first season with the Warriors, Stacy averaged the 2nd most points in the SEISC-North at 19.3 per game, while grabbing nearly seven rebounds per game. Stephens was the focal point of the District Champion Nikes as he ranked top five in every category for the SEISC-South, scoring 21 points per game.

Over in Class 2A Substate 5, West Burlington ended just one game short of the state tournament but what a ride it has been for the Falcons as they will graduate two talented seniors in Mason Watkins and Quincy Collins, who also made the team. Watkins put up 30 points per game, which ranked 2nd in the state, as he finished his career as the program’s all-time leading scorer and season point total. Collins ranked 2nd on the team in points and rebounds per game.

Additionally, Max Griffin of Mediapolis and Central Lee’s Brayden Wyrick also made the squad. Griffin put up nearly 17 points per contest for the Bulldogs, while Wyrick scored 13.3 points and grabbed 6.7 rebounds per game.

Lastly, in Class 3A Substate 6, Jaxon Clark of Keokuk headlined the list for the Southeast Conference (SEC) as he averaged the 7th best double-double numbers in the state with 22.7 points and 14.4 rebounds per game. Fort Madison’s Julian Dear and Riley Perkins of Fairfield also made the team. Dear’s 7.1 assists per game ranked 5th in Iowa as he also added 12.5 points and two steals per game. Perkins finished 2nd in the SEC in points per game with 15.4, while grabbing five rebounds and 4.2 assists per game for the Trojans.  

High School Track

Fairfield will compete in the Hilltop Co-Ed Invitational today at Cornell College.

Central College will host an indoor meet with the boys’ teams participating on Thursday, March 20th, and the girls’ competing on Friday, March 21st. 

IHSAA News

The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) and Iowa PBS have agreed upon a multi-year contract to produce and broadcast free championship events for football, wrestling, and basketball starting in the 2025-26 season.

The deal was brokered when the IHSAA and Iowa High School Sports Network (IHSSN) terminated their agreement to broadcast the boys’ state tournament events after the IHSSN announced their decision to charge viewers to stream the games. 

The event rights still belong to the IHSAA as Iowa PBS will continue their existing coverage for the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union along with producing special IHSAA programs highlighting stories of student-athletes, their sports, and communities. Iowa PBS will take over production responsibilities on November 20th, 2025, for the football semifinals.

Southeastern Community College                                                     

The softball team will be hosting a spring break camp starting today and running through the 20th for grades 2-5 from 8 am to 10 am and grades 6-12 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm at Fun City Turf at 614 S. Broadway Street if you signed up. Participants should bring their bats, gloves, and sliding gear.

College Basketball

The Iowa State men’s team grabbed the #3-seed for the South Region but they will be without the services of Keshon Gilbert for the rest of the season due to injury. The Cyclones will dance with the #14-seed Lipscomb on Friday, March 21st, at 12:30 pm. 

In the woman’s NCAA national championship tournament, Iowa grabbed the 6th seed and will take on the #11-seed Murray State in Oklahoma on Saturday, March 22nd, at 11 am. This is the seventh consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament for the Hawkeyes. 

The Iowa State women’ s team also continued their streak of consecutive appearances at the tournament at six but they will have to earn their way to the round off 64. The Cyclones will square off against Princeton on Wednesday, March 19th, at 6 pm with the winner advancing to play the #6-seed Michigan. 

March Madness

The KILJ Bracket Challenge is back for the 2025 March Madness men’s bracket with the same rules as last year. A printable bracket was posted to KILJ’s Facebook page. The bracket must be filled out and turned in to sports@kilj.com or our station by the end of the day on March 19th. 

For a full list of rules and prizes, follow this link: KILJ Bracket Challenge

This Day in Sports History

1908 – Canadian champion Tommy Burns knocked out Irish challenger Jem Roche in 1 minute and 28 seconds of the first round at the Theatre Royal in Dublin, setting a record for the quickest world heavyweight boxing title fight at the time.

1955 – After Maurice Richard is suspended for the remainder of the season, riots break out in Montreal. 37 people are injured and over 100 are arrested. The following morning, Richard goes on the radio to ask citizens to stop vandalizing the city.

2022 – Claude Giroux, the Philadelphia Flyers’ longest-serving captain, becomes only the second player in franchise history to play 1,000 games for the team, joining Bobby Clarke.

High School Boys’ Postseason Basketball

The state championship contests for the four classes commenced yesterday as three of the four games were decided by two possessions or less and two teams repeated as champions.

In Class 4A, #3 Valley controlled the game early and never let go of the lead against #4 Waukee Northwest, winning 61-47. Jayden McGregory knocked down 26 points as the Tigers became just the second team in Class 4A history to three-peat. 

The #1-seed for Class 3A Clear Lake attempted another fourth quarter rally, outscoring #6 MOC-Floyd Valley 22 to 8, similar to their epic in the semifinals, but it was not meant to be as the Dutchmen held on to win 58-57. Blake Aalbers captured 15 points in the win.

In Class 2A, #1 Western Christian grabbed their second consecutive state championship after fending off #2 West Lyon in a low-scoring affair 46-42. Landon De Stigter scored 15 points in the win.

#1 Marquette Catholic was thwarted on the doorstep again as #2 Madrid yanked the Class 1A championship away from the Defenders in a 59-57 final. Toryn Severson put together another impressive game with 21 points for the Tigers. 

High School Track

The IATC Indoor Championships concluded yesterday with the girls’ teams competing, here’s some of the highlights for our local teams. 

In Class 1A, Danville dominated the 400-meter dash with two runners placing within the top five, including a gold-medal performance from Alaina Gourley as she raced to a time of 58.5 seconds. Delaney Newberry finished in 5th place. Gourley followed that up with another 1st place finish, this time in the 800-meter run with a time of 2 minutes and 19 seconds. The relay teams put up successful runs as the 800-meter sprint medley team of Violette Sowell, Alivia Bauer, Macie Wagner, and Miya Orbiana took 5th place, the 4×100 meter squad of Newberry, Wagner, Bauer, and Sowell grabbed 8th place, and the 4×400 meter relay team of Orbiana, Newberry, Bauer, and Gourley captured 4th place.

For Class 3A, Mt. Pleasant had a couple top 10 finishers as Alex Scott grabbed 9th place in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.07 seconds. Jenna Schwartz took 9th in the high jump and Izzy Sloat leapt to a 7th place finish in the long jump with a distance of 15 feet and 10.75 inches. Staying in the field events, Ella Ensminger heaved the shot put 37 feet and 11.5 inches for the silver. 

Over in the relays, the team of Sloat, Kiyah Sanders, Kynlee White, and Scott also finished in 2nd place in the 4×100. The 800 meter sprint medley saw Ellie Freeman, Sanders, White, and Scott take 5th place, and the squad of Taylor Williamson, Jayden Yoder, Meadow Carter, and Linzy Streigel finished in 6th place in the shuttle hurdle relay. 

Fairfield will compete in the Hilltop Co-Ed Invitational on Monday, March 17th, at Cornell College.

Central College will host an indoor meet with the boys’ teams participating on Thursday, March 20th, and the girls’ competing on Friday, March 21st. 

High School Girls Basketball

The Iowa Girls Coaches Association will be putting on the Larry Niemeyer All-Star Game today and Lily Coil of Columbus will be playing for the Gray Team in Class 2A. 

Coil led the Wildcats with 15.4 points and 8.6 rebounds per game and added 3.8 steals per game on defense as Columbus claimed their program’s first Southeast Iowa Super Conference North title after finishing the season with an 18-5 record. 

The Class 2A Gray team will play the Class 2A White team at 2:15 pm. 

IHSAA News

The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) and Iowa PBS have agreed upon a multi-year contract to produce and broadcast free championship events for football, wrestling, and basketball starting in the 2025-26 season.

The deal was brokered when the IHSAA and Iowa High School Sports Network (IHSSN) terminated their agreement to broadcast the boys’ state tournament events after the IHSSN announced their decision to charge viewers to stream the games. 

The event rights still belong to the IHSAA as Iowa PBS will continue their existing coverage for the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union along with producing special IHSAA programs highlighting stories of student-athletes, their sports, and communities. Iowa PBS will take over production responsibilities on November 20th, 2025. 

Southeastern Community College                                                     

The softball team will be hosting a spring break camp from March 17th through the 20th for grades 2-5 from 8 am to 10 am and grades 6-12 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm at Fun City Turf at 614 S. Broadway Street. It is $120 per student or $100 for a sibling discount as the participants should bring their bats, gloves, and sliding gear.

There are limited spaces available and a registration form to fill out attached to this article. Instructions on where to mail the form are located on the registration.

Link: Softball Registration

College Basketball

The Iowa State men’s and women’s and Iowa women’s teams will have to wait until tomorrow, March 16th, to see if they will get a spot in the National Championship bracket. 

The Iowa men’s team will have a new head coach for the first time in 15 years after announcing their decision to part ways with Fran McCaffery. He will end his coaching career at Iowa with a program record 297 wins, including a record 143 Big Ten victories as the Hawkeyes finished as the Big Ten champion in 2022. 

March Madness

The KILJ Bracket Challenge is back for the 2025 March Madness men’s bracket with the same rules as last year. A printable bracket will be posted to KILJ’s Facebook page after Selection Sunday tomorrow, March 16th. The bracket must be filled out and turned in to sports@kilj.com or our station by the end of the day on March 19th. 

For a full list of rules and prizes, follow this link: KILJ Bracket Challenge

This Day in Sports History

1869 – With 10 salaried players, the Cincinnati Red Stockings become baseball’s first professional team.

1912 – Legendary pitcher Cy Young retires from baseball with a 511-315 win-loss record.

1962 – Wilt Chamberlain is the first to score 4,000 points in an NBA season.