High School Basketball

The New London girls’ team lost to Van Buren County last night, 58-17, as Megan Lee put up eight points for the Tigers; the boys’ team collected their second consecutive victory, defeating the Warriors 65-50.

New London will travel to Burlington Notre Dame on Friday, January 16th, with the girls’ playing first at 6 pm.

Van Buren County will host Mediapolis on Friday with tip-off at 6 pm for the night.

Burlington Notre Dame split their South showdown with Central Lee last night as the girls’ team fell to the Hawks 65-48, while the #3 Nike boys’ team extended their division lead with a 64-48 final.   

Central Lee will take on Danville on Friday with game one at 6 pm at home. 

Danville and Holy Trinity Catholic each collected lopsided victories last night with the Bears girls’ team clobbering the Crusaders 59-8 and the Holy Trinity Catholic boys’ team trouncing Danville 74-30. Alaina Gourley cashed in for 26 points in the girls’ game, while Layne Rung tabbed 33 points in the boys’ game. 

Holy Trinity Catholic will make the trip to West Burlington on Friday with the night beginning at 6 pm.

Winfield-Mt. Union split the night with Lone Tree with the girls’ team losing a physical contest 57-24 and the boys’ team winning a gritty 44-36 final. Madisen Kellogg scored nine points for the Wolves. 

Winfield-Mt. Union will square off against Hillcrest Academy on Friday with the night starting at 6 pm.

WACO was swept last night by Pekin 58-40 in the girls’ game and 44-35 in the boys’ game. The Warriors will look to regroup tomorrow, January 15th, in a home showdown with Louisa-Muscatine with the night starting at 6 pm.

Wapello traded their contests with Louisa-Muscatine last night with the boys’ team winning 58-47 and the girls’ team dropping their fourth consecutive game, 52-48, despite an outrageous 25 point/23 rebound double-double from Macey Kuntz. 

Wapello will host Lone Tree on Friday with the girls’ playing first at 6 pm.

Columbus split their night against Hillcrest Academy with the girls’ team winning 47-32 and the boys’ team falling 78-42. The Wildcats get back to action on Friday at home with game one at 6 pm.

The #10 Mediapolis girls’ team clipped West Burlington last night 57-20, while the Falcon boys’ team outscored the Bulldogs 14 to 2 in the fourth quarter for a dramatic 44-41 comeback victory. 

Fairfield will take on Pekin at home tomorrow with game one at 6 pm.

Mt. Pleasant will host Burlington on Friday with game one at 6 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 5:45 pm.

High School Wrestling

The Fairfield boys’ team was shutout at a quad in Oskaloosa, falling to the hosts 67-5, Albia 47-36, and Ottumwa 52-30. Dain Burkhart pinned Trey Parks of Oskaloosa in his lone match of the night. Noah Patel collected a pair of victories by fall. The Trojans will travel to Fort Madison tomorrow, January 15th, for a dual.

The Wapello girls’ team competed in the Lisbon quad last night and was swept, losing 48-30 against Lisbon, 42-24 against North Linn, and 42-11 to West Branch. Kenadee Helscher and Clara Ball finished the night undefeated for the Arrows. 

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union and Wapello girls’ teams will compete in the Cascade Tournament tomorrow.

The Van Buren County girls’ team will wrestle at a tournament in Centerville tomorrow.

The New London boys’ team will host a triangular with WACO and Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union in attendance tomorrow.

Mt. Pleasant will duel Washington at home tomorrow.

The Mediapolis boys’ team will hold a triangular tomorrow with Wapello joining the fray. 

The Burlington Notre Dame boys’ team will travel to Pekin for a triangular tomorrow. 

The Van Buren County boys’ team will square off against Highland tomorrow at home. 

The WACO and Mediapolis girls’ teams will compete at the Mid-Prairie Invitational on Friday, January 16th. 

High School Bowling

Fairfield will face off against Davis County at home tomorrow, January 15th.

Mt. Pleasant will take on Burlington at home tomorrow.

Southeastern Community College

The women’s basketball team will travel to Southwestern Community College tonight at 5:30 pm.

The men’s basketball team will host Harry S. Truman College tonight at 7 pm.

The men’s and women’s wrestling teams will dual Iowa Central Community College tomorrow, January 15th, on the road. 

College Basketball

The #19 Iowa State women’s team will play tonight on the road against Colorado at 8 pm.

The #11 Iowa women’s team will host Oregon tomorrow, January 15th, at 8 pm.

The Iowa men’s team will look to regroup on the road against Purdue with tip-off at 5:30 pm tonight.

The #2 Iowa State men’s team was routed by an unranked Kansas squad last night 63-44 to end the bid for a perfect season. The Cyclones shot just 24% from the field in the first half last night, as Joshua Jefferson led the team with 12 points. Iowa State will look to restart the streak in a road showdown against Cincinnati on Saturday, January 17th, at 1 pm. KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130 will be on the call.

This Day in Sports History

1943 – Montreal Canadiens’ left wing Alex Smart becomes the first NHL rookie to score a hat trick in his first NHL game, a 5-1 win at home over the Chicago Blackhawks.

1951 – First NFL Pro Bowl, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: the American Conference beats the National Conference, 28-27; MVP: Otto Graham, Cleveland Browns, QB.

1993 – Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton blocks two shots in a 96-89 win over the Seattle SuperSonics; becomes only the second player in NBA history (along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) to record 3,000 career blocks.

Prep Boys’ Basketball- The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) has released their third edition of the official boys’ basketball rankings this season and while the top teams of each class kept their spot there was a shakeup in all four of the classes.

Class 1A

St. Edmond is still the top team despite picking up their first loss of the season last Friday. It is important to note they fell on the road against Class 3A’s #2 Clear Lake squad, who is currently 7-0 and holding opponents to just 40 points per game.

The biggest surprise of the rankings was Wapsie Valley’s fall from #2 in the rankings to being completely unranked after three straight home losses, including a four-point loss to East Marshall and a one-point loss to Aplington-Parkersburg last Friday. That loss ushers MMCRU to #2 and Burlington Notre Dame to #3 in the rankings.

You’d been hard pressed not to move the Nikes up in the rankings after collecting their 12^th win of the season and keeping their undefeated season alive against formerly #6 now #7 Marquette Catholic last Saturday on a neutral site, 85-71. Notre Dame is beating their opponents by 29 points per game as the offense shoots 51% from the field, while notching 10 steals per game on defense.

Shay Stephens continues his outrageous season as his 27.5 points per game ranks 5^th in the state and 5^th in Class 1A in assists per game.

Bishop Garrigan jumped over Boyden Hull to take over the #4 vacancy after the Comets dropped two of their last three games, including a 70-68 final against a top squad in Class 2A. The new team in the top 10 is St. Albert as the Falcons have won six of their last seven after falling to Underwood and Lewis Central in consecutive contests.

Class 2A

Unity Christian is 9-0 against Iowa teams, which kept them in the top spot of the class, but they will be tested this week with a matchup against #3 Western Christian on Thursday and Class 1A’s #5 Boyden Hull on Friday. Still, five of their nine wins have come by at least 20 points difference.

The talk of the class is last week’s showdown between #2 Treynor and #6 Tri-Center. The Trojans got to host and managed to come back after allowing Treynor to start the game on a 19 to 5 run to win 61-58. AJ Harder splashed five three for 28 points as Treynor’s offense betrayed them in the later stages of the game.

The loss cause Treynor to trickle back to #6 in the rankings and Tri-Center to move up only one spot to #5. Regina Catholic, Western Christian, and Kuemper Catholic all moved up one spot in the rankings to fill up #2, #3, and #4, respectively.

The scariest team of the bunch is Kuemper Catholic. They have dominated most of their opponents when they win and their three losses all are against ranked opponents of higher classes, including a seven-points loss to Clear Lake and a four-point loss against Carroll.

We talked about Grundy Center as a team to look out for and after knocking off Wapsie Valley by 20 points and remaining unbeaten; the Spartans were catapulted to #7 in the rankings after Cherokee Washington fell to Central Lyon, knocking them out of the top 10. Grundy Center’s biggest challenge will be when #8 Denver comes to town on February 3^rd.

Union Community and Cascade rounded out the top ten.

Class 3A

We have talked a decent amount about #2 Clear Lake already and for good reason as the undefeated club has dominated the defensive side of the ball, but #1 Ballard is the true gem of the class nearly midway through January.

The Bombers have defeated #4 ADM by nearly 20 points and a recently ranked #10 Carroll squad 57-41 on the road this past Tuesday. They average 70 points per game and allow a measly 45 points per game. They still have matchups against a formerly ranked Nevada squad this upcoming Saturday and ADM and Carroll again, but this is the team to beat.

Xavier tumbled from #3 in the rankings last week to #7 this week after losing to Cedar Rapids Kennedy 67-60 and Marion 74-60 last week. A loss to two unranked teams is a rough way to go, but they will get a chance to redeem themselves tonight against Class 4A’s #10 Linn-Mar at home.

Nevada was not the only team cut from the top 10 as Knoxville was also ejected after a ranked matchup against Pella went sideways quick and an eight-point loss against Pella Christian started this week.

Oskaloosa, whose 81-79 win over #5 Pella is carrying tremendous weight, took control of the #9 spot in the rankings. This team has been far from perfect, in fact, just 3-2 against teams with a record over 0.500 but they do enough to win. They average 10 steals and just 11.9 turnovers per game. Still, a matchup to keep your eyes on will take place next Monday, January 19^th, in Oskaloosa when Keokuk comes to town with a big presence in Jaxon Clark.

Class 4A

Ironic that the most competitive of the classes had the most consistency amongst the top three spots as Cedar Falls, Waukee Northwest, and Dowling Catholic kept their respective spots, combining for a record of 27-1.

Last week we talked about Muscatine being a tough team and they still are but their resume took a hit when they lost 60-57 to Bettendorf on the road and Pleasant Valley was taken out of the top 10 after losing all three of their contests in the month of January, which was their best win of the season.

So, the Muskies go from #4 in the rankings down to #8 behind #7 Bettendorf after they also defeated Pleasant Valley last week 49-41. Muscatine and Bettendorf will square off again in early February, but the Muskies will have to go undefeated in that span for a spot in the rankings to still be on the table.

#4 Waukee is searching for revenge after falling to Dowling Catholic and Waukee Northwest in consecutive games before winter break. Since then, the Warriors have defeated Class 3A’s #5 Pella along with #9 Urbandale, 77-75, and previously ranked #8 Des Moines Roosevelt, 65-54. The Warriors are winning by an average of 12 points per game and will get rematches against Dowling Catholic and Waukee Northwest.

To round out the top 10, Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln was ejected out of the top 10 after losing to Bellevue West 62-59 and only playing Nebraska schools since December 20^th. Do not be surprised if the Lynx find their way back into the top 10 if they get back to winning.

Linn-Mar snatched that #10 slot as they have ripped off six straight wins after losing their first two games of the year, notably against #7 Bettendorf by 10 points and #1 Cedar Falls by four points. The Friday night matchup between the #10 Lions and #1 Cedar Falls at Cedar Falls High School will be entertaining to say the least.

More Information

For a full list of the rankings, follow this link: 3rd Edition of the IHSAA Rankings