High School Boys’ Postseason Basketball
In the Class 1A Substate 4 championship game, #10 Burlington Notre Dame rallied and led for most of the night, but #8 North Linn snuck out with the victory after a late surge at the free throw line sunk the Nikes, 56-52. Shay Stephens knocked down 15 points followed by 13 points for Jack Drew. Nike head coach Dan Kies talked about his two seniors, Colby Booton and Drew, after the game,
“Both are great kids, great teammates, great kids to coach. I mean never an issue come up; they both work hard, you know, Colby, he’s just a hard-working athlete and ready to battle whenever he’s in whatever he’s doing, and Jack is just a basketball junkie that loves the game. You know, we’ll miss them as people really.”
Notre Dame finished the year with a 19-5 record. Joining North Linn in the Class 1A state tournament set to start on March 10th will be Boyden-Hull, St. Edmond, Marquette Catholic, Gladbrook-Reinbeck, Madrid, Woodbine, and Remsen St. Mary’s.
For the Class 2A Substate 5 championship game, #10 West Burlington battled back from being down 20 to 4 at the end of the first quarter but simply ran out of steam as #5 Grand View Christian exited with the win 74-57. Mason Watkins ended his incredible career with one more 30-point performance as the Falcons ended the season with a 21-3 record.
Also punching their ticket to the Class 2A state tournament were Unity Christian, West Lyon, Jesup, Grundy Center, Union Community, Treynor, and Western Christian.
In Class 3A Substate 6, Keokuk will travel to #3 Knoxville tonight at 7 pm for the Substate Championship.
High School Girls’ Postseason Basketball
Class 5A will tip-off the state tournament today with #1 Johnston facing off against #8 Iowa City Liberty at 10 am. Other Class 5A matchups include: #4 Ankeny Centennial will take on #5 Pleasant Valley, #2 Dowling Catholic will compete against #7 Davenport North, and #3 Waukee Northwest will tangle with #6 Prairie.
Also starting their tournament run today will be Class 3A with #1 Mt. Vernon going against #8 West Marshall. #4 Cherokee Washington will look to defeat #5 Estherville Lincoln Central, #7 Spirit Lake will look to knock off #2 Wahlert Catholic, and #3 Williamsburg will face off against #6 Des Moines Christian.
Class 2A will start tomorrow, March 4th, along with Class 4A, while Class 1A will compete on Wednesday, March 5th. The Class 2A matchups include #1 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, looking to cap out a perfect season, facing off against #8 Treynor. #4 North Mahaska will verse #5 Central Lyon. #2 Regina Catholic returns to the state tournament to compete against #7 Maquoketa Valley, while #3 Hinton will take on #6 Rock Valley.
For Class 4A, #1 Bishop Heelan will face off against #8 Xavier with the winner competing against either #4 Norwalk or #5 Central DeWitt. On the bottom half of the bracket, #2 North Polk will tangle with #7 Sioux Center and #3 Maquoketa will take on #6 Dallas Center-Grimes.
Lastly, in Class 1A, #1 Saint Albert will lead off the day against #8 Dunkerton, followed by #4 Bishop Garrigan versus #5 Montezuma, #2 North Linn taking on #7 Gladbrook-Reinbeck, and #3 Newell-Fonda attempting to avoid the upset against #6 Springville.
Southeast Iowa Playbook
Tune in to KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, on Wednesday night at 6 pm for a new episode of the Southeast Iowa Playbook featuring the trio of state wrestlers from WACO in Ian Maize, Gage Samo, and Louden Huisnega as they discuss what led up to the tournament and the emotions that came with competing in Des Moines.
IHSAA Football Classifications
The Iowa High School Athletic Association released the preliminary breakdown of the two-year classification cycle based on the Basic Educational Data Survey along with a formula for free and reduced lunch percentages and here’s how our local teams were affected.
Mt. Pleasant will be the largest team in Class 3A as they were joined by Keokuk, Fort Madison, Fairfield, and Washington. West Burlington/Notre Dame is the largest school in Class 2A, sneaking in by only six points. Mediapolis also stayed in Class 2A.
Class A kept Danville, Wapello, Van Buren County, and Columbus but they also added New London to the mix as one of the smallest schools of the class. WACO and Winfield-Mt. Union kept their status in 8-Player.
For a full look at the numbers, follow this link: IHSAA Classifications
Southeastern Community College
The men’s basketball team slipped past Moberly Area Community College over the weekend, winning 57-55. The Blackhawks will host Marshalltown Community College on Wednesday, March 5th, at 7 pm.
College Basketball
The #9 Iowa State men’s team got back in the win column with a one-sided victory over #22 Arizona this past weekend 84-67. Milan Momcilovic led the scoring effort with 17 points. The Cyclones will compete against BYU at home tomorrow, March 4th, at 8 pm.
The Iowa men’s team sits in 15th place in the Big Ten with two conference games left on the schedule as they look to upset #8 Michigan State on Thursday, March 6th, at 7 pm at home for their senior night.
The Iowa women’s team outpaced Wisconsin yesterday 81-66 to finish out the regular season with a win. Hannah Stuelke was a force in the contest, collecting 21 points and gathering 15 rebounds for a double-double. The Hawkeyes will get a rematch with Wisconsin on Wednesday, March 5th, at 7:30 pm for their opening matchup of the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis.
The Iowa State women’s team capped off their regular season with a dominating upset of #14 Kansas State 85-63. Audi Crook was unstoppable, picking up a 36 point/10 rebound double-double in the winning effort. The Cyclones will be gearing up for the Big 12 tournament as they received a bye into the second round, scheduled for Thursday.
This Day in Sports History
1920 – The Montreal Canadiens scored an NHL record 16 goals, beating the Quebec Bulldogs 16-3.
1983 – Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw is admitted to the hospital for surgery to repair his throwing arm under the alias ‘Tom Brady.’
2024 – Iowa’s Caitlin Clark became the NCAA Division I all-time career scoring leader, surpassing Pete Maravich’s career total of 3,667 points as she went on to finish the night with 35 points in a win over Ohio State.
For the second consecutive year, InMotion has proven they are a force to be reckoned with, securing the title of Grand Champions at the Central Connections Show Choir Competition. But that’s not all—this powerhouse group is bringing home a collection of awards, further cementing their dominance on the stage.
On March 1, 2025, at approximately 4:58 P.M., Burlington Police responded to 300 Angular, Apt. 27, for a report of an unresponsive male. Officers found the victim with a single stab wound and transported him to Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.