High School Basketball
West Burlington celebrated senior night in style last night, picking up a pair of wins over Mt. Pleasant. In the girls’ game, Mt. Pleasant shook off a slow first half to score 18 points in the third quarter to take their first lead of the night; unfortunately, the Falcons were able to get to the free throw line, converting 15 of their 29 attempts to exit with the 42-34 victory. Abby Carthey scored 12 points for the Panthers, while Lyndsey Kelley put up a game high 17 points.
The #10 West Burlington boys’ team was involved in a shootout with Mt. Pleasant as the Panthers drained 10 triples by the night’s end but Quincy Collins (27 points) and Mason Watkins’ (24 points) combined 51 points as the Falcons claimed their 7th consecutive victory 76-65. Noah Lange collected 19 points for the Panthers in the losing effort.
Despite exiting with the win, West Burlington’s boys’ head coach Cody VanFleet knows his team has a target on their back with postseason play around the corner,
“…We talked all the last couple days about not having a let down and then we had a let down. So obviously I’m not happy with much about tonight… You know, I mean again, yeah, we made shots, but we allowed them to score in the paint. Allowed them to make threes. Our defense wasn’t nearly as good as it was against a really good Hillcrest team on Saturday night.”
“So the good thing is, we got now until a week from Thursday to figure it out and watch a lot of film. And they’re going to be really tired of watching this game because we’re going to watch a lot of it. We’re going to break it down before we even, because we don’t even know who we’re gonna play until Monday night. So, for the next 4 days, we’re gonna be watching this and I just want them to understand how hard it’s going to be to win from here on out.”
Fairfield was swept last night with the girls’ team losing their final home game of the season against Knoxville 60-29 and the boys’ team failing to keep up with the Mid-Prairie offense in a 68-59 final.
The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will host Fairfield on Friday, February 14th, at 7:30 pm.
The Wapello boys’ team initially hung in with WACO last night but the Warriors ran away with the contest, winning 64-49. The win for WACO secured the Warriors a share of the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North division crown with Hillcrest Academy.
The Columbus boys’ team dropped their contest to Louisa-Muscatine last night 66-54.
In an early preview of postseason basketball, the Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team took on Pekin last night but dropped the contest to the Panthers 49-45. Cooper Buffington led the scoring with 17 points for the Wolves.
The New London boys’ team lost to Davis County last night 77-44
The Central Lee boys’ team will compete against Davis County tomorrow, February 13th, at 7:30 pm at home.
The Mediapolis boys’ team will travel to Tipton tomorrow at 7:30 pm.
High School Girls’ Postseason Basketball
Girls’ regional basketball tips-off tomorrow, February 13th, for Class 1A and on Saturday, February 15th, for Classes 2A and 3A with all games starting at 7 pm. Here’s a look at our local matchups.
In Class 1A Region 7 on the top half of the bracket, Winfield-Mt. Union will travel to Keota, Wapello will make the trip to Highland, and New London will take on Hillcrest Academy on the road.
In the bottom half of the bracket, WACO will face off against Burlington Notre Dame in a cross-divisional conference matchup at home. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm. Holy Trinity Catholic will host Moulton-Udell.
In Class 2A Region 1, Van Buren County will compete against Pleasantville on February 18th on the road. In Region 2, West Burlington will play West Branch on Saturday at home with the winner advancing to tangle with Columbus; Danville will take on Louisa-Muscatine on February 18th at home.
In Class 3A Region 1, #14 Mediapolis will face off against Washington at home. In Region 4, Fairfield will travel to Williamsburg and Central Lee will make the trip to Mid-Prairie.
High School Wrestling
The boys’ district meet is scheduled for Saturday, February 15th, with Van Buren County, WACO, and Wapello traveling to Pleasantville and New London will head to Wilton in Class 1A. For Class 2A, Burlington Notre Dame, Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, and Fairfield will compete in Centerville and Mt. Pleasant and Mediapolis will venture to Williamsburg.
High School Bowling
The girls’ state qualifying meets are scheduled for Monday, February 17th, and Fairfield and West Burlington will compete at Davis County, while Mt. Pleasant will travel to Keokuk.
The boys’ state qualifying meets will take place on Tuesday, February 18th, and Mt. Pleasant will make the trip to Keokuk to compete.
College Signing
The rich history of track and field at Mt. Pleasant adds another notch to its belt after Nolan Frueh signed his National Letter of Intent to join the Mount Mercy University track and field program for the next season.
As a junior, Frueh ranked as the third-best shot putter on the team with a throw of 42 feet and 7 inches and had the second-best mark in the discus with a heave of 124 feet and 7 inches. Besides the usual throwing events, Frueh expects to do the weight throw and the hammer toss.
With the season less than a month away from starting with the Dickinson Relays at UNI on March 10th, Frueh is not looking to contain himself to one specific goal,
“I wouldn’t have any personal goals, but the sky is the limit.”
He will be studying Criminal Justice at Mount Mercy University.
Southeastern Community College
The men’s basketball team will host Illinois Central College tonight at 7 pm.
College Basketball
The #10 Iowa State men’s team was able to hold off UCF last night to win 77-65. Keshon Gilbert cashed in for 15 points in the winning effort. The Cyclones will compete against Cincinnati at home on Saturday, February 15th, at 3 pm.
The Iowa men’s team will look to snap their three game losing streak tonight on the road against Rutgers at 5:30 pm.
The Iowa women’s team will host Rutgers tomorrow, February 13th, at 6:30 pm.
The Iowa State women’s team will face off against Kansas on the road on Saturday at 4 pm.
This Day in Sports History
1937 – Cleveland (now Los Angeles) Rams granted an NFL franchise.
1982 – Wayne Gretzky scores 153rd point of season, breaking a then-NHL record. Gretzky holds the record with 215 points.
2007 – Marty Schottenheimer is abruptly fired as head coach of the San Diego Chargers after a 14-2 regular season record due to lack of playoff success and a strained relationship with ownership.
On February 8th, 2025, at approximately 1:05 a.m., the Henry County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a domestic disturbance occurring in the 300-block South Ash Street in New London, Iowa. The victim reported the assault had occurred at multiple points in the evening and the offender had left after breaking several things inside the residence.
On February 11th, 2025, at approximately 5:05 p.m., the Henry County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a vehicle collision resulting in property damage. The single vehicle collision was reported to have occurred near the Oasis Avenue / US Highway 78 intersection outside of Winfield, Iowa.
