High School Basketball

Danville split their matchup against West Burlington last night with the girls’ team rushing past the Falcons 58-16 and the boys’ team suffering a 95-50 loss.

West Burlington will face off against Central Lee on the road on Friday, January 24th, with the girls’ team leading off the night at 6 pm. 

Danville will take on Van Buren County on Friday at home with game one at 6 pm. 

Holy Trinity Catholic spoiled Van Buren County’s senior night with a sweep of the Warriors as the girls’ team picked up a 51-40 win, despite Sophia Jirak cashing in for 11 points, while the boys’ team pounded the home team 85-54 as Luke Hellige, Koby Jones, and Layne Rung each poured in 23 points for the Crusaders. 

Holy Trinity Catholic will host Burlington Notre Dame on Friday with the first game starting at 6 pm. 

The Mediapolis girls’ team ran away with a 75-27 victory over Burlington Notre Dame last night with Ellah Wagenbach notching 20 points in the win. The Nikes got their revenge in the boys’ game, defeating the Bulldogs 61-49. 

Mediapolis will compete against Louisa-Muscatine tomorrow, January 23rd, with the road doubleheader tipping-off at 6 pm.

Wapello was swept by Hillcrest Academy last night with the girls’ team losing 52-40 and the boys’ team falling 68-33. Wapello will tangle with Highland on Friday with the girls getting the night started at 6 pm. 

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team lost to Oskaloosa last night 56-40. The Panthers will celebrate their senior night on Friday against Fort Madison with game time at 6 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 5:45 pm. 

The Fairfield boys’ team was handed the loss last night by Pella Christian 65-38. The Trojans will host Washington on Friday with the night starting at 6 pm. 

The Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ team fell short of the upset against Highland last night, losing 44-42 despite Madisen Kellogg (15 points and 11 rebounds) and Kynlee Buffington (13 points and 15 rebounds) each collecting a double-double. 

Columbus will take on Winfield-Mt. Union on Friday with the doubleheader starting at 6 pm. 

Central Lee collected a pair of wins last night against New London with the girls’ cruising to a 63-23 final and the boys’ team securing a 60-46 victory. Lizzy Mason scored 20 points for the Hawks in the win. 

New London will travel to Mediapolis on Friday with the boys’ team following the girls game at 7:30 pm. 

The WACO girls’ team had their 9-game win streak erased last night by Lone Tree in a 55-52 loss. The boys’ team grabbed the win 63-51. The Warriors will play tomorrow at home against Sigourney with the girls starting the night at 6 pm. 

High School Wrestling

Mt. Pleasant will host Fairfield tomorrow, January 23rd.

The Mediapolis boys’ team will host New London and Highland for a triangular tomorrow. 

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team will travel to Pekin tomorrow for a triangular. 

The Van Buren County boys’ team will participate in the Louisa-Muscatine Invite on Saturday, January 25th.

The Burlington Notre Dame boys’ team will host Wapello tomorrow to celebrate their Senior Night. 

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ team will travel to Louisa-Muscatine on Saturday for an Invite.  

The WACO boys’ team will travel to Highland for a double dual on January 30th.

High School Bowling

Mt. Pleasant will take on Fairfield tomorrow, January 23rd, at home. 

College Signing

Mt. Pleasant’s Savannah Slobodnik signed her National Letter of Intent to join the Mount Mercy University throwing team next season. She explained what stuck out the most about Mount Mercy,

“I’m really excited. Mount Mercy is a beautiful campus. Their staff—everybody’s—really nice there. I just really am excited to start my school year.”

Slobodnik enjoyed a successful junior campaign, collecting the gold and silver in five meets apiece along with the bronze at the SEC meet. One of her second-place finishes punched her ticket to the 2024 state track and field meet, where she threw 106 feet and 10 inches to finish in 18th place.

She will be looking to best her mark of 118 feet and 7 inches in the upcoming season, a season that will have lofty expectations according to Slobodnik,

“I want to place at state this year. I kind of fell off last year, so I want this year to be big.”

Slobodnik plans on majoring in Elementary Education, so she can go into teaching. The 2025 track and field season will start on March 11th with the Dickinson Relays at UNI.

Southeast Iowa Playbook

Tune in to KILJ 105.5 FM or kilj.com tonight for a new episode of the Southeast Iowa Playbook at 6 pm. Mt. Pleasant will be the school focus for tonight’s episode. 

Southeastern Community College

The men’s basketball team will be back at home tonight to face off against Marshalltown Community College at 7 pm.

College Basketball

The #3 Iowa State men’s team aired out some frustrations last night in a dominant 108-83 win over UCF. Joshua Jefferson had a career-high 30 points in the victory. The Cyclones will travel to Arizona State on Saturday, January 25th, at 1 pm. 

The Iowa men’s team was outpaced by Minnesota last night 72-67. Payton Sandfort nabbed a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Owen Freeman also netted 21 points. The Hawkeyes will host Penn State on Friday, January 24th, at 8 pm. 

The Iowa women’s team will take on Washington on the road tonight at 8 pm. 

The Iowa State women’s team will compete tonight against BYU at home with tip-off at 6:30 pm.

This Day in Sports History

1983 – Houston is the first NBA team to be held scoreless in an overtime period as the Portland Trail Blazers outscore them 17-0 and win 113-96. 

2006 – Kobe Bryant scores 81 points in a 122-104 Lakers victory over the Toronto Raptors; second-highest game total in NBA history, behind only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game (1962). 

2018 – New Orleans Pelicans’ DeMarcus Cousins finished with 44 points, 24 rebounds, and 10 assists in a 132-128 double-OT win over the Chicago Bulls; first player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1972) with 40 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 assists.

Mt. Pleasant, IA- While the Midwest takes a plunge into arctic temperatures, it’s important to remember that spring is just around the corner and for some people it cannot come soon enough. Mt. Pleasant’s Savannah Slobodnik signed her National Letter of Intent to join the Mount Mercy University throwing team next season.

She explained what stuck out the most about Mount Mercy,

“I’m really excited. Mount Mercy is a beautiful campus. Their staff—everybody’s—really nice there. I just really am excited to start my school year.”

The senior has enjoyed a successful career in the circle for the Panthers with a specialty in discus. She was the best thrower by her sophomore year with a 111 foot and 2-inch mark for the season, pacing the team by nearly 15 feet.

Her junior season saw both individual and team success resulting in the Panthers taking first place in five meets and second place in two meets, including the Southeast Conference (SEC) meet.

“It takes like just supporting the other teammates,” said Savannah Slobodnik. “It really affects you a lot if you don’t have your other teammates there supporting you, it kind of feels like, you know, you’re not doing the greatest. Yeah, I’ll definitely take teamwork into college.”

A big reason for the team’s success was Slobodnik’s consistent performance.

She finished with the gold and silver in five meets apiece along with the bronze at the SEC meet. One of her second-place finishes punched her ticket to the 2024 state track and field meet, where she threw 106 feet and 10 inches to finish in 18^th place.

She will be looking to best her mark of 118 feet and 7 inches in the upcoming season, a season that will have lofty expectations according to Slobodnik,

“I want to place at state this year. I kind of fell off last year, so I want this year to be big.”

Slobodnik plans on majoring in Elementary Education, so she can go into teaching. A profession she has grown to love,

“I’ve worked at a daycare for about two years now, and that’s just kind of showed me how much I like, you know, working with kids. So that kind of swayed me.”

The 2025 track and field season will start on March 11^th with the Dickinson Relays at UNI and the senior is looking to adhere to along with leave behind one piece of advice for the future generation of throwers,

“I really hope that they don’t get nervous like me. Even if you have a bad meet, everything is fine. It will go away at the next meet. You just have to believe in yourself every practice, every meet.”

The Mustangs finished in fourth place at the Heart of America Outdoor Track and Field for 2024 that saw Bre Nail become the first female since 1981 to win three consecutive Heart of America championships in the same event. The all-American won the shot put on Saturday with a toss of 13.63 meters.

The team also featured Alyssa Striegel, a Mt. Pleasant native, as she recorded the second-best discus throw in school history at 43.38 meters.

High School Basketball

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team hosted Danville in a non-conference bout last night and despite outscoring the Bears 23 to 10 in the second half the Panthers fell short of the comeback, losing 35-31. Alexa Fuller led the charge in the second half for the Panthers, collecting 11 points for the night, while Alaina Gourley put up 12 points for the Bears.

Mt. Pleasant head coach Curt Watson believes his team has nothing to hang their heads about,

“I thought in the second half we played really, really well. We came out and we just kind of told them that the first half was done and over with and we just had to take one possession at a time to get back in the game and the girls took that to heart. And they went out and played a lot better defense. We got better looks in the second half. Just overall I’m proud of the way the girls came out in the second half.”

Danville has now won three consecutive games decided by two possessions or less, an aspect of the game head coach Matt Morris is hoping to build upon,

“That’s huge down the stretch. You know, overall, we’ve still got a very young varsity experience team. Yeah, you want to definitely win those games. You’ll take the blowout wins if you can get them of course. But yeah, when you look at the overall situation, yeah, anytime we can get in that scoring clock situation, the game is close. You know, whether it’s a quarter or a half, it’s a great opportunity for our kids to learn and grow. And, you know, we, I think, you know that hopefully we learned a couple of things about ourselves in, in the scoring clock situation. When the last couple of minutes and hopefully you know we get that situation again come district time that you know we execute.”

Danville will travel to West Burlington tonight at 6 pm.

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will celebrate their senior night on Friday, January 24th, against Fort Madison with game time at 6 pm.

Columbus split their matchup against Van Buren County last night with the girls’ team winning a low scoring affair, 43-35, and the boys’ team falling 72-60. 

Holy Trinity Catholic will compete against Van Buren County tonight on the road with game one at 6 pm. 

Columbus will take on Winfield-Mt. Union on Friday with the doubleheader starting at 6 pm. 

Burlington Notre Dame swept Wapello last night with the girls’ team handling the Arrows 48-35 and the boys’ team crushing Wapello 78-43.

Mediapolis will travel to Burlington Notre Dame tonight with tip-off at 6 pm. 

Wapello will square off against Hillcrest Academy tonight in a road matchup with game one at 6 pm.

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will face off against Oskaloosa tonight at 7:30 pm. 

The Fairfield boys’ team will take on Pella Christian tonight with game time at 7:30 pm on the road.  

Winfield-Mt. Union will play Highland tonight with the boys’ team following the girls game at 7:30 pm. 

Central Lee will square off against New London at home tonight with game one at 6 pm. 

WACO will hit the road to compete against Lone Tree tonight at 6 pm for the girls game. 

High School Wrestling

Mt. Pleasant will host Fairfield on Thursday, January 23rd.

The Mediapolis boys’ team will host New London and Highland for a triangular on Thursday. 

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team will travel to Pekin on Thursday for a triangular. 

The Van Buren County boys’ team will participate in the Louisa-Muscatine Invite on Saturday, January 25th.

The Burlington Notre Dame boys’ team will host Wapello on Thursday to celebrate their Senior Night. 

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ team will travel to Louisa-Muscatine on Saturday for an Invite.  

The WACO boys’ team will travel to Highland for a double dual on January 30th.

High School Bowling

Fairfield will compete in a triangular in Keokuk tonight.

Mt. Pleasant will take on Fairfield on Thursday, January 23rd, at home. 

High School Soccer Rule Changes

The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) released a joint set of rule changes for the upcoming 2025 soccer season.

There will be no overtime permitted for any regular season match at any level with tied regular season matches resulting in a draw. The one exception will be given to regular season tournaments.

Continuous clock will be used for the first half if a team is ahead by 10 goals.

No weather delay for a postseason match will exceed three hours past the original start time.

Lastly, the NFHS rule surrounding players getting yellow cards will now be applied instead of the Iowa adaptation.

NFHS RULE 12-8 PENALTY: A cautioned player shall leave the field and may be replaced. Should a team with a cautioned player elect to play shorthanded, the cautioned player may not re-enter nor be replaced until the next substitution opportunity.

Southeastern Community College

The men’s basketball team will be back at home tomorrow, January 22nd, to face off against Marshalltown Community College at 7 pm.

College Basketball

The #3 Iowa State men’s team will host UCF tonight at 7 pm.

The Iowa men’s team will face off against Minnesota tonight at 8 pm. 

The Iowa women’s team will take on Washington on the road tomorrow, January 22nd, at 8 pm. 

The Iowa State women’s team will compete tomorrow against BYU at home with tip-off at 6:30 pm.

This Day in Sports History

1954 – First time in NBA All-Star history, an overtime period is needed to decide a winner; Boston Celtics’ guard Bob Cousy’s 10-point overtime scoring burst gives the East a 98-93 win; Cousy wins All-Star MVP honors.

1990 – John McEnroe becomes the first player ever to be expelled from the Australian Open.

1994 – The Dallas Mavericks suffer their 19th straight loss at Reunion Arena, 91-87 to the Seattle SuperSonics, extending an unwanted NBA record for the most consecutive home defeats.