WACO High School- The WACO boys’ basketball team dominated on Tuesday in their matchup against Highland as the Warriors led 43 to 3 at halftime before going on to win 65-23.

Not only was it a conference win in the North division of the Southeast Iowa Super Conference, but it was also a special night for the Warriors’ senior leader Hunter Hughes as he notched his 1,000^th career point for his WACO career.

Hughes currently sits 7^th on WACO’s all-time list with 1,008 points. He could move into 6^th place by season’s end as Lynn Eichelberger sits at 1,074 career points and Hughes has finished with at least 297 points the last two seasons and currently has 211 points for this season.

The last player to finish with 1,000 points in a career was Nik Coble as he collected 1,006 points during his run from 2016-2020. Travis Temple (2002-2006) reigns above everyone with 1,564 career points.

WACO travels to #3 Winfield-Mt. Union tonight, looking to avenge their loss back in December. The boys game is scheduled to start at 7:30 pm.

Prep Basketball- The word of the month is “cancellation” with “postponement” coming in a close second place. The reason I mention this is because of the abnormal nature of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s (IGHSAU) rankings.

This year’s month of January saw just 12 team movements from the top 15 when combining the five classifications. Last year saw 18 such movements and that’s to be expected as we inch towards postseason basketball, but basketball is still being played so another round of rankings.

Class 1A saw no movement from the top four teams as North Linn sits atop the rankings with Newell-Fonda, Martensdale-St. Marys and Remsen St. Mary’s following in accordance. Riceville fell six spots in the rankings as the #11 Wildcats experienced their first loss of the season last Friday in a 49-39 final to Dunkerton. Montezuma also jumped up three spots to #10 on the list. Beyond that the list remained steady and no teams were dropped.

Class 2A with a similar story to Class 1A but more slight movements throughout the list. Dike-New Hartford is still on the fast track in defending their state title from last year; however, #2 Panorama and #3 Westwood tout undefeated records and might look to mix things up. Regina Catholic fell to #6 in the rankings after a loss to North Linn. North Mahaska’s loss to Montezuma caused their slip in the rankings to #12. Jesup’s 55-39 loss to Aplington-Parkersburg kicked the J-Hawks out of the top 15. North Union took the opening and took the #14 spot. #15 Treynor rounds out the list after falling three spots.

Mount Vernon held on to their top spot in Class 3A, but Solon tumbled from #2 last week to #5 this week. Going back to last Tuesday, the Spartans are 1-2 with losses to Mt. Vernon and Class 4A’s #11 Marion. Algona fell back a spot to #11 and Spirit Lake took the #10 spot. Williamsburg fell out of the top 15 with West Delaware taking the opening and moving up one spot to #14.

It was a rough week to be one of the top three teams in Class 4A. Dallas Center-Grimes, formerly ranked #1, fell out of the top three to #4 on the list after a 31-point loss to then #5 Bishop Heelan last weekend. North Polk had the dubious distinction of tumbling down the list from #3 to #5 despite riding a 7-game win streak. Clear Creek-Amana is new top team followed by Waverly-Shell Rock and Bishop Heelan, respectively. Marion and Maquoketa flipped spots with the two being ranked 11^th and 10^th, respectively. Lastly, Keokuk held on to their #15 ranking after decisive wins against Burlington and Washington.

For Class 5A, other than a few teams being reshuffled, the rankings remained constant. Johnston is still undefeated at 16-0 and on top of the rankings. Davenport North and Dowling Catholic are next at #2 and #3, respectively. No teams were dropped from the top 15.

High School Basketball

Mt. Pleasant will host Washington tomorrow, January 26th, with the girls playing at 6 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will have the call with the pregame show at 5:45 pm.

Mediapolis will travel to Burlington Notre Dame tonight with the girls’ scheduled to play at 6 pm. 

New London will face off against West Burlington on the road tomorrow with the first game scheduled to start at 6 pm. 

Van Buren County will host Holy Trinity Catholic tomorrow with the girls playing at 6 pm followed by the boys. 

Winfield-Mt. Union will face off against WACO tonight at home with game one at 6 pm.

Central Lee will take on Danville in a home matchup tomorrow with the girls playing at 6 pm. 

Holy Trinity Catholic will host Wapello tonight with game one at 6 pm. 

High School Wrestling

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team will compete at the conference tournament on Saturday, January 27th, at Burlington Notre Dame. 

New London will host a quad today.

The WACO boys’ team will compete in a quad tonight at Pekin. 

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will compete in a dual today at Burlington. 

The Mt. Pleasant, Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, and WACO girls’ teams will compete at Alliant Energy Power House for Super Regionals tomorrow, January 26th. 

High School Bowling

Mt. Pleasant will host Burlington today.

College Basketball

The #5 Iowa women’s team will look to get back in the win column on Saturday, January 27th, at 1 pm in a home matchup against Nebraska. 

The Iowa State women’s team fell to Kansas last night 60-58. Audi Crooks was the main source of offense for the Cyclones as she totaled 25 points and eight rebounds in the effort. Addy Brown also finished in double figures with 10 points. The Cyclones will look to pull off another upset against #24 West Virginia on Saturday at 1 pm on the road. 

The #23 Iowa State men’s team’s fundamentals ended up giving the Cyclones the 78-67 victory over Kansas State last night. The Cyclones finished the game 27 of 39 from the free throw line as Keshon Gilbert collected a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Iowa State will take on #7 Kansas at home on Saturday at 12:30 pm. 

Despite taking a 34 to 28 lead into halftime, the Iowa men’s team couldn’t stop Maryland’s comeback as Jahmir Young made the game winning layup with less than two seconds remaining to win 69-67 for the Terrapins. Tony Perkins went a perfect 11 for 11 from the free throw line as he led the Hawkeyes with 20 points. Owen Freeman was a rebound away from a double-double as cashed in for 14 points. Iowa will face off against Michigan on Saturday at 4 pm in a road matchup. 

This Day in Sports History

1960 – Wilt Chamberlain scores 58 points, the most ever by an NBA rookie, as the Philadelphia Warriors beat the Detroit Pistons, 127-117 at Bethlehem, PA. 

1991 – St. Louis right winger Brett Hull scores twice in a Blues’ 9-4 win at Detroit to give him 50 goals in 49 games. Making him the third player in NHL history with 50 goals in less than 50 games. 

1999 – After an inquiry into a corruption scandal, six International Olympic Committee members were expelled.