High School Basketball

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will be back in action tomorrow, February 10th, for a conference matchup against Fairfield at 7:30 pm. The girls’ team will travel to play Fort Madison on February 15th for their first game of the regional.

The Holy Trinity Catholic girls’ team will play Wapello tonight, February 9th, to start their regional play at 7 pm. KILJ will be on the call with pregame at 6:45 pm. The boys’ team will play Burlington Notre Dame on February 13th.

The Central Lee girls’ team will be back in action Saturday, February 11th, against Davis County at 7 pm. The boys; team will face off against Louisa-Muscatine on February 13th to start their District play.

The New London girls’ team will travel to play Burlington Notre Dame tonight for their first game of their regional. KILJ, 98.5 FM and 1130 AM, will cover the game. The boys’ team will have their first round game against Danville on February 13th at home.

The Danville girls’ team’s next game is February 14th against West Burlington to start their regional play.

The WACO girls’ team will start their regional play tonight as they face off with Keota at home at 7 pm. The boys’ team will play the winner between Columbus and Highland on February 13th at home.

The Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ team will play the winner of Holy Trinity Catholic and Wapello on February 14th. The boys’ team will host Wapello for their first round matchup on February 13th.

High School Wrestling

The next competition for the Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will be at the Class 2A District 9 postseason meet on February 11th. To make it to state, wrestlers in Class 1A or 2A must finish in first or second-place and third-place finishers in Class 3A District Tournaments will also qualify.

High School Bowling

Mt. Pleasant will be competing in the Southeast Conference Tournament tomorrow, February 10th, at 1 pm at the Iris Bowling Center due to the weather today.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The 23rd-ranked men’s team clobbered St. Ambrose University last night as the Tigers put up triple digits in the win, 100-49. The Tigers allowed only 19 points in the first half as Iowa Wesleyan knocked down 14 three-pointers in the contest. Henry Shannon led the way with 20 points with Gacoby Jones following behind scoring 17 points hitting 3 three-pointers on the night. The Tigers improved to 23-2 on the season and will face off in a Valentine’s Day doubleheader against Baptist Bible College at 7:30 pm. Coach Ashton will be joining us on Tiger Nation this morning at 9 am.

The women’s basketball team will be at home to face off against Columbia College at 5:30 pm tonight.

The men’s wrestling team will look to bounce back against #1 Grand View University in a dual tomorrow.

The women’s wrestling team will wrestle at the Warrior Open on Sunday, February 12th.

The Tigers Indoor Track and Field teams will be competing at the SAU Tune Up/Racewalk tomorrow at 3:30 pm. Coach Davis talked about the success his team has had through the season.

The Tiger baseball team will start their season tomorrow against Hannibal-LaGrange University at 2 pm on the road. The Tigers will look to improve on their 21-30 record from last season.

This Day in Sports History

1895 – William Morgan presents his new sport “Mintonette” to the world at Springfield College, Massachusetts, later renamed it “Volleyball.”

1960 – AFL and NFL agree verbally to a no tampering pact.

1988 – New Hampshire begins a NCAA record 32-game losing streak at home.

Prep Girls’ Basketball- The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union released their final rankings of the season for Class 1A, 2A, and 3A today before the regional games get underway and the final rankings for Class 4A and 5A will be released next Tuesday, February 14^th. None of the top teams lost their spot, but we did have some shakeups throughout the classifications.

In Class 1A, the top four remained the same with Algona Bishop Garrigan finishing the regular season with just one loss and number one in the rankings. West Fork finished the year undefeated at 21-0, which moved them from 6^th to 5^th, knocking Westwood back to 6^th. The Warhawks had a big win over Osage, who was ranked 7^th in Class 3A, 60-40 to finish the regular season. Winfield-Mt. Union finished the regular season with a 19-1 season, the only loss coming to Class 2A #12 Mediapolis in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference shootout, 50-35. Exira-EHK was the only team to be dropped from the top 15 with Kingsley-Pierson rounding out the top 15 as the new team.

Class 2A is still run by Dike-New Hartford with Central Lyon coming in at 2^nd and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont vaulting Sibley-Ocheyedan to be ranked 3^rd. Treynor hopped three spots in the rankings from 10^th to 7^th after crushing then 9^th ranked Underwood 59-25, Underwood fell to 11^th in the rankings. Mediapolis stayed put at their 12^th ranking touting an 18-3 record on the season. South Hamilton dropped from the rankings with Nodaway Valley replacing them at the 13^th spot with a 17-4 record.

Estherville Lincoln Central finished 1^st in Class 3A with a perfect 20-0 record. Benton Community fell to 4^th after falling to West Liberty 64-57 on Monday. West Marshall is now ranked 3^rd. Grinnell moved up the rankings from 8^th to 6^th after defeating, then ranked 13^th, Indianola in Class 4A 64-45. Osage fell to 9^th after their loss to West Fork mentioned earlier. Center Point-Urbana dropped from the rankings with West Lyon being the new team on the block rounding out the top 15.

Class 4A had the most stable top 15 with the top 8 teams keeping their same ranking from last week with Dallas Center-Grimes still sitting at the top. Carlisle dropped four spots from 9^th to 13^th after suffering a 61-54 loss at the hands of an unranked Carroll team. Indianola is now ranked 15^th after their loss to Grinnell mentioned earlier. Indianola is the only team in the rankings with a losing record. No teams were dropped from the top 15.

Class 5A kept the top 6 teams the same with Pleasant Valley retaining the number one ranking with a perfect 20-0 record. Southeast Polk and Valley switch spots with the Rams now ranked 7^th after being ranked 9^th last week as the Rams inched past the Tigers in a 59-57 overtime thriller. Ankeny is now ranked 12^th after switching Iowa City West for the 13^th ranking and Des Moines North moved to 14^th with Sioux City East rounding out the top 15. No teams were dropped from the top 15.

Prep Girls’ Basketball- The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union released the regional pairings for Class 4A and 5A today and here are some of the local matchups for postseason play.

In Class 4A Region 7, the Mt. Pleasant Panthers will be traveling to face off against Fort Madison in their round one matchup on February 15^th at 7 pm. The Panthers finished the regular season at 11-11 with a 7-3 conference record; unfortunately, two of those loses were at the hands of the Bloodhounds in close low scoring matchups, game one was 41-36 and game two was 24-19. The Bloodhounds will finish in second place for the conference standings. The winner will then play Clear Creek Amana at the Clippers’ court on February 18^th as they tout a 15-4 record on the season and rank 7^th in Class 4A. Keokuk will host Burlington on February 15^th as the Chiefs have won the last 11 games against the Grayhounds. The winner will travel to play North Scott on February 18^th.

The state tournament will be held at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines from February 27 until March 4^th.

High School Basketball

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will be back in action Friday, February 10th, for a conference matchup against Fairfield at 7:30 pm.

The Holy Trinity Catholic girls’ team will play Wapello tomorrow, February 9th, to start their regional play at 7 pm. KILJ will be on the call with pregame at 6:45 pm. The boys’ team will play Burlington Notre Dame on February 13th.

The Central Lee girls’ team will be back in action Saturday, February 11th, against Davis County at 7 pm. The boys; team will face off against Louisa-Muscatine on February 13th to start their District play.

The New London boys’ team defeated Keokuk last night 62-51 in front of the Tiger home crowd. Blaise Porter led the way in scoring with 24 points and in rebounds as he collected 15 on the night. The girls’ will travel to play Burlington Notre Dame tomorrow for their first game of their regional. KILJ, 98.5 FM and 1130 AM, will cover the game. The boys’ team will have their first round game against Danville on February 13th at home.

The Danville girls’ team’s next game is February 14th against West Burlington to start their regional play.

The WACO girls’ team will start their regional play tomorrow as they face off with Keota at home at 7 pm. The boys’ team will play the winner between Columbus and Highland on February 13th at home.

The Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team won in their regular season finale against Lone Tree 62-24 to finish at 17-4. The girls’ team will play the winner of Holy Trinity Catholic and Wapello on February 14th. The boys’ team will host Wapello for their first round matchup.

High School Wrestling

The next competition for the Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will be at the Class 2A District 9 postseason meet on February 11th. To make it to state, wrestlers in Class 1A or 2A must finish in first or second-place and third-place finishers in Class 3A District Tournaments will also qualify.

High School Bowling

Mt. Pleasant will be competing in the Southeast Conference Tournament tomorrow.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The women’s basketball team will be at home to face off against Columbia College at 5:30 pm tomorrow.

The 23rd-ranked men’s team will be back at home tonight, February 8th, against St. Ambrose University at 7 pm. KILJ will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.

The men’s wrestling team fell to a ranked Baker University team in last night’s doubleheader dual, 33 to 12. Brendan Ferenchik defeated Jake Barnes in a 6-3 decision. Brent Ward won by a 6-2 decision to be down 10-6 to the Wildcats. The Tigers would then be outscored 23 to 0 before Isaac Boucher took the last match by forfeit. The Tigers will have to bounce back quickly as they go against #1 Grand View University in a dual on Friday.

The women’s wrestling team came up just short against the 20th ranked Wildcats 25-21. Alaina Sunlin started out the dual by picking up a win by tech fall and Faith Cole followed it with a win by fall to make it 9-0 Tigers. With the Tigers down 10-9, JoAnna Vanderwood won by an 11-2 decision and Aduago Nwachukwu won by tech fall to give the Tigers a 16-11 lead. Nadia Abdijanovic would pick up the last win for the Tigers by fall to make the score 21-11, but the Wildcats would pick up the final 14 points to win the dual. The Tigers will wrestle at the Warrior Open on Sunday, February 12th.

The Tigers Indoor Track and Field teams will be competing at the SAU Tune Up/Racewalk on Friday, February 10th at 3:30 pm.

The Tiger baseball team will start their season on Friday against Hannibal-LaGrange University at 2 pm on the road. The Tigers will look to improve on their 21-30 record from last season.

This Day in Sports History

1936 – First Ever NFL Draft: Jay Berwanger from University of Chicago first pick by Philadelphia Eagles.

1960 – Boston Celtic, Bill Russell, becomes first NBA player with 50 rebounds in a game (51).

1996 – NFL and Cleveland allowed owner, Art Modell, to move his NFL franchise to Baltimore but he had to leave the Browns’ name behind.

Prep Boys’ Basketball- The Iowa High School Athletic Association released the district and substate pairings for Class 1A and 2A boys’ basketball and here’s how it shakes out for some of our local teams.

In Class 1A District 7 and 8 for Substate 4, WACO comes in as the top team and they will play the winner of Columbus and Highland on February 13^th at 7 pm. Other games taking place on February 13^th will be New London facing off against Danville for the third time this year. Winfield-Mt. Union will be hosting Wapello, the Wolves have defeated the Indians by 35 points and 30 points, respectively, in their first two matchups. Lastly, Burlington Notre Dame will face off against Holy Trinity Catholic as the Nikes won both matchups in the regular season, but the Crusaders will be riding a four-game winning streak into the game.

For Class 2A District 11 and 12 for Substate 6, Central Lee will face off against Louisa-Muscatine on February 13^th at 7 pm. The Hawks hold a 3-1 advantage over the Falcons in their last four games. Mediapolis will host Van Buren County on the same day as the Bulldogs having won the last matchup 66-38 on January 31^st. West Burlington will play the winner between Central Lee and Louisa Muscatine on February 16^th at 7 pm and Albia will play the winner of Mediapolis and Van Buren County on the same night.

Stay tuned to KILJ for further updates as postseason basketball is getting closer to starting.