Prep Basketball- The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union has updated the rankings for another of girls’ basketball and only 3 teams dropped out of the top 15 for all 5 classes combined. Moreover, the top three teams in each class remained unchanged.

Class 1A is still ruled by Algona Bishop Garrigan followed by Newell-Fonda and North Linn. Amazingly, it is another stable week for Class 1A with each team keeping their position from the week before. Winfield-Mt. Union still holds the 10th position with an undefeated record of 16-0, as they are fresh off a dominating victory over WACO, and Burlington Notre Dame is ranked 11^th at 12-4 after crushing Central Lee 72-42 in their last matchup.

Class 2A also had minimal movement with one team falling down the rankings. Pocahontas Area is now ranked 11^th after being ranked 8^th a week ago, as they fell to Sioux Central 52-41. Otherwise, Dike-New Hartford is still the top team at 13-0 with Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont ranked 4^th at 14-0. No teams dropped out of the rankings.

Estherville Lincoln Central, Unity Christian, and Solon are the top three teams of Class 3A, respectively. Osage takes over the 7^th spot after Center Point-Urbana fell three spots to 10^th as the Stormin Pointers dropped games to 4^th ranked Benton and Class 4A ranked 7^th Clear Creek Amana. Cherokee also dropped in the rankings from 8^th to 12^th after their 31-point loss to Spencer, 67-36. Sioux Center jumped up the rankings to 11^th from 14^th. Atlantic dropped out of the rankings with 9-4 Harlan taking the 15^th spot of the rankings.

The first 12 spots were unchanged from last week’s Class 4A rankings with Dallas Center-Grimes still holding the top spot. Marion went from 13^th to 15^th after dropping games to Mount Vernon and Iowa City West. Lewis Central swapped the 15^th position to be ranked 13^th after dismantling their last two opponents. Spencer knocks Glenwood out of the top 15 to be ranked 14^th.

Class 5A had the most movement and the highest ranked team fell from their spot last week. Johnston is still the number one team at 16-0 followed by also undefeated Pleasant Valley at 14-0. Valley tumbled from 4^th to 7^th as they fell to originally ranked 6^th now ranked 4^th Dowling Catholic 50-32 and now ranked 6^th Ankeny Centennial by seven. Cedar Falls had the biggest jump in the rankings going from 14^th to 9^th after defeating previously 9^th ranked Iowa City West 38-29. The Trojans fell one spot to be ranked 10^th. Iowa City Liberty struck down Linn-Marr 63-57 resulting in the Lightning moving up to 12^th from 15^th and the Lions falling from 10^th to 13^th. Des Moines North was the lone team to fall from the rankings as Waukee took the 14^th spot, despite a 6-8 record.

High School Basketball

New London will be on the road to play Holy Trinity Catholic tomorrow, January 20th, and Danville will host Burlington Notre Dame tomorrow.

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will play conference foe Washington tomorrow at 7:30 pm at home. The boys’ team will be on the road to face off against Washington at 7:30 pm.

Winfield-Mt. Union will face off against Wapello tomorrow with the girls’ going at 6 pm and WACO will travel to play Columbus tomorrow.

Central Lee will host Van Buren County tomorrow with the girls’ going at 6 pm followed by the boys.

High School Wrestling

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team’s next match is tonight, January 19th, against Fairfield.

Girls’ wrestling will have their Regional Qualifier take place January 27th and 28th with the state tournament scheduled to start February 2nd and finish up on the 3rd.

High School Bowling

Mt. Pleasant will host Fairfield tonight.

College Signing

Mount Mercy University will have a new Mustang join them in the fall from Mt. Pleasant as Carter Amos signed on to the team yesterday. Amos batted 0.310 last season and batted in 21 runners and scored 8 runs of his own. The Mustangs finished 33-20 with a 20-12 conference record for the 2021-2022 season. The Panthers will look to improve upon their record last season of 9-19.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The women’s basketball team will look to get back in the win column tomorrow against Haskell Indian Nations at home at 5:30 pm. Head Coach, Steve Williamson, will join us on Tiger Nation this morning at 9 am.

The 25th ranked men’s team will play Haskell Indian Nations at the conclusion of the women’s game tomorrow. KILJ will be on the call for both games with the pregame show at 5:15 pm.

The men’s wrestling team will be at home tonight as they go against Cornell College at 6 pm.

The women’s wrestling team had their dual meet last night postponed and it has not been rescheduled yet. The next scheduled competition for the team is January 27th at the 2023 Spire Classic.

The Tigers next indoor meet will be Saturday, January 21st, at the Hilltop Invitational.

This Day in Sports History

1903 – French newspaper L’Auto announces a new 5-stage, long distance bicycle race, “Tour de France.”

1974 – Notre Dame beats UCLA, 71-70 in South Bend, Indiana to end Bruins’ NCAA-record 88-game basketball win streak.

2013 – Lance Armstrong admits to doping in all seven of his Tour de France victories.

Mt. Pleasant- Carter Amos, a senior at Mt. Pleasant, made his decision to continue playing baseball collegiately at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids. His brother, Dustin Amos, played for the Mustangs from 2016-2018 and accumulated 9 wins and 80 strikeouts in his two years of pitching for the team.

In his sophomore and junior seasons, Carter Amos had a combined batting average of 0.270, knocked in 32 runners, scored 20 runs, an on-base-percentage of 0.372, and stolen 15 bases on 16 attempts. Amos is coming off a season of batting 0.310 and has one goal in mind for his senior season,

“Just for us to win games and just hit as well as I did last year if not better. I just really want to win some games this year.”

For the 2021-2022 season, Mount Mercy finished 33-20 overall with a 20-12 record in conference play. The Panthers will look to improve on their 9-19 record from last year.

High School Basketball

New London faced off against conference foe Danville last night and split the night. The Bears dominated the girls’ game running away with a 31-point victory over the Tigers, 60-29. The Bears had firm control of the game due to a suffocating defense that forced nearly 30 turnovers in the contest. Jaeda Molle was a force both offensively and defensively generating steals and scoring 18 points. Mylee Miller was the leading scorer for the Tigers with 13 points, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter. The boys’ game started off in the Bears favor up 9-5  near the end of the first quarter. However, the Tigers went on a 21-6 run to end the first half and did not look back, winning 53-37. Blaise Porter and Kade Benjamin had phenomenal games with Porter scoring 22 points and Benjamin finishing with 15 points including a couple of blocks during the game. Spencer Nelson and Caiden Gourley each scored 12 points in the game for the Bears. New London will be on the road to play Holy Trinity Catholic Friday, January 20th, and Danville will host Burlington Notre Dame on Friday.

The Holy Trinity Catholic girls team fell to Mediapolis 64-58 as Haley Steffener finished with a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs. The Crusaders won the boys’ game 55-50 over the Bulldogs.

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team got out to a quick start and did not look back as they crushed Oskaloosa 72-46. The Panthers outscored Oskaloosa 31-18 by halftime with Aaiden Ashton cashing in 14 points in the first half. Ashton led the way in scoring with 23 points. Payton Hagans and Nate Stroud also finished in double digits with Hagans finishing with 18 points and Stroud scoring 13 points in the contest. Mt. Pleasant will play conference foe, Washington, on Friday, January 20th, at 7:30 pm at home.

Winfield-Mt. Union won the girls’ game handily 61-40 over WACO. The Wolves and the Warriors were in a close contest at halftime 31-23, but it was Keetyn Townsley who pushed the game fully into Winfield-Mt. Union’s possession after putting up 11 points in the second half. Bradie Buffington led the Wolves in points with 15 on the night. Ellah Kissell put up 19 points for the Warriors. The boys’ game was never close as WACO rushed out to a 37-13 lead at halftime leading to a 66-48 victory. Hunter Hughes led the Warriors in points with 14, followed by Chase Waterhouse with 11 points, and Simeon Reichenbach finishing with 10 points. The Wolves were led by Cam Buffington with 18 points, Carter Loyd and Jake Edwards finished in double digits with 10 points and 12 points, respectively. Winfield-Mt. Union will face off against Wapello Friday and WACO will travel to play Columbus on Friday.

The Central Lee girls’ team shocked 11th ranked Burlington Notre Dame by clobbering them 72-42 as the Hawks flew to a 21-3 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Nikes returned the favor in the boys’ game, grounding the Hawks to win 71-40. Central Lee will host Van Buren County Friday with the girls going at 6 pm followed by the boys.

High School Wrestling

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team’s next match is tomorrow, January 19th, against Fairfield.

High School Bowling

Mt. Pleasant will host Fairfield tomorrow.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The women’s basketball team will look to get back in the win column Friday, January 20th, against Haskell Indian Nations at home at 5:30 pm.

The 25th ranked men’s team will play Haskell Indian Nations at the conclusion of the women’s game on Friday. KILJ will be on the call for both games with the pregame show at 5:15 pm.

The men’s wrestling team will be at home tomorrow as they go against Cornell College at 6 pm.

The women’s wrestling team’s dual competition for tonight has been postponed due to weather concerns. The event has not been rescheduled yet. Their next scheduled event is February 4th at the Grand View Open.

The Tigers next indoor meet will be Saturday, January 21st, at the Hilltop Invitational.

This Day in Sports History

1896 – First college basketball game with 5 players on each side is conducted by the University of Iowa; invites student athletes from University of Chicago for an experimental game; Chicago beats Iowa 15-12.

1958 – Willie O’Ree is the 1st African-American to appear in the NHL, making his debut for the Boston Bruins in a 3-0 victory in Montreal.

1983 – IOC restores Jim Thorpe’s Olympic medals (Pentathlon & Decathlon victories) 70 years after they were taken from him for being paid $25 in semi-pro baseball.