High School Basketball
The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team brawled with Holy Trinity Catholic last night, but the Crusader defense delivered the decisive blow, winning 41-28. The Panthers went on a 9 to 2 run in the third quarter to cut the deficit to four, but as head coach Curt Watson said after the game, it proved to not be enough,
“Yeah, we decided we were coming out we’re just going to give it everything we got and put a little press in there and I thought we got right back into the game and then we kind of got cold air at the start of the fourth quarter and they made a few layups on us and kind of turned the game around right about the start of the fourth quarter.”
Alexa Fuller led the scoring with 10 points on the night for the Panthers, while Elizabeth Griffin cashed in for 16 points for the Crusaders. The Panthers will take on Oskaloosa at home tonight with game time at 7 pm.
Holy Trinity Catholic will take on West Burlington on Friday with the girls starting the night at 6 pm.
The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team could not keep up with Burlington Notre Dame’s offensive production last night, falling 72-44. Noah Lange led the Panthers with 12 points. Mt. Pleasant will travel to Fort Madison on Friday, December 13th, at 7:30 pm.
New London will take on Burlington Notre Dame at home on Friday with the girls playing first at 6 pm.
The Central Lee girls’ team handed Columbus their first loss of the season last night 54-44. The Wildcats will face off against Highland tonight at home with the night scheduled to start at 6.
Central Lee will host Danville on Friday with game one at 6 pm.
The Danville girls’ team lost to Fort Madison last night 61-31.
The Mediapolis girls’ team stomped Wilton last night 75-35. Ellah Wagenbach tallied 18 points as the Bulldogs nabbed 20 steals in the win. Mediapolis will compete against Washington tonight with the girls’ scheduled to play at 6 pm followed by the boys’ game.
Wapello will take on Lone Tree tonight at home with the night starting at 6 pm.
Fairfield will face off against Ottumwa tonight on the road with the girls’ tipping off at 6:15 pm.
WACO will stay at home to play Louisa-Muscatine tonight with the boys’ following the girls game at 7:30.
Winfield-Mt. Union will start a three-game homestand tonight against Hillcrest Academy with game one at 6 pm.
Van Buren County will travel to West Burlington tonight with game one at 6 pm.
High School Wrestling
The Mt. Pleasant, WACO, and Wapello girls’ teams competed at the Williamsburg Invitational last night. For the Panthers, Zenlynn Lee finished the night 2-2 with a win over Aubree Bunnell of Fort Madison by fall and a 7-3 decision victory over Peggy Miller of Washington to finish in 4th place at the 145-pound weight class. Paris Phosy grabbed 8th place in the 115-pound weight class. WACO’s Elyssa Graber took 6th place in the 105-pound weight class, while Kenadee Helscher of Wapello finished with the gold in the 100-pound weight class with a 6-3 decision win in the championship match.
The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, Van Buren County, Mediapolis, and Mt. Pleasant girls’ teams will compete at the Keokuk Invitational on Saturday.
Fairfield will face off against Washington on Thursday, December 12th, at home.
The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team will compete in a double dual on Thursday at home with Burlington Notre Dame in attendance.
The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will travel to Keokuk on Thursday.
The New London boys’ team will host a quad with Wapello attending on Thursday.
The Mediapolis boys’ team will compete at the Tiger Duals on Saturday, December 14th, at Grinnell.
The WACO and Van Buren County boys’ teams will head to Tri-County for their invitational, while the WACO girls’ will travel to Vinton-Shellsburg for a tournament on Saturday.
The Wapello girls’ team will participate in a tournament on Saturday at Marion.
High School Bowling
Fairfield split the night against Davis County with the girls’ team falling to the Mustangs 2,412-1,809, while the boys snuck out with a 2,770-2,592 victory. Grace Forrest led the girls with 282 pins and Ethan Cass anchored the boys’ team with 423 pins. The Trojans will host Mt. Pleasant on Monday, December 16th.
Mt. Pleasant will take on Keokuk on Thursday, December 12th, at home.
College Signing
As college coaches look to fill out their recruiting class, Coe College’s Division-III softball program added a Crusader to their ranks as Emily Ross of Holy Trinity Catholic signed her National Letter of Intent yesterday.
She admitted that the proximity of Coe College—located in Cedar Rapids—was an important factor in her decision amongst other things,
“I’ve really enjoyed the coaches, they are very nice and then also the girls are all very nice as well and just the atmosphere at Coe like where it is, where it’s located, everything like that was just perfect for me.”
Ross destroyed the ball in her first action at the varsity level last season. The junior finished the year with a top five slash line in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference South, going with a 0.519 batting average (3rd)/0.581 on-base percentage (3rd)/0.815 slugging percentage (5th).
Crusader head coach Loren Menke discussed how important she has been to her squad,
“What she means for our program, she means pretty much everything. She’s a great softball player. Beyond that, she’s a great person and she’s a great leader and the kids just look up to her and. It’s like having a second coach. She’s just outstanding. I don’t know. I’ve heard countless kids say how they can’t imagine her not being on the team after this year. They all look up to her.”
She will be studying accounting and business administration as she joins a Kohawk squad that finished with an impressive 34-11 record (12-4 in conference) for the 2024 season, falling to #7 Case Western Reserve University in the NCAA Super Regionals. Coe College ended the year with their second consecutive 30-win season and NCAA Regional Title.
Southeastern Community College
The #11 men’s basketball team will participate in the Highland tournament on Friday, December 13th.
College Football
#18 Iowa State will face off against #16 Miami in the Pop Tarts Bowl on December 28th at 2:30 pm in Orlando.
Iowa will take on #19 Missouri for the Music City Bowl on December 30th in Nashville at 1:30 pm.
College Basketball
The Iowa men’s team will host #3 Iowa State for the Cy-Hawk Series on Thursday, December 12th, at 6:30 pm.
The #21 Iowa women’s team will take on #18 Iowa State at home for the Cy-Hawk Series tomorrow, December 11th, at 8 pm.
This Day in Sports History
1922 – The First National Football League Championship: the undefeated Canton Bulldogs (10-0-2) are named inaugural champions.
2012 – 78th Heisman Trophy Award: Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M (QB); first freshman to win the award.
2016 – 82nd Heisman Trophy Award: Lamar Jackson, Louisville Cardinals (QB), youngest player to win at 19.