High School Basketball
The Mt. Pleasant boys team moved to 5-2 on the season after handling business against Monroe City 62-27. Three Panthers put up double digit points with Payton Hagans leading the team with 16 points, Carter Amos followed with 14 points, and Aaiden Ashton added 12 points to the effort. Mt. Pleasant will have one more conference matchup before heading to Winter Break tomorrow, December 20th, against Burlington with the girls being at home and the boys traveling to play the Grayhounds. KILJ will be covering the boys game with pregame at 7:15 pm.
The New London Tigers boys basketball team put up huge numbers against GMG coming out with the victory 99-69. Blaise Porter and Kade Benjamin combined for 72 points with Porter netting 41 points and Benjamin adding 31 points and 8 steals. The boys team will play Moravia tomorrow at 7:30 pm on the road and the girls team’s next game is January 1st against Van Buren County.
Holy Trinity Catholic swept the weekend as the girls team beat Clark County 48-30 with Mary Kate Bendlage coming off the bench and putting up 17 points. The boys team clobbered Highland 71-36. The Crusaders will have to wait until January 6th to host Central Lee with the girls going at 6:30 pm.
The Central Lee Hawks will host Columbus tonight with the girls starting at 6 pm and the boys to follow.
The Winfield-Mt. Union Wolves will face off against Highland tomorrow with the girls going at 6 pm.
WACO will face off against Sigourney at home tonight with the girls scheduled to start at 6 pm.
High School Wrestling
The Mt. Pleasant boys team competed at the Regina Invitational last weekend with Ramzy Davis claiming 6th place after falling to Elijah Simons of Fairfield in the fifth place match. Bowen Davis won the fifth place match by decision; Gavin Kerr and William Birdsell did not place at the Invitational. The boys will be back in action January 12th when they travel to face off with Washington.
The girls team wrestled at the Wilton Tournament last weekend with the Panthers finishing the weekend with three wrestlers getting on the podium. Zenlynn Lee and Natalie Albright each earned first place after taking each of their matches by fall. Ella McNamee is 15-2 on the season after claiming third place by major decision. Natalie Parrott won her fifth place match by forfeit and Alexis Wagner did not place. The girls team will compete at the Highland Tournament January 6th.
High School Bowling
The Mt. Pleasant Panthers girls and boys teams next competition will be January 5th against Washington at the Iris Bowling Center.
Iowa Wesleyan Athletics
The men’s basketball team extended their win streak to 12 games this past weekend after defeating Williams Baptist University 87-61. Both teams were shooting lights out from beyond the arc to start the game with the Eagles going 8 for 10 and the Tigers going 7 for 11. Going into halftime the Tigers only led 44-38 but Iowa Wesleyan turned up the defense allowing only 23 points in the second half. Gacoby Jones had a stellar game leading the squad with 23 points making four three pointers. Henry Shannon added a double-double to the winning effort. The Tigers play this afternoon at 3 pm against Hastings College at home with KILJ on the call with pregame at 2:45 pm.
The women’s basketball team will look to have Coach Williamson break the record for most career victories in Iowa Wesleyan history December 29th on the road against Bellevue University for the Bellevue Classic at 12:30 pm.
The women’s wrestling team will compete December 29th and 30th at the Soldier Salute Tournament.
The men’s wrestling team will have to wait until next year to wrestle at Central Methodist University on January 10th.
The Tiger’s next indoor meet will be the Dutch Athletics Classic on January 14th.
This Day in Sports History
1980 – “Raging Bull”, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro as boxer Jake LaMotta and Cathy Moriarty as his wife, is released in the United States.
1983 – The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro.
2010 – “Miracle at the New Meadowlands”, Philadelphia Eagles trail New York Giants by 21 points with eight minutes to play, before scoring 4 touchdowns in final 7 minutes, including a dramatic walk-off punt returned for a touchdown by DeSean Jackson.