Sports, February 12th

Girls’ Regional Basketball

In Class 1A Region 7, Danville will travel to Lone Tree tomorrow, February 13th at 7 pm. KILJ AM 1130, 98.5 FM, and kilj.com will be on the call.

In Class 1A Region 8, WACO will travel to Montezuma tomorrow at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm. 

#15 Holy Trinity Catholic will host English Valleys tomorrow at 7 pm. 

For Class 2A Region 6, Van Buren County traveled to Pleasantville over the weekend and pounded the Trojans 52-32. Marlee Mertens splashed 8 three-pointers to finish with 24 points followed by Ivy Davison’s 18 points. The Warriors will remain on the road to take on Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont tomorrow at 7 pm.

Columbus will host West Burlington tomorrow at 7 pm.

In Class 3A Region 1, Mediapolis eliminated Central Lee over the weekend, winning 67-23. Hanna Wagenbach led the effort with a double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. The Bulldogs will host Tipton on Wednesday, February 14th, at 7 pm. The Hawks finished with a 6-16 record. 

In Class 3A Region 5, Fairfield was knocked out by Solon 78-22 and Washington was stalled by Davis County 39-28. The Trojans finished the season with a 3-17 record and the Demons an 8-13 record. 

In Class 4A Region 1, Mt. Pleasant will hit the road to take on Oskaloosa for the second time this season as Oskaloosa won that matchup 55-17. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.

The winner of this game will take on #1 Clear Creek-Amana.

On the bottom half of the bracket, it will be a Southeast Conference matchup between Fort Madison and Burlington. The winner will be tasked with a road matchup against Keokuk. 

The first-round for Class 4A is scheduled to begin on Wednesday at 7 pm.

Boys’ District Basketball

The first round of Districts is set to begin tonight with all games beginning at 7 pm. Here’s a look at our local matchups. 

Starting in Substate 5 District 9, New London will travel to face off against #5 Winfield-Mt. Union. KILJ AM 1130, 98.5 FM, and kilj.com will have the call. 

Danville will take on Sigourney at home. Burlington Notre Dame will host Wapello and WACO will face off against Pekin at home.

In Substate 5 District 10, Holy Trinity Catholic will compete against Tri-County. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.

Class 2A, Substate 4 District 7 will be headlined by the undefeated #8 West Burlington Falcons. Central Lee and Louisa-Muscatine will compete tonight with the winner moving on to face off against the Falcons.

On the bottom half of the bracket, Mediapolis will host Van Buren County tonight with the winner to move on and travel to West Branch on Thursday, February 15th, for the second-round matchup.

High School Basketball

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team hit the road over the weekend to take on Oskaloosa and was outscored 33 to 21 in the second and third quarters combined to fall 56-50. The Panthers will end the regular season facing off against Pella tomorrow, February 13th, at 7 pm. 

High School Wrestling

Districts took place over the weekend and here’s all of our local state qualifiers. 

In Class 1A, New London’s Gage Burden and WACO’s Gage Samo claimed second in their respective weight classes in Wilton to punch their ticket to the state tournament. Louden Huisenga was the district champion in the 190-pound weight class. Wapello will have Zach Harbison and Matthew Helscher wrestle. 

In Class 2A, Burlington Notre Dame had five district champions at Fairfield in Carter West, CJ Davis, Kaiden Dietzenbach, Dirk Boyles, and Blake Wilson. Colt Boyles and Kael Cook also qualified. 

Fairfield will have five wrestlers compete in Cael McCabe (district champion), Cason Miller, Dain Burkhart (district champion), Carter Moore, and Dre Smithburg. Mediapolis’ Kyler Crow qualified in the 165-pound weight class. 

Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union had Ty Scorpil finish as district champion as Jacob Nelson, Kason Dopler, and Russel Coil also qualified. Lastly, Washington’s Aaron Boone qualified as district champion. 

For Class 3A, Braxton Hutchinson of Burlington finished as a district champion in the 106-pound weight class.

Fort Madison will have Nolan Riddle, Isaac Thacher, and Cory Arnett (district champion) wrestling at the tournament. 

The state tournament will begin on Wednesday, February 14th, at 9 am. 

High School Bowling

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will be heading to Oskaloosa today and the boys’ team tomorrow, February 13th, to compete in the state qualifying meet. Burlington and Keokuk will also be making the trip.

College Basketball

The #2 Iowa women’s team was outpaced 27 to 10 in the final quarter to fall 82-79 yesterday to conference foe Nebraska. Caitlin Clark finished with a double-double as she scored 31 points and dished out 10 assists. The Hawkeyes will host Michigan on Thursday, February 15th, at 7 pm. 

The Iowa State women’s team’s struggles continue as the Cyclones have now dropped five of their last six after losing to #24 Oklahoma over the weekend 86-72. Audi Crooks was the leading scorer with 14 points. The Cyclones will face off against #8 Kansas State on Wednesday, February 14th, at 6:30 pm. 

The #14 Iowa State men’s team dispatched TCU over the weekend 71-59. Tre King led the winning effort with 15 points. The Cyclones will travel to Cincinnati tomorrow, February 13th, to compete against the Bearcats at 6 pm. 

The Iowa men’s team pulled off the comeback yesterday against Minnesota 90-85 after trailing by as much as 20 during the game. Patrick McCaffery and Payton Sandfort scored 21 points in the winning effort. The Hawkeyes will take on Maryland on Wednesday at 7:30 pm on the road. 

This Day in Sports History

1937 – Cleveland (now Los Angeles) Rams granted an NFL franchise. 

1982 – Wayne Gretzky scores 153rd point of season, breaking a then-NHL record. Gretzky holds the record with 215 points. 

2007 – Marty Schottenheimer is abruptly fired as head coach of the San Diego Chargers after a 14-2 regular season record due to lack of playoff success and a strained relationship with ownership.