High School Basketball
The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team were tested in another close game, but this time the Panthers came out victorious 40-38 over Fort Madison. Coach Eric Rawson talked about how important it was for his team to come out with a win of this caliber. The game was close from the start as Aaiden Ashton missed most of the first half due to foul trouble and without Payton Hagans, it was up to Owen Vansickel to lead the team. Vansickel did just that as he led the team with 16 points and with a 37-31 lead heading into the 4th quarter it appeared that the Panthers had it in the bag. Alas, the Bloodhounds would allow the Panthers to score 3 points in the fourth quarter and make it a one-point game with less than a minute to go. The Panther defense would do its job and shut out the Bloodhounds to come out with the win to move on and play Solon in the next round of the District tournament. Coach Rawson talked about the upcoming matchup on Thursday at 7 pm.
The Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ team will take on North Mahaska tomorrow, February 22nd, and the boys’ team will take on New London tonight, February 21st. Both games will be covered by KILJ with pregame at 6:45 pm.
High School Bowling
The state championship will be running through the 22nd.
Iowa Wesleyan Athletics
The women’s basketball team will take on Bacone College on February 24th at 11:30 am to start the conference tournament. Kyla Moore was awarded the Continental Athletic Conference (CAC) Player of the Week after helping the Tigers go 2-0 last week. Moore averaged 23 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.5 steals per contest. She also nailed 18 of 20 free throws in the two games. This is her second time winning the award.
The 23rd-ranked men’s team will enter the Continental Athletic Conference tournament as 2nd overall seed and take on Haskell Indian Nations on February 24th at 8:15 pm.
The men’s wrestling team will have Lane Scorpil represent the Tigers at the NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championship meet on March 3rd.
The women’s wrestling team will start the 2023 Heart of America Conference Championship on February 25th.
The Tigers Indoor Track and Field teams will be competing in the NAIA Indoor Track and Field national championship meet on March 2nd.
The Tiger baseball team will have another doubleheader February 25th against Kansas Wesleyan University with the first game going at 12 pm.
The Tiger softball team will have a doubleheader against University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis on Thursday, February 23rd, with game one at 2 pm.
This Day in Sports History
1931 – Chicago White Sox & NY Giants play 1st exhibition night game.
1979 – Two Iowa girls high school basketball teams played 4 scoreless quarters and the final was 4-2 after four overtime periods.
2016 – 58th Daytona 500: Denny Hamlin wins closest finish in race history – by just 0.01 of a second.