High School Basketball
In front of a packed crowd at Mediapolis High School, fans were treated to an entertaining Class 1A District 7 semifinal matchup between Winfield-Mt. Union and New London. The first half was dominated by New London and specifically Blaise Porter who scored 19 of his 23 points in the first two quarters of play to give the Tigers a healthy 38 to 21 lead entering the 2nd half. The Tigers kept it up in the 3rd quarter with Kade Benjamin scoring 15 of his 21 points in the second half, but Porter would foul out at the end of the quarter. Cam Buffington and Abram Edwards would lead the charge for the Wolves to make it close late as Buffington scored 29 points and Edwards finished with 11 points. It would prove to not be enough as the Tigers won 58-52 despite being outscored 20 to 8 in the final quarter. Winfield-Mt. Union’s head coach Klay Edwards talked about his team’s effort after the game. New London will travel to Solon High School to take on Marquette Catholic in the substate game on February 25th at 7 pm. KILJ will be on the call with pregame at 6:45 pm.
The Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ team game against North Mahaska tonight has been postponed to tomorrow, February 23rd, with KILJ on the call with pregame at 6:45 pm.
The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will play Solon in the next round of the District tournament. Coach Rawson talked about the upcoming matchup tomorrow, February 23rd, at 7 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. The defending conference champions will enter the tournament as the #1 seed after going undefeated in conference play.
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 tomorrow, February 23rd, with game one at 2 pm.
This Day in Sports History
1888 – “Father of American Golf” John Reid first demonstrates golf on a Yonkers cow pasture to friends..
1893 – First Iron Bowl: Auburn beats Alabama 32-22 in Birmingham.
1959 – Inaugural Daytona 500: Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp cross finish line side by side; Beauchamp declared unofficial winner; ruling overturned after 3 days by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr.