High School Boys’ Postseason Basketball
For Class 1A Substate 4 District 8, Holy Trinity Catholic and #10 Burlington Notre Dame squared off for the third time this season having split the matchup in the regular season; expectantly, it was slugfest throughout as the two were tied at 12 at the end of the first quarter but the Nikes grabbed control in the second quarter and never relinquished, winning 55-46.
Notre Dame was able to limit the Crusader offense to their worst offensive output of the season, while the Nikes were also able to dominate the offensive boards to earn some second chance points. Shay Stephens facilitated the offense with 18 points in the winning effort. After graduating six seniors last year and returning only one starter, few expected Notre Dame to work their way back to this position except for head coach Dan Kies,
“I mean we’ve got some multi-sport guys that play, and they and they were around, they’ve been together, they played together. You know, a few juniors that are same class as Shay and it helps to have Shay, he is a great player. And they kind of just surround him, and he can create for them, and they play off of him. But they work at it defensively. They work at it on the boards. I think our rebounding is pretty solid throughout. You know, it helps to have a great leader who works as hard as he does. And the other guys just fall in line, you know it. Different nights, different guys step up and maybe one of them has an off night and a couple of sophomores step up and have a great night. You know, team victory and these guys, you know, they just worked at it as a group.”
Luke Hellige put up 18 points, while Adam Sobczak collected 10 points for the Crusaders. Hellige finished his career with 1,792 points and the program leader in points, rebounds, and three-pointers made, while Sobczak finished his career as the all-time leader in assists. Head coach John Hellige was disappointed in the outcome, but proud of his squad,
“Yeah, I mean, tough team you know, but at the end of the day, Holy Trinity had a great season. I mean we competed for the substate final last year, district final this year. You know it’s coming off some seasons that we’re a little bit lean and to go 19-6 and 19-5, just speaks volumes to the upper classmen. You know, your Adam Sobczak, your Luke Hellige that basically rewritten the record book at Holy Trinity and Southeast Iowa Basketball for assists and points and steals, and three pointers made. Koby Jones had a great senior year, but in general, you know, just proud of the hard work and effort of the team to get to this point and, you know, it always stinks to lose. But you know what I love more than anything as a coach is just the process, the practices, the summer stuff, the open gyms and the team events where, you know, an old guy like me gets to hang around these guys and feel young again and hopefully motivate them to, you know, continue the success.”
#10 Burlington Notre Dame will face off against #8 North Linn for the Substate Championship on Saturday, March 1st, at 7 pm at Iowa City High. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.
For Class 2A Substate 5: District 9, #10 West Burlington needed overtime but the Falcons got the job done, beating Mid-Prairie 71-63. Mason Watkins finished the night with 29 points in the winning effort. The Falcons will compete against #5 Grand View Christian for the Substate Championship on Saturday at 7 pm at Oskaloosa high school.
For Class 3A Substate 6, Keokuk will travel to Mt. Vernon tomorrow, February 27th, at 7 pm.
High School Girls’ Postseason Basketball
In Class 2A Region 2, Danville will compete against #2 Regina Catholic tonight at 7 pm at Muscatine High School for the regional championship. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.
High School Bowling
The state bowling tournament continued play yesterday with Madalyn Millard and Bethany Drury of Mt. Pleasant and Jaelynn Ketterer, Sophia Rule, Natalie Alberts, and Addison Spicer for Keokuk participating in the girls’ Class 2A individual championship. Through the first three games to decide the top-eight bracket, Millard bowled a 454 to finish in 30th place, while Drury grabbed 21st place with 534 total pins.
Keokuk had Spicer just miss out on the top eight by one pin to finish in 9th place. Advancing to the championship bracket was #7 Ketterer, looking for back-to-back titles, #5 Alberts, and #2 Rule.
Ketterer would defeat her own teammate Rule in the first round 258-194, then down Emily Whitehead of Clinton 225-198 to advance to the championship match against Lindy Dhuse of North Scott. Unfortunately, no repeat was in the works as Ketterer fell 216-176 to claim 2nd place. Alberts went on to beat Rule 188-174 for 5th place.
In the boys’ Class 2A individual tournament, Pray Lawson of Keokuk earned the #7 seed but fell in his first two matches, casting him to the 7th place match where he outdueled Damien Timm of Urbandale 259-201 to claim 7th place.
Southeastern Community College
The men’s basketball team will travel to Sauk Valley Community College tonight at 7 pm.
College Basketball
The #9 Iowa State men’s team started the game ice cold and could not regain enough momentum to avoid the upset by Oklahoma State, falling 74-68. Joshua Jefferson nabbed 17 points in the effort. The Cyclones will host #22 Arizona on Saturday, March 1st, at 8 pm.
The Iowa men’s team struggled against Illinois last night, losing 81-61. Brock Harding led the scoring with 16 points. The Hawkeyes will travel to Northwestern on Friday, February 28th, at 8 pm.
The Iowa women’s team will square off against Michigan tonight at 6 pm on the road.
The Iowa State women’s team rumbled past UCF last night 98-73. Audi Crooks and Addy Brown put together terrific games with Crooks going off for 29 points and Brown finishing the night with 20 points. The Cyclones will face off against #14 Kansas State on Sunday, March 2nd, at 3 pm at home.
This Day in Sports History
1967 – 9th Daytona 500: Mario Andretti wins his first and only NASCAR Grand National event; only time a driver born outside the US has ever won the Great American Race.
1981 – 84 penalties (406 mins) assessed for a brawl between the NHL’s Minnesota North Stars and the Boston Bruins. Boston won 5-1.
2017 – 59th Daytona 500: Kurt Busch wins after Kyle Larson runs out of gas on the last lap; Jeffrey Earnhardt makes NASCAR history as the first ever 4th generation driver to compete in the Daytona 500.