Girls’ State Basketball
Day two of the 2024 state tournament began with #3 Solon fending off a #6 Dubuque Wahlert comeback attempt to win 58-47. Callie Levin led the way with 20 points for the Spartans as they will take on #2 Des Moines Christian at 3:15 pm tomorrow, February 29th.
Class 4A then got their Quarterfinal games rolling with #1 Clear Creek-Amana stomping #8 Gilbert 68-30. Ava Locklear was one of the four starters to finish in double figures for the Clippers as she also captured 17 rebounds for a double-double.
In a close contest it was #5 North Polk’s dominant play in the paint that gave the Comets the win over #4 Dallas Center-Grimes 48-42. North Polk outscored the Mustangs 28 to 8 in the lane. #1 Clear Creek-Amana will face off against North Polk at 5 pm tomorrow.
#7 Sioux Center appear poised to knock out #2 Waverly-Shell Rock after leading 34 to 29 at half, but Waverly-Shell Rock is undefeated for a reason as Katelyn Eggena’s 21 points willed them to a 55-51 victory.
#3 Bishop Heelan clobbered #6 Lewis Central 70-40. Abby Lee led the scoring with 21 points in the win. Brooke Larsen was a one woman machine for Lewis Central with 24 points and 14 rebounds. #2 Waverly-Shell Rock and #3 Bishop Heelan will compete at 6:45 pm tomorrow.
The day ended with two Class 2A games as #1 Dike-New Hartford demolished #8 Cascade 58-28 and #4 Sioux Central narrowly defeated #5 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 52-48. Dike-New Hartford and Sioux Central will tango at 10 am on Friday, March 1st.
Today’s matchups will finish out the Class 2A Quarterfinal with #2 Panorama taking on #7 Grundy Center and #3 Westwood facing off against #6 Central Lyon.
Class 1A will get all of their Quarterfinal games in with #1 North Linn competing against #8 Montezuma. #4 St. Albert taking on #5 Bishop Garrigan. #2 Newell-Fonda competing against #7 Calamus-Wheatland. Lastly, #3 Remsen St. Mary’s facing of against #6 Martensdale-St. Marys.
Boys’ State Basketball
#4 Winfield-Mt. Union will take on #5 Lynnville-Sully on Monday, March 4th, at 12:15 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at noon.
#4 West Burlington will face off against #5 Treynor on March 4th at 7:15 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 7 pm.
All-SEC Boys’ Basketball
The Southeast Conference (SEC) released their All-Conference teams for Boys’ basketball yesterday and Mt. Pleasant and Keokuk highlighted the First Team.
Mt. Pleasant ended the season with a 13-8 overall record and an 8-2 conference record to capture their second conference title in a row, going undefeated at home in conference play.
Payton Hagans was the star of the SEC, taking home a unanimous First Team All-Conference honor along with SEC Player of the Year. Hagans ranked 1st in the conference in points per game at 22.8, 2nd in steals with 2.3 per game, 5th in assists per game, 1st in three pointers made per game, and second in free throws made per game. His 22.8 points per game ranks 5th in Class 3A, and 24th in the state of Iowa. Hagans also finished his career with 1,205 points.
Also clinching a spot on the First Team for the Panthers was sophomore guard Christian Stacy. He took a big step forward in his development as he went from averaging 2.5 points per game as a freshman to the 4th most in conference at 14.6 points per game. Stacy also boasted the best free throw percentage in the conference with 78.4% clip from the charity stripe.
Senior Nate Stroud earned Second Team All-Conference as the anchor of the Panthers post game. He ranked 13th in points per game at 10.1, 3rd in rebounds per game at 7 per game, and 4th in blocks per game at 0.9.
Receiving All-Conference Honorable Mention was Noah Lange and Avin Truong.
Fort Madison and Keokuk finished with the same conference record of 7-3, but the Bloodhounds won the tiebreaker to finish second in the conference standings.
Hunter Cresswell was a unanimous choice for First Team All-Conference for Fort Madison. He scored the 5th most points in the conference with 13.9 per game, ranked 2nd in rebounding, and 4th in free throws made per game.
Keokuk had senior Diego Garcia and sophomore Jaxon Clark, unanimous, selected to the SEC First Team.
Garcia was the de facto leader of the Chiefs as he led the conference in assists with 4.2 per game, while taking the ball away 2.1 times per game, which ranked 5th in the SEC.
Clark played to his 6’9 stature, ranking 2nd in the SEC in points per game at 20, led the conference in rebounds per game (11.5), field goal percentage (65.5%), and ranked 2nd in blocks with 2.3 rejections per game.
Burlington and Washington finished tied with 4-6 conference records. Shaye Stringer was the lone First Team selection for the Grayhounds as he averaged 11.5 points per game and ranked 3rd in steals per game.
Logan McDole was a unanimous choice for the SEC Second Team for the Demons. McDole averaged 12.3 points per game, while shooting 38% from deep.
Lastly, Fairfield finished with a 0-10 record in conference play and a 1-21 record overall. Riley Perkins ranked 8th in points per game at 12.1 and 4th in assists per game, which earned him a unanimous Second Team selection.
College Basketball
The #4 Iowa women’s team will travel to Minnesota tonight at 8 pm.
The Iowa State women’s team will face off against #10 Kansas State tonight at 6:30 pm.
The #8 Iowa State men’s team will compete against Oklahoma tonight at home at 7 pm.
The Iowa men’s team defeated Penn State last night 90-81. Payton Sandfort made history as the first Iowa men’s basketball player to finish with a triple-double as he cashed in for 28 points, collected 10 rebounds, and dished out 10 assists. The Hawkeyes will face off against Northwestern on Saturday, March 2nd, at 4:30 pm.
This Day in Sports History
1940 – The first televised basketball game (University of Pittsburgh beats Fordham University, 50-37).
1967 – Wilt Chamberlain sinks an NBA record 35th consecutive field goal.
1998 – Vancouver Canucks Mark Messier is the 4th NHL player to collect 1,600 points.