High School Basketball
The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will host Burlington tomorrow, February 8th, at 7:30 pm. The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will travel to Fairfield on Friday, February 9th, at 7:30 pm.
The Holy Trinity Catholic boys’ team took out their frustration of losing their 7-game win streak on Highland, pummeling the Huskies 107-46. Luke Hellige collected his 1,000th career point on a record breaking night as his 45 points was a school record. Connor Gehling added 28 points to the win.
The Mediapolis girls’ team was led by Grace Holsteen’s 19 points in a dominant 80-42 win over Central Lee last night. Haley Steffener (16 points) and Jaydon Wirt (14 points) combined for 30 points. The Mediapolis boys’ team followed suit, picking up the 65-57 win over the Hawks. The Bulldogs will take on Tipton tomorrow at 7:30 pm at home.
The Central Lee boys’ team will face off against Davis County tomorrow at 7:30 pm on the road.
The WACO boys’ team ended the regular season with a thunderous win over Pekin last night 70-42.
Van Buren County gave the home crowd a treat last night with a sweep of Cardinal as the boys’ team won 83-51 and the girls picked up a narrow 53-48 victory. Marlee Mertens dropped six three-pointers as she finished with 21 points and Ivy Davison scored 17 points in the win.
Girls’ Basketball Regional Pairings
Regional basketball is set to begin for Class 1A tomorrow, February 8th, and classes 2A and 3A will begin on Saturday, February 10th. Here’s a look at our local matchups.
In Class 1A Region 7, Lone Tree will host Winfield-Mt. Union.
Danville will take on Burlington Notre Dame with the Bears acting as host. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.
Both games are set to begin at 7 pm tomorrow with the winner of the two games competing against one another.
In Class 1A Region 8, WACO will face off against Hillcrest Academy at home and New London will travel to Holy Trinity Catholic. KILJ AM 1130, 98.5 FM, and kilj.com will be covering the Crusaders and Tigers. Both games are scheduled to start at 7 pm tomorrow.
For Class 2A Region 6, Van Buren County hits the road to face off against Pleasantville on Saturday at 7 pm. Columbus will host West Burlington on February 13th at 7 pm.
In Class 3A Region 1, Mediapolis will host Central Lee on Saturday at 7 pm.
In Class 3A Region 5, Fairfield will take on the top seed Solon on the road and Washington will host Davis County. Both games will take place on Saturday at 7 pm.
Boys’ Basketball District Matchups
The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) has released the brackets for District play set to begin on Friday, February 9th, for the Class 1A preliminary round. All games will start at 7 pm. Here’s our local matchups.
In Class 1A Substate 5: District 9, New London and Columbus are set to rumble on Friday at New London in the preliminary round with the winner moving on to play the top seed, #5 Winfield-Mt. Union. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call.
The first-round games will be played on Monday, February 12th and Danville will take on Sigourney at home. Burlington Notre Dame will host Wapello and WACO will face off against Pekin at home.
In District 10, Holy Trinity Catholic holds the top spot and will compete against either Seymour or Tri-County on Monday at home.
Class 2A, Substate 4 District 7 will be headlined by the undefeated #8 West Burlington Falcons. Central Lee and Louisa-Muscatine will compete on Monday with the winner moving on to face off against the Falcons.
On the bottom half of the bracket, Mediapolis will host Van Buren County on Monday with the winner to move on and travel to West Branch on Thursday, February 15th, for the second-round matchup.
The brackets for classes 3A and 4A will be released on Monday with their first-round matchups taking place on February 19th.
High School Wrestling
New London and WACO will travel to Wilton to compete in districts. Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union will wrestle at Solon, while Mt. Pleasant will travel to Fairfield with Burlington Notre Dame, Keokuk, and Mediapolis also in attendance. Districts will take place on Saturday, February 10th, at 10 am.
Hupke Wrestling Productions released their sixth edition of individual rankings for classes 1A, 2A, and 3A. Here’s how some of our local wrestlers fared. In Class 1A, Michael Raines of New London is ranked 8th in the 165-pound weight class and Louden Huisenga of WACO enters the 190-pound weight class rankings at the #5 slot.
In Class 2A, Burlington Notre Dame is ranked 4th as a team as the Nikes are led by Colt Boyles and Kaiden Dietzenbach as they are both ranked 2nd individually in their respective weight classes.
Russel Coil is ranked 3rd for Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union in the 285-pound weight class. Cael McCabe of Fairfield is ranked 3rd in teh 106-pound weight class and Washington has two wrestlers ranked in Aaron Boone and Chase Griener. Mediapolis is led by Kyler Crow as he’s ranked 8th in the 165-pound weight class.
High School Bowling
The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team will be heading to Oskaloosa on Monday, February 12th, and the boys’ team on Tuesday, 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 will host Penn State tomorrow, February 8th, at 8 pm.
The Iowa State women’s team will compete against Oklahoma on Saturday, February 10th, at 6 pm at home.
The #14 Iowa State men’s team’s strong defensive performance in the first half propelled the Cyclones to a 70-65 win over Texas last night. Tamin Lipsey had a nice night with 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and four steals in the win. Iowa State will host TCU on Saturday at 1 pm.
The Iowa men’s team will face off against Penn State on the road tomorrow at 6 pm.
This Day in Sports History
1969 – Diane Crump becomes the first woman jockey to compete at a major US racetrack.
2005 – Britain’s Ellen MacArthur becomes the fastest person to sail solo around the world, taking 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes, and 33 seconds.
2021 – Sarah Thomas becomes the first woman to referee a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, Florida.