High School Basketball
The Mt. Pleasant girls’ team traveled to Holy Trinity Catholic and clawed their way past the Crusaders to come out with the win 34-26. Mary Kate Bendlage was an offensive wrecking machine finishing with 18 points and keeping the Crusaders in it for the first three quarters, but it was Hailey Parrott’s last second four-point play to end the third quarter to make the score 31-19 that sealed the game for the Panthers. Andrea Lopreato collected a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team dominated the first half of play outscoring Albia 31-10 on their way to a home victory 56-32. Mt. Pleasant will be facing off against conference rival Fairfield, this Friday, January 13th, with the girls on the road and the boys at home.
The Winfield-Mt. Union girls faced off in a top 15 matchup with Mediapolis last night and came out on top 54-38. Bradie Buffington was leader of the Wolf pack tallying a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Keetyn Townsley aided the effort with 10 points. Haley Steffener led the Bulldogs with 19 points. The Wolves remain undefeated at 13-0. Winfield-Mt. Union will travel to play Louisa-Muscatine tonight with the girls starting at 6 pm and the boys to follow.
The WACO girls team led by Ellah Kissell’s amazing 39 point performance defeated New London 70-39. Grace Coble aided the winning effort by scoring 11 points. Mylee Miller was the leading scorer for the Tigers with 10 points. The New London boys’ team kept it close with the game tied at 45 heading into the final quarter, but the Warriors remained undefeated on the season, outdoing the Tigers 68-64. Blaise Porter was the leading scorer of the night with 25 points, with Cade Benjamin scoring 16 points of his own for the Tigers. Simeon Reichenbach was the leading scorer for the Warriors with 19 points followed by Odee Shetefanchuk with 16 points. WACO will be traveling to play Hillcrest Academy Thursday, January 12th, with the girls playing first at 6 pm.
New London will host Van Buren County tonight with the girls playing first at 6 pm followed by the boys.
The Danville Bears will travel to play Holy Trinity Catholic tonight with the girls’ scheduled to play at 6 pm and the boys to follow.
The Central Lee Hawks will travel to play Mediapolis tonight with the girls’ scheduled to start at 6 pm.
High School Wrestling
The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will compete against Washington Thursday, January 12th, on the road.
The girls team will be wrestling tonight at the Pella Tournament at 5:30 pm.
High School Bowling
Mt. Pleasant will host Fairfield next Thursday, January 19th.
Iowa Wesleyan Athletics
The men’s and women’s basketball teams will travel to play Baptist Bible College January 13th with the women playing at 5:30 pm and the men at 7 pm.
Both wrestling teams will wrestle at Central Methodist University tonight.
The Tiger’s next indoor meet will be the Dutch Athletics Classic on January 14th.
This Day in Sports History
1982 – NFC Championship, Candlestick Park, SF: San Francisco 49ers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 28-27; “The Catch” – iconic moment in NFL history – Dwight Clark makes a fingertip catch for a TD from Joe Montana with 58 seconds remaining; San Francisco goes on to win the Super Bowl.
1983 – New York Supreme Court issues a preliminary injunction barring the New York Yankees from playing a season-opening series against the Detroit Tigers in Denver.
1986 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Los Angeles Lakers scores his 34,000th career point during 124-102 win over Indiana Pacers; only NBA player to reach the milestone at that time; remains all-time leader (38,387).