High School Girls’ Postseason Basketball
Class 4A started off Saturday’s slate of games with a happy ending of #8 Xavier’s Cinderella story as they defeated #2 North Polk 66-47. Saints head coach Tom Lilly was sent off with his sixth state championship. Libby Fandel, who was voted All-Tournament Captain, captured another state tournament record after recording a double-double in the championship game with 36 points and 14 rebounds; her 94 points over the week is a Class 4A tournament record.
In the Class 2A championship bout, #3 Hinton capped off an undefeated season with their first state championship in program history, winning 48-46 over #5 Central Lyon. Sydney Doeschot earned All-Tournament Team captain after finishing the game with 16 points and the game winning block to seal the win at the buzzer.
Fittingly, in the final championship game of the night, #1 St. Albert and #3 Newell-Fonda needed double overtime to dictate the Class 1A champion. Avah Underwood stepped up for the Saints, scoring 20 points and securing 24 rebounds, a 1A tournament game record, to give St. Albert their first state championship in a 61-58 final. Underwood, the All-Tournament Team captain, also broke the overall rebounding record with 55 through the three games.
High School Boys’ Postseason Basketball
Class 4A will tip-off the state tournament today with #4 Waukee Northwest facing off against #5 Cedar Rapids Kennedy. The winner will play either #1 Cedar Falls or #8 Dubuque Senior. The bottom half of the bracket features #2 Linn-Mar taking on #7 Waukee and #3 Valley competing against #6 Ames.
Class 3A will split up their matches with the top half of the bracket playing today and the bottom half of the bracket facing off tomorrow, March 11th. #1 Clear Lake will take on #8 Central DeWitt and #4 Storm Lake will face off against #5 ADM today, while #2 Knoxville will compete against #7 Xavier and #3 Ballard will square off against #6 MOC-Floyd Valley.
In Class 2A, #1 Western Christian will look to avoid the upset against #8 Jesup, while #4 Grand View Christian will take on #5 Treynor. On the bottom half of the bracket, #2 West Lyon will tangle with #7 Union Community, while #3 Unity Christian will verse #6 Grundy Center.
Class 1A will have to wait until Wednesday, March 12th, for their first matchup with #4 Gladbrook-Reinbeck looking to knock off the defending champion #5 North Linn. The winner will take on either #1 Marquette Catholic or #8 Remsen St. Mary’s. #2 Madrid will face off against #7 Boyden-Hull, while #6 Woodbine will look to pull off the upset against #3 St. Edmond.
High School Track
The track season gets underway today as the high school boys’ teams from all around Iowa travel to the UNI-Dome for the Dickinson Relays. The girls’ meet will take place tomorrow, March 11th.
Southeastern Community College
The men’s basketball team fell to Indian Hills Community College for the Region 11 championship over the weekend 72-56. Merquiche Lewis led the scoring with 14 points.
College Basketball
The #10 Iowa State men’s team crushed Kansas State 73-57 to finish out the regular season. Curtis Jones put up 24 points as the team never trailed during the contest. The Cyclones earned the #5 seed in the Big 12 tournament and will face off against either Oklahoma State or Cincinnati on Wednesday, March 12th, at 11:30 am.
The Iowa men’s team needed a victory yesterday to clinch a spot in the Big Ten tournament and they got it done with a dominating 83-68 win over Nebraska. Payton Sandfort led the effort with 22 points. The Hawkeyes will compete against Ohio State in the first round on Wednesday at 5 pm.
The Iowa State and Iowa women’s teams will have to wait until Sunday, March 16th, to see if they will get a spot in the National Championship bracket.
March Madness
The KILJ Bracket Challenge is back for the 2025 March Madness men’s bracket with the same rules as last year. A printable bracket will be posted to KILJ’s Facebook page after Selection Saturday on March 16th. The bracket must be filled out and turned in to sports@kilj.com or our station by the end of the day on March 19th.
For a full list of rules and prizes, follow this link: KILJ Bracket Challenge
This Day in Sports History
1985 – Dallas Maverick coach Dick Motta is the 4th NBA coach to win 700 games.
1991 – Eddie Sutton of Oklahoma State becomes the first coach to lead four schools into the NCAA tournament.
2022 – After a 99-day lockout, Major League Baseball and MLB Players Association reach a new collective bargaining agreement; MLB teams set to play a full 162 game season in 2022.