High School Boys’ Postseason Basketball
Class 3A finished out their quarterfinal matchups yesterday and upsets populated the bottom half of the bracket. The day started with #7 Xavier holding #2 Knoxville to just 29% shooting from the field in a 52-37 win over the Panthers. AJ Evans collected a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds in the win for the Saints.
#6 MOC-Floyd Valley followed the same blueprint but with a bit more dramatics, sneaking past #3 Ballard 55-51. Three of the Dutchmen’s five starters scored 48 of the team’s 55 points. Xavier and MOC-Floyd Valley will play tomorrow, March 13th, at 12:15 pm.
For the top half of the bracket in Class 3A, Clear Lake and ADM will face off tomorrow at 10:30 am.
In Class 2A, no upsets were had as two of the four quarterfinal matchups were decided by 31 points. #1 Western Christian demolished #8 Jesup 69-38 as Karsten Moret put up 23 points in the winning effort. The Wolfpack will meet #4 Grand View Christian in the semifinals after the Thunder downed #5 Treynor 61-46. Brayden Hoben led the scoring with 26 points. The semifinal matchup will be played tomorrow at 2 pm.
On the bottom half to the bracket, #2 West Lyon ran up the score against #7 Union Community, winning 81-50. Jorden Meyer buried 25 points in the win. #3 Unity Christian won a slugfest against #6 Grundy Center 48-46 as the Knights outscored the Spartans 18 to 10 in the fourth quarter. West Lyon and Unity Christian will compete tomorrow at 3:45 pm.
Class 1A will tip-off today 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.
In Class 4A, #1 Cedar Falls will play #4 Waukee Northwest and #2 Linn-Mar will take on #3 Valley tonight for their semifinal matchups.
High School Track
The Mt. Pleasant, Columbus, and Winfield-Mt. Union girls’ teams participated in the Dickinson Relays at the UNI-Dome yesterday as the Panthers touted four competitors finishing within the top 20.
In the 60-meter dash prelims, Mt. Pleasant had Ellie Freeman take 63rd place, while Alex Scott punched her ticket to the finals with a time of 8.05 seconds. She would clock the same time in the finals for an 8th place finish.
In the 60-meter hurdles, Josie Nelson of Winfield-Mt. Union finished in 47th place with a time of 10.44 seconds and Mt. Pleasant’s Taylor Williamson and Jayden Yoder grabbed 65th and 68th place, respectively.
Southeast Iowa ran close in the 200-meter dash but it was Winfield-Mt. Union’s Kynlee Buffington that led the pack with a 51st place time of 28.52 seconds followed by Kymila Bacon of Columbus in 63rd place and Mt. Pleasant’s Freeman grabbed 68th place.
In the relays, Mt. Pleasant competed well with an 18th place time of 1 minute and 51 seconds in the 4×200 with the team of Abigail Shelangoski, Kiyah Sanders, Kynlee White, and Scott. Jenna Schwartz and Linzy Streigel joined White and Sanders in the 4×400 as the squad collected a 21st place finish with a time of 4 minutes and 28 seconds.
Columbus had the team of Iris Garza, Isabel Rendon, Gabriela Duran, and Martiza Tovar take 35th place in the 4×800 with a time of 11 minutes and 27 seconds. Winfield-Mt. Union’s Nelson, Jayda Nichols, Scotlyn Roen, and Buffington captured 60th place in the 4×200.
In the field events, Schwartz leapt 4 feet and 10 inches to claim 19th place in the high jump for the Panthers. Izzy Sloat had an impressive freshman performance with a 15th place jump of 16 feet and 1.5 inches in the long jump. Over in the shot put, Mt. Pleasant’s Ella Ensminger broke the top 10 with a heave of 36 feet and 8.5 inches followed by her teammate Ava English with a toss of 34 feet and 6.75 inches, which was good enough for 15th place. Isabella Forbes of Columbus claimed 38th place with a throw of 32 feet and 6.75 inches.
The IATC Indoor Championships will take place tomorrow, March 13th, for the boys’ teams and Friday, March 14th, for the girls’ teams at Iowa State University.
High School Girls Basketball
The Iowa Girls Coaches Association announced the senior Larry Niemeyer All-Star Game rosters for the upcoming games this Saturday, March 15th, and Lily Coil of Columbus will be playing for the Gray Team in Class 2A.
Coil led the Wildcats with 15.4 points and 8.6 rebounds per game and added 3.8 steals per game on defense as Columbus claimed their program’s first Southeast Iowa Super Conference North title after finishing the season with an 18-5 record.
The Class 2A Gray team will play the Class 2A White team at 2:15 pm.
Southeast Iowa Playbook
Tune in to KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, tonight at 6 pm for a new episode of the Southeast Iowa Playbook. The episode will recap the basketball postseason journey for our local teams.
Southeastern Community College
The softball team will be hosting a spring break camp from March 17th through the 20th for grades 2-5 from 8 am to 10 am and grades 6-12 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm at Fun City Turf at 614 S. Broadway Street. It is $120 per student or $100 for a sibling discount as the participants should bring their bats, gloves, and sliding gear.
There are limited spaces available and a registration form to fill out attached to this article. Instructions on where to mail the form are located on the registration.
Link: Softball Registration
College Basketball
The #12 Iowa State men’s team earned the #5 seed in the Big 12 tournament and will face off against Cincinnati today at 11:30 am.
The Iowa men’s team will compete against Ohio State in the first round tonight 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
1881 – Andrew Watson makes his Scotland debut as the world’s first Black international football player and captain.
2020 – The 2020 NCAA men’s basketball tournament is canceled over concerns of the spread of COVID-19; first time ‘March Madness’ not held since it began in 1939; women’s tournament also canceled.
2023 – PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: Scottie Scheffler becomes the third golfer, after Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, to hold the Masters and Players titles at the same time.