High School Girls’ Postseason Basketball
Class 2A tipped-off the third day of the state tournament with #2 Regina Catholic fending off #7 Maquoketa Valley to advance to the semifinals with a 53-47 final. Morgan Miller finished the contest with 17 points.
The second game of the day saw #3 Hinton overcome a 12-point halftime deficit to down #6 Rock Valley 53-47. The Blackhawks tallied 11 steals to the Rockets’ one. Regina Catholic and Hinton will face off in the semifinals tomorrow, March 7th, at 11:45 am.
#5 Central Lyon will compete against #1 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont in the semifinals tomorrow at 10 am.
It was either feast or famine in Class 1A as #1 St. Albert downed #8 Dunkerton 42-31 after a strong first half. Avah Underwood tabbed a double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds in the winning effort.
#4 Bishop Garrigan smacked #5 Montezuma 69-31 as they look to avenge their loss against St. Albert last year in their semifinal matchup tomorrow at 1:30 pm. Four of the Golden Bears’ five starters finished in double figures.
On the bottom half of the bracket, #2 North Linn, the defending champions, won a brawl against #7 Gladbrook-Reinbeck 33-29 as both offenses struggled. Molly Boge put up 15 points in the win. In a blowout, #3 Newell-Fonda skipped past Springville 60-32. Newell-Fonda and North Linn will meet in the semifinals tomorrow at 3:15 pm.
For Class 5A, #4 Ankeny Centennial and #1 Johnston will collide in the semifinals today at 10 am. On the bottom half of the bracket, #2 Dowling Catholic and #3 Waukee Northwest will be pinned against one another today in the semifinals.
In Class 3A, #1 Mt. Vernon will face off against #5 Estherville Lincoln Central today at 1:30 pm. #3 Williamsburg will compete against #2 Wahlert Catholic in the semifinals today at 3:15 pm.
For Class 4A, #4 Norwalk will take on #8 Xavier in the semifinals tonight at 5 pm. On the bottom half of the bracket, #2 North Polk will run into #6 Dallas Center-Grimes for the third straight year tonight at 6:45 pm.
High School Boys’ Postseason Basketball
Joining North Linn in the Class 1A state tournament set to start on March 10th will be Boyden-Hull, St. Edmond, Marquette Catholic, Gladbrook-Reinbeck, Madrid, Woodbine, and Remsen St. Mary’s.
Also punching their ticket to the Class 2A state tournament with Grand View Christian were Unity Christian, West Lyon, Jesup, Grundy Center, Union Community, Treynor, and Western Christian.
Knoxville is making their first trip to the state tournament since 2000 and joining them will be MOC-Floyd Valley, Storm Lake, Clear Lake, Xavier, Central DeWitt, ADM, and Ballard.
Attending state for Class 4A will be Waukee, Ames, Cedar Falls, Linn-Mar, Dubuque Senior, Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Waukee Northwest, and Valley.
SEC All-Conference Basketball
The Southeast Conference (SEC) released the All-Conference basketball teams for both the boys and girls and two new players were crowned SEC Player of the Year.
On the girls’ side, Mylee Stiefel of Burlington earned SEC Player of the Year after leading her team with 18.5 points and 4.3 assists per game to their first SEC title. She was also a unanimous pick for All-SEC 1st Team.
Also earning a spot on the 1st Team were Fort Madison’s junior duo of Dayonna Davis, unanimous, and Hadley Wolfe, Keokuk’s Camryn Atterberg and Kendra Boatman, unanimous, along with Washington’s unanimous choice of Adalyn Long.
Fairfield’s Faith Jones was named All-SEC 2nd Team, while Mt. Pleasant had Alexa Fuller and Kynlee White make the All-Conference Honorable Mentions.
On the boys’ side, Keokuk’s big man Jaxon Clark boasted the 7th best double-double numbers in the state with 22.7 points and 14.4 rebounds per game on his way to being named SEC Player of the Year along with unanimous All-SEC 1st Team.
The other unanimous selection went to Fort Madison’s Julian Dear as Nolan Guzman joined him on the All-Conference first team as the Bloodhounds claimed the conference title. Burlington’s Nehemiah Lewis, Fairfield’s Riley Perkins, and Logan McDole of Washington earned All-SEC 1st Team.
Mt. Pleasant’s Noah Lange claimed All-SEC 2nd Team honors. Lange ranked 2nd in conference with 7.7 rebounds per game and 4th in blocks per game with 1.1. He was extremely efficient, nailing 59.1% of his shots as he averaged nearly 10 points per game.
For a full list of the All-Conference teams, follow the links:
Girls: All-SEC Honors
Boys: All-SEC Honors
Southeast Iowa Playbook
Last night’s episode of the Southeast Iowa Playbook featured the trio of state qualifying wrestlers from WACO in freshman Ian Maize and seniors Gage Samo and Louden Huisenga.
Samo, the first three-time podium finisher in WACO history, talked about what motivates him to keep coming back to the mat,
“Getting my hand raised is like the best feeling and then celebrating, like with your family and team after like a huge win, especially up at state when you get to see him after your one match of the day, you go and celebrate and give them all hugs and you go back and chill in the hotel room.”
Maize, the runner-up in the 106-pound weight class, is hoping to wrestle at the collegiate level as it is all about wrestling for him,
“I’ve always loved it. Honestly, it’s one of my favorite sports ever since I started. I’ve never really gotten burnt out. I always just wanted to keep grinding and getting better every single day.”
Lastly, Huisenga finished his senior season perfect and with the state title in the 190-pound weight class in a contentious showdown. He discussed what went through his mind during that championship match,
“Just grit and heart mainly, but just knowing in my head that I was going to win the whole match and just staying calm and staying collected throughout the whole match and just getting to a good set up at the end. I was down one with 30 seconds left and I wasn’t panicking at all. I knew I was going to take him down, just kind of waiting out the clock.”
If you missed last night’s episode, then follow this link: WACO Episode
Southeastern Community College
The men’s basketball team will compete against Marshalltown Community College tonight at 7 pm.
College Basketball
The #10 Iowa State men’s team will attempt to venture back into the win column on Saturday, March 8th, at 12:30 pm against Kansas State on the road.
The Iowa men’s team looks to upset #8 Michigan State tonight at 7 pm at home for their senior night.
The Iowa women’s team slammed the door on Wisconsin immediately, running out to a 25 to 9 lead at the end of the first quarter before crushing the Badgers 81-54. Lucy Olsen scored 19 points in the win. The Hawkeyes will take on Michigan State tonight at 8 pm for the second round of the Big 10 tournament.
The Iowa State women’s team will face off against Arizona State tonight at 5:30 pm in the second round of the Big 12 tournament.
This Day in Sports History
1945 – George Nissen of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, receives a patent for the first modern trampoline.
1954 – First ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament: NC State beats Wake Forest, 82-80 (OT).
1982 – NBA highest scoring game: San Antonio beat Milwaukee 171-166 (3 OT).