By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
Women’s College Basketball: Williamson Back at Wesleyan:
Just days after stepping down from William Penn University, Mount Pleasant native Steve Williamson is coming home.
Sunday the Iowa Wesleyan athletic department officially named Williamson the next head coach of their women’s basketball program.
Williamson accumulated 246 wins, four conference championships, five conference tournament championships, and eight national tournament appearances in his first stint with Iowa Wesleyan.
In his time in Oskaloosa, a program he led for the past four years, Williamson accrued an 88-28 record.
He was 66-20 in conference play.
A two-time Heart of America Conference Coach of the Year, Williamson headed 13 all-Heart performers, one Heart Player of the Year, and three NAIA All-Americans.
Academically, he had seven Heart Scholar-Athletes and five NAIA Scholar-Athlete under his tutelage.
He also led the Statesmen to their first regular season title since 1988 and orchestrated their first Heart of America Conference Tournament title in program history.
William Penn finished 10-9 this year and 10-7 in conference play.
It is unclear when Williamson’s hire will be made effective.
College Softball: Wesleyan Downed in Opening Series:
The Iowa Wesleyan softball team dropped a pair of weekend games to begin their year, falling 3-0 and 13-0 to Graceland University.
Morgan Christner was the losing pitcher in the circle in game one, throwing six innings, yielding three earned runs while striking out nine.
Kayla Ford and Taylor Johnson led the offense with a pair of hits in game one.
In game two, Ariana Wolfard was the losing pitcher, giving up seven runs on eight hits in just 1.1 innings.
Now 0-2, Wesleyan will look to get on the right track tomorrow when they travel to take on the St. Louis College of Pharmacy.
First pitch is set for 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.
College Baseball: 1-3 Weekend for Beaber, Wesleyan:
The Iowa Wesleyan baseball team went 1-3 in their opening weekend series against Greenville University, playing in Edwardsville, Illinois.
The Tigers were swept on opening day, before splitting Saturday’s doubleheader.
Jack de Burgh had two hits and a walk in the 10-5 win for the Tigers, while Erik Kiewiet walked twice and scored two runs.
Former Mediapolis standout Cauy Massner got the start of the Tigers, working four innings, scattering five hits, allowing three earned runs while striking out three.
Mitchell Wilcox was the winning pitcher, hurling two clean innings out of the bullpen.
The Tigers will be off this week before opening up conference play on the road next Thursday against Blackburn College.
Women’s College Basketball: Iowa Advances to Second Round:
Caitlin Clark had 23 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Iowa as the Hawkeyes advanced to the second round with an 87-72 win over Central Michigan.
Monika Czinano added 23 points, and McKenna Warnock posted 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Micaela Kelly had 23 points for Central Michigan.
Iowa will now take on fourth-seeded Kentucky at 2:30 p.m., Tuesday.
Men’s College Basketball: Three Double Digit Seeds Advance to Sweet 16:
One half of the Sweet 16 is set, as three double digit seeds advanced yesterday. Here’s a full rundown of the scoreboard:
No. 8 Loyola-Chicago 71, No. 1 Illinois 58
No. 1 Baylor 76, No. 9 Wisconsin 63
No. 11 Syracuse 75, No. 3 West Virginia 72
No. 3 Arkansas 68, No. 6 Texas Tech 66
No. 2 Houston 63, No. 10 Rutgers 60
No. 15 Oral Roberts 81, No. 7 Florida 78
No. 5 Villanova 84, No. 13 North Texas 61