Boys’ Prep Basketball: Burlington, Mount Pleasant Collide in Rivalry Scrap:
Old friends will collide tonight when Mount Pleasant takes on Burlington in a pivotal Southeast Conference matchup.
Mount Pleasant, led by Eric Rawson and Burlington by Caleb Akey were both former assistants under the great Paul Rundquist right here at Mount Pleasant.
Akey was the head coach for the Panthers before taking the job at Burlington last year, paving the way for Rawson to take over controls of the program.
Both teams are off to a bit of a slower start than anticipated, though the Grayhounds have played a tough schedule.
Burlington is 3-5 with losses against Iowa City High, Iowa City West, Washington and Cedar Rapids Prairie.
They’re led by potential conference player of the year candidate Amarion Davis.
Davis is scoring 15.7 points per game and his shooting better than 50% from three point land.
Mount Pleasant, now 2-4, is coming off a tough loss last week to No. 5 Washington.
The Panthers are 10-3 in the last thirteen against Burlington, with the Grayhounds snapping a six-game Mount Pleasant winning streak last year in a 61-45 win.
Tonight’s game will tip at 7:30 p.m.
You can listen on FM 105.5 and kilj.com.
Nathan Bloechl and Kent Bennett will have the call with pre-game show beginning at 7:15 p.m.
Other Southeast Conference matchups tonight:
- Washington meets Fort Madison
- Keokuk battles Fairfield
All Southeast Conference scraps are boy-girl home-and-home’s.
Girls’ Prep Basketball: Can Mount Pleasant Stay Hot? Super Conference Schedule:
The Mount Pleasant girls’ basketball team will aim for back-to-back wins for the first time this season tonight when they battle DeDe Warner’s Burlington Grayhounds.
The Panthers are coming off their most dominant victory of the season last Friday when they beat Washington 61-32.
Andrea Lopreato scored 31 points in Friday’s win and set the school record for points in a single game with 37 last year against Burlington.
The junior is up to 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.
Perhaps making the biggest jump for Curt Watson’s group has been the steady play of senior guard Kenna Lamm.
Lamm is second on the team in scoring at just under 13.0 points per game. She’s connecting on 33% of her three-point shots and is primarily tasked with guarding the other teams’ best player.
Tonight, that means going “mano y mano” with Burlington guard Alexis Standard.
Standard is scoring 13.7 points per game for the Grayhounds despite their 0-6 start.
Mount Pleasant has won three straight over the Grayhounds.
Tonight’s game will tip at 7:30 p.m. in Burlington.
Elsewhere in the Super Conference tonight:
- West Burlington at Cardinal
- Lone Tree at Columbus
- Notre Dame at Holy Trinity
- Winfield-Mount Union at Louisa-Muscatine
- Central Lee at New London
- Danville at WACO
- Mediapolis at Wapello
Women’s College Soccer: Wesleyan Names Robert Lynch New Coach:
Iowa Wesleyan has named Robert Lynch the new head coach of the women’s soccer program.
Lynch spent the last five seasons as the lead assistant for Clarke University and is now the 10th head coach in the program’s history.
After arriving at Clarke in the fall of 2017, Lynch contributed to the expansion of the roster, which resulted in the addition of a junior varsity program, led the strength program for the women’s team, and handled eligibility responsibilities.
Lynch will be formally introduced January 22nd at Ruble Arena during halftime of the Iowa Wesleyan men’s basketball game.
Men’s College Basketball: UNI’s Green Named MVC PoW:
UNI guard A.J. Green has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week, the league has announced.
Green, a junior, led the Panthers in scoring in both of UNI wins last week, including 24 points in a home victory over Jackson State, and a 29-point performance on the road on Saturday at Marshall.
With his efforts, Green moved to No. 10 on UNI’s all-time scoring list with 1,354 total points.
Green and the Panthers (4-5) return to action tomorrow when they face the Liberty Flames in the first game of the 2021 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.
Tip is set for 2:00 p.m.
Men’s College Basketball: Murray Earns Another B1G PoW Accolade:
University of Iowa men’s basketball sophomore Keegan Murray has been named Big Ten Player of the Week.
Murray exploded for a career-best 35 points powering Iowa to a convincing 94-75 victory over Utah State last Saturday night in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Murray is tops in the country in points per game (23.5). This is his second Player of the Week honor this season.
Iowa will host Southeastern Louisiana tonight, with tip set for 7:00 p.m.