Sports, Tuesday, February 2nd

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

Girls’ Basketball: Nikes Explode for Easy Win, Other Prep Finals:

The No. 11 (1A) Notre Dame Nikes exploded for a 54-7 run spanning three quarters, pulling away for a 75-29 non-conference victory over Mount Pleasant Monday night at Mount Pleasant High School.

With just :12 seconds to go in the first quarter the game was knotted at 12-12, but a Reagan Engberg three opened the floodgates for the Nikes who won the second quarter 27-4 and the third quarter 22-3.

Katy Stephens led all scorers with 17 points and three rebounds for the Nikes, while Megan Harrell added 14 points and five boards.

Notre Dame shot 58% for the game and made 11-of-21 three point shots.

Mount Pleasant was paced by Kenna Lamm who finished with seven points and five rebounds.

Andrea Lopreato chipped in with six points and eight boards.

The loss moves Mount Pleasant to 9-9, they’ll look to get back into the win column on Friday when they travel to Burlington.

Notre Dame improved to 14-1, they have won 13 straight matchups.

Other girls’ finals:

WACO 68, No. 15 (2A) Van Buren County 43 

WACO jumped out to a 16-0 lead as the Warriors cruised to a monster, 25-point upset defeating No. 15 Van Buren County 68-43 last night in Wayland.

WACO grew their lead to 50-26 at the end of the third quarter and never looked back.

Ellah Kissell poured in 21 points to lead WACO, while Aubri Garsney chipped in with 18 points.

Van Buren’s Isabel Manning had 25 points to lead all scorers, despite the loss.

WACO upped their ledger to 6-11, they’re now 5-7 in the SEISC-South.

Van Buren dipped to 13-4 and 11-3 in conference play.

Wapello 44, Lone Tree 37

Boys’ Basketball: WACO Nets Win Over Lone Tree

Simeon Reichenbach had 15 points as the WACO boys’ earned a 56-45 win over Lone Tree last night.

Hunter Hughes came off the bench to give the Warriors points, as they improved to 2-14.

Aiden Forbes led the Lions with 15 points.

Lone Tree dropped to 0-14.

Prep Basketball: Busy Night Tonight:

It’s a big Tuesday night in the Super Conference and Southeast Conference tonight, with a bevy of teams back on the hardwood, here’s a look at the full schedule tonight in the KILJ-area:

  • Mount Pleasant boys’ at Iowa City Regina (FM 105.5)
  • Burlington at Fairfield
  • Winfield-Mount Union at Louisa-Muscatine
  • Mediapolis at Wapello
  • Notre Dame at Holy Trinity
  • West Burlington at Cardinal
  • Central Lee at New London
  • Danville at WACO

Prep Wrestling: Regional Dual Sites Released Ahead of Sectional Weekend:

Regional dual sites for Classes 2A and 1A are now set.

1A and 2A will wrestle at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, February 9. Class 3A is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, February 10.

The top eight teams in each class qualify for the State Dual Team Tournament, set for Wednesday, February 17 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

The sixteen Class 1A and 2A sectional team champions and eight additional teams ranked highest by the final Dual Team Rankings qualify for eight regional dual team meets.

The Class 1A sites are as follows:

  • Don Bosco, Gilbertville
  • Lake Mills
  • Lisbon
  • Logan-Magnolia
  • MFL, Mar-Mac
  • West Hancock, Britt
  • West Sioux, Hawarden
  • Woodbury Central, Moville

Class 2A:

  • Davenport Assumption
  • Creston
  • Crestwood, Cresco
  • Independence
  • Osage
  • Sergeant Bluff-Luton
  • West Delaware, Manchester
  • Winterset

Men’s College Basketball: Iowa Falls to No. 8, Drake into Top-25:

For the first time in 13 seasons, the Drake men’s basketball team is ranked inside the Associated Press Top-25.

This week the Bulldogs enter at No. 25.

Drake, 17-0, is the first Missouri Valley Conference school to be ranked inside the Top-25 in four years.

Also of note, following their loss to Illinois Friday night, the Iowa men’s basketball team has fallen to No. 8 in this weeks poll.

The Hawkeyes, 12-4, will take on Michigan State Tuesday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Tip is set for 6:00 p.m.

You can see the full poll here