By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
Prep Wrestling: Regional Duals Tonight, New London, NDWB-Danville in Action:
New London and Notre Dame-West Burlington-Danville will both be in action tonight as they clamor for a spot at the 2021 State Dual Tournament.
New London, ranked No. 13 in Class 1A will square off in their opening round match against No. 20 Alburnett.
The winner of that matchup will then square off with the second-ranked Lions of Lisbon for a spot in the 1A Team Duals bracket at Wells Fargo Arena next Wednesday.
In Class 2A, No. 14 Notre Dame-West Burlington-Danville will meet up up with No. 22 Albia in their first round tilt.
Like New London, the Nikes finished second at their sectional (Davenport Assumption) on Saturday.
If the Nikes should win over Albia, they will meet up with the fourth-ranked Knights in the finals.
Assumption was the sectional winner Saturday.
Wrestling tonight will begin statewide at 6:00 p.m.
Boys’ Basketball: Mount Pleasant Stumbles Late, Falls to Ottumwa:
Two big technical foul calls turned close games into multi-possession leads for Ottumwa, as the Mount Pleasant boys’ basketball team fell to the Bulldogs last night 58-47 in a nonconference matchup at Mount Pleasant High School last night.
Late in the fourth quarter with Ottumwa leading 46-44, the Panthers were whistled for a technical that strung the game to 48-44 on the free throws and 50-44 on the ensuing offensive possession.
That hole was too big to dig out of for Eric Rawson’s group.
The Panthers rallied back from a 15-point halftime deficit, cutting the lead to three at the end of the third quarter largely behind the strong play of Chase Williamson, Dewon Trent and Owen Van Sickel.
Williamson led Mount Pleasant with 16 points, hitting 3-of-4 shots from three.
Trent, who was held to two points in the first half, finished with 13 to go along with eight rebounds. Van Sickel finished with 11, canning 3-of-7 three point shots.
Ottumwa’s Trae Swartz led all scorers, pouring in 21 points along with five rebounds while drilling two triples.
Joe Hammer added 16 for the Bulldogs, icing the game at the foul line by hitting 9-of-10 from the charity stripe.
The loss moved Mount Pleasant to 11-8, Ottumwa improved to 11-5.
Originally scheduled to makeup their postponed game with Burlington tonight, the Panthers will now be off due to a shortage of officials.
No date has been picked for that game to be made up a third time.
Other boys’ finals last night:
Danville 68, Cardinal 49
Caiden Gourley had 22 points as Danville earned a pivotal Super Conference win over Cardinal last night, 68-49.
Ty Carr chipped in with 12 for the Bears, who improved to 11-7 overall and 9-6 in the Super Conference.
WACO 68, Central Lee 62
WACO outscored Central Lee by 10 in the second half on their way to a 68-62 road win over the Hawks last night.
Simeon Reichenbach had 19 points to lead WACO, while Hunter Hughes had 16.
Central Lee was paced by Dylan Stuecker, he had a game-high 24 points.
The win moved WACO to 3-16 and 1-12 in Super Conference tilts.
Central Lee dropped to 6-13.
Other finals:
- Fairfield 65, West Burlington 62
- Burlington 58, Keokuk 54 — F/OT
And in girls’ basketball:
- No. 6 (3A) West Burlington 53, Fairfield 51
- Keokuk 49, Burlington 44
Prep Bowling: Panthers Compete at Conference:
The Mount Pleasant girls’ bowling team finished fourth — as did the boys’ — at yesterday’s Southeast Conference Bowling Meet.
The girls’ just missed out on third place — finishing fourth by a mere seven pins.
Eden Svoboda rolled a series 357 to lead Mount Pleasant — pacing the Panthers with a series high 192 in game one.
Keokuk’s Jasmine Saunders was crowned the individual champion — rolling up a series 440 to earn the conference crown.
The boys’ finished 4th out of five teams — they were paced by Cole Wohlleber, who rolled a series 362.
Levi Svoboda finished with a series 347 for the Panthers, as well.
Washington’s Ethan Zieglowsky was the conference champion, he bowled a series 451.
Prep Basketball: Busy Night in the Super Conference, Southeast Conference:
As the regular season winds down, games become more and more meaningful, tonight is no different as several teams will be in action.
Here’s a look at the region tonight:
- Holy Trinity at New London
- Winfield-Mount Union at Hillcrest Academy
- Notre Dame at WACO
- Mediapolis at Columbus
- Wapello at Louisa-Muscatine
- Knoxville at Fairfield girls’
- Danville girls’ at Fort Madison
- Keokuk boys’ at West Burlington