Thursday February 28th Local Sports
TODAY:
= AM-1300 KGLO, kgloam.com — Class 4A girls state semifinal — Mason City vs. Marion — pre-game 4:40, tipoff 5:00
DES MOINES — Rachel Leerar scored 19 of her 23 points in the first half in leading West Hancock over North Mahaska 67-54 in a Class 1A quarterfinal round game at the girls state basketball tournament in Des Moines Wednesday evening, as you heard on AM-1300 KGLO. Leerar also handed out six assists and had five steals. West Hancock coach Paul Sonius says the ballgame started the way he wanted to with the speed and fastness going up and down the court.
Sonius also credited the play of Amanda Chizek, who had 11 points and 13 rebounds.
Sonius says the plan was not to use full-court pressure on defense during the game, but that changed as the contest went along, to the advantage of the Eagles.
Mahayla Faust added 12 points while freshman Kennedy Kelly added 10 for the Eagles.
West Hancock improves to 24-1 on the season and will face Montezuma in Friday afternoon’s semifinal round. Montezuma overcame a 12-point first quarter deficit to beat CAM of Anita 59-45 last night. You can hear live and local coverage of the West Hancock-Montezuma game on AM-1300 KGLO and kgloam.com starting with the pre-game at about 3 o’clock Friday afternoon
Listen back to our full post-game interview with Paul Sonius
== other 1A quarterfinals
Newell-Fonda 69, Springville 39
Bellevue Marquette 62, Clarksville 49
== 2A quarterfinals Wednesday
Central Decatur 57, Aplington-Parkersburg 49
Treynor 53, North Linn 44
DES MOINES — Mason City faces Marion in the Class 4A semifinal round late this afternoon at the girls state basketball tournament. The Mohawks advanced with a 55-49 win over Waverly-Shell Rock in Tuesday’s quarterfinal round, while the top seed Marion overwhelmed Cedar Rapids Xavier 70-35. You can hear the Mason City-Marion game on AM-1300 KGLO and kgloam.com starting with the pre-game at about 4:40 this afternoon, with the tipoff scheduled for 5 o’clock. The other 4A semifinal has North Scott facing Bishop Heelan of Sioux City.
== 5A semifinals today
10:00 a.m. – Johnston (22-2) vs. West Des Moines Valley (18-5)
11:45 a.m. – Dowling West Des Moines (17-7) vs. Southeast Polk (20-3)
== 3A semifinals today
1:30 p.m. – North Polk (22-2) vs. Waukon (19-3)
3:15 p.m. – Des Moines Christian (23-2) vs. Center Point-Urbana (22-2)
CLEAR LAKE — The Clear Lake boys basketball team found out Wednesday afternoon their schedule in next week’s Class 3A state tournament. Despite being top-ranked and one of two undefeated teams left in any class, the Lions are the fourth seed in the 3A field. Clear Lake will face the fifth-seed West Delaware in the quarterfinal round next Tuesday at 1 o’clock at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Norwalk is the top-seed and will face 8th-seed Ballard in the first 3A quarterfinal at 11:15. On the other side of the bracket, second-seed Sergeant Bluff-Luton faces seven-seed Winterset, while third-seed Oskaloosa faces sixth-seed Marion. You can hear the Clear Lake-West Delaware game on AM-1490/96.7-FM KRIB and kribam.com starting with the pre-game at about 12:35 next Tuesday afternoon.
MASON CITY – The No. 3 NIACC men’s basketball team topped Ellsworth 86-64 for its 11th straight win on Wednesday in an Iowa Community College Athletic Conference contest in the NIACC gym.
The win clinched at least a share of the conference regular season title for NIACC men. The Trojans (23-3 overall) are 12-1 in the league with one game remaining – at home Thursday against DMACC.
No. 5 Kirkwood is 11-2 in the league with one game remaining at Ellsworth on Saturday.
The regular season champion clinches home-court advantage throughout the Region XI tournament, which starts on Tuesday.
The 23 wins by NIACC is the most since the 2006-07 team was 23-9. The school record for wins in a season is the 1994-95 national championship team that was 24-12.
NIACC, which started the season 1-2, has won 22 of its last 23 games. The Trojans have produced two win streaks of 11 games, which is tied for the third longest in school history.
In Wednesday’s win over Ellsworth, freshman Wendell Matthews scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Also scoring in double figures were Quentin Hardrict (15), James Harris (12), Deundra Roberson (10) and Chandler Dean (10).
MASON CITY – The No. 2 NIACC women’s basketball team rolled to a 131-56 victory over Ellsworth Wednesday in an Iowa Community College Athletic Conference contest in the NIACC gym.
NIACC received a career-high 46 points, including 11 3-point goals, from freshman Mandy Willems. Freshman Jada Buford scored 31 points, sophomore Tahya Campbell scored 17 points and freshman Autam Mendez scored 12 points.
The 46 points by Willems is the most ever by a NIACC women’s player in a conference contest and ranks second on the school’s career single-game list. Trudy Peterson holds the single-game record with 51 points against Kennedy King in the 2015-16 season.
The 131 points by the Lady Trojans is tied for third on the school’s single-game scoring list. The women’s all-time single-game record came in a 135-33 win over Hibbing CC in the 2013-14 season.
IOWA CITY — A big turnaround season for the Iowa basketball team is being overshadowed by multiple suspensions. Hawkeye basketball coach Fran McCaffery was suspended for two games following a profanity laced tirade at an official following Tuesday night’s loss at Ohio State. It comes just days after play-by-play announcer Gary Dolphin was suspended for the remainder of the season for a term he used to describe the play of Maryland’s Bruno Fernando in a game last week.
McCaffery says he let his emotions get carried away.
McCaffery says he coaches with passion and that won’t change.
Iowa athletic director Gary Barta acknowledges it has been a rough week for the department.
Barta says Dolphin will return to the booth for Iowa’s spring football game.
There was speculation that a rift between Dolphin and McCaffery might lead to his ouster.
Dolphin says he will try to remain descriptive in his call while at the same time being sensitive to his choice of words.
Iowa hosts Rutgers on Saturday
DES MOINES — Drake will play for a Missouri Valley title on Saturday at Missouri State. The Bulldogs celebrated Senior Night with an 80-68 win over Indiana State to move to 11-6 in the Valley. A UNI loss to Loyola prevented the Bulldogs from clinching a share of the title.
Tremell Murphy recorded 12 points and 10 rebounds to lead Drake to an 80-68 win over Indiana State on Wednesday night.
Brady Ellingson had 16 points for Drake (22-8, 11-6 Missouri Valley Conference), which earned its fourth consecutive home victory. Nick McGlynn added 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Anthony Murphy had 13 points for the home team.
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — Marques Townes registered 16 points and eight rebounds as Loyola of Chicago edged past Northern Iowa 56-55 on Wednesday night.
Aher Uguak’s dunk gave the Ramblers a 55-53 lead with 54 seconds remaining in the second half. Lucas Williamson made the second of two free throws and Loyola led 56-53 with 17 seconds to go. After UNI’s AJ Green cut the deficit to one, Townes had a turnover. Green missed the go-ahead jumper with three seconds left.
Cameron Krutwig had 14 points and three assists for Loyola of Chicago (18-12, 11-6 Missouri Valley Conference). Williamson added 12 points.
Green had 18 points for the Panthers (14-16, 9-8), whose four-game win streak was snapped. Isaiah Brown added 13 points. Wyatt Lohaus had 10 points.
The Ramblers improved to 2-0 against the Panthers on the season, both victories coming by one point. Loyola of Chicago defeated Northern Iowa 61-60 on Jan. 30.
Loyola of Chicago, tied for first place with Drake, finishes out the regular season against Bradley at home on Saturday. Northern Iowa finishes out the regular season against Indiana State on the road on Saturday.