Thursday January 31st Local Sports

TONIGHT:

AM-1300 KGLO, kgloam.com, KGLO mobile app — NIACC vs. Iowa Lakes — women 5:30, men 7:30

AM-1490/96.7-FM KRIB, kribam.com, KRIB mobile app — Clear Lake at Garner-Hayfield-Ventura — girls 6:15, boys follow

MASON CITY – For the second time this season, a NIACC women’s basketball player has earned the NJCAA Division II player of the week honor.

NIACC freshman Autam Mendez, who was selected as the league’s player of the week on Tuesday, was selected as the NJCAA Division II national player of the week for the week of January 21-27.

NIACC’s Mandy Willems was selected as the national player of the week for the week of Oct. 29-Nov. 3.

Last week, Mendez scored 30 points and grabbed a career-best 17 rebounds in a win over Little Priest Tribal College and scored a career-high 41 points with 15 rebounds in a win over Ellsworth.

Mendez averages 18.4 points per game and has made 53 3-point goals. She leads the Lady Trojans with 171 rebounds.

No. 7 NIACC returns to action Thursday at home in an Iowa Community College Athletic Conference contest against Iowa Lakes. Game time for the women is slated for 5:30 p.m., with the men to follow at 7:30. You can hear both games on AM-1300 KGLO.

AMES — The 20th ranked Iowa State Cyclones raced away in the second half to beat West Virginia. Lindell Wigginton poured in 28 points in a 93-68 win.

Wigginton feels he is rounding into shape after being sidelined early in the season with a foot injury.

After winning only four Big-12 games a year ago the Cyclones are 5-3 and in the thick of the title chase.

Iowa State hosts Texas on Saturday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Phil Fayne scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half, Zach Copeland finished with 19 and Illinois State beat Drake 69-55 on Wednesday night.

Milik Yarbrough added 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Illinois State (13-9, 6-3 Missouri Valley Conference), which has won four of its last five games. Keyshawn Evans chipped in with 11 points. Copeland, Yarbrough and Evans combined to make all nine of the Redbirds’ 3-pointers. Fayne posted his sixth game of the season with 20-plus points.

Nick McGlynn had 15 points and seven rebounds to lead Drake (16-6, 5-4). Tremell Murphy added 11 points, and Brady Ellingson scored nine points on three 3-pointers.

Fayne scored eight points during a 13-4 surge to open the second half that stretched the Redbirds’ lead to 45-31 with 15 minutes remaining. Fayne’s dunk with 5:47 left made it 64-43.

CHICAGO (AP) — Cameron Krutwig hit his first 3-pointer of the season for a five-point lead with 48 seconds left and Loyola-Chicago held off Northern Iowa 61-60 on Wednesday night for its seventh straight home win.

Krutwig made a hook shot in the lane for a 57-55 lead and he blocked a shot under the basket at the other end. Inbounding it with 51.4 seconds on the clock and four on the shot clock, Krutwig was left wide open in the corner and he swished it. He had missed his previous two 3-pointers this season.

AJ Green nailed a long 3-pointer just before the final buzzer for UNI.

Krutwig finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for Loyola (14-8, 7-2 Missouri Valley Conference), which has claimed 21 of its last 24 league games. Loyola has won 12 straight conference games at home for the first time since 1984-86 as a member of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. Marques Townes added 19 points and Bruno Skokna 11.

Luke McDonnell scored 16 points and Green, averaging 14.9 points per game to lead MVC freshman, added 14 points for Northern Iowa (9-13, 4-5), which has won just once in eight games on the road this season.

IOWA CITY — Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder says the record cold won’t effect their travel plans. The 13th ranked Hawkeyes open the second half of the Big Ten race on the road tonight at Michigan.

The Hawkeyes are 7-2 in the Big Ten and have won five straight games.

Bluder hopes Iowa’s experience is a plus on a road trip that also includes a Sunday visit to Penn State.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Karl-Anthony Towns hit a buzzer-beating desperation shot in overtime to lift Minnesota past Memphis, 99-97. Andrew Wiggins ran the clock down to six seconds before shooting a pull-up 3. The rebound fell to the right side, where Towns grabbed it, dribbled once and floated up a shot as he faded toward the corner.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins and former Texas left-hander Martin Perez have finalized a one-year contract that guarantees $4 million, Minnesota’s first offseason acquisition for the rotation. The 27-year-old made 128 starts over the last seven seasons for the Texas Rangers, who exercised a $750,000 buyout on his contract on Nov. 2 and made him a free agent.

ATLANTA — Former Iowa standout Austin Blythe says playing for the Hawkeyes under coach Kirk Ferentz has prepared him for football’s biggest stage. Blythe is a starting guard for the Los Angeles Rams and they play the New England Patriots Sunday night in Super Bowl 53 in Atlanta.