PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — Luuk van Bree had a career high 20 points, and Donte Thomas and Darrell Brown each scored 12 to lift Bradley past Northern Iowa 72-61 Wednesday night.

Bradley (8-10, 3-2 Missouri Valley) raced to a 7-0 lead and never trailed. Klint Carlson tied it at 20 on a 3 with 7:20 left, but Drake outscored the Panthers 20-5 over the next six minutes and led 40-25 on van Bree’s jumper 60 seconds before intermission.

Spencer Haldeman’s 3 at the 10:45 mark of the second half brought Northern Iowa to within 50-44, but van Bree buried back-to-back 3s, and JoJo McGlaston’s thunderous dunk off a lob pass from Nate Kennell made it 58-44.

A freshman, van Bree was 8-for-13 shooting from the field including 4 for 7 from 3-point range. Thomas had a career-high 13 rebounds. Haldeman led Northern Iowa (5-11, 0-5) with 16 points, Carlson added 15, and Jordan Ashton scored 12. The Panthers have lost seven straight.

The Atlantic Girls Swim Team was recognized by the Atlantic School Board during a special presentation, Wednesday evening. The team has only been in existence for the past three years. Six girls qualified for State in eight out of 11 possible events. To qualify, they must place in the top 24 (in the entire state) at the Regional meet, which is held one week prior to the State meet.

Superintendent Dr. Michael Amstein asked Swim Team Coach Dean Junker to introduce the young ladies. Some of the members include: Jessie Hartwig, Madelyn Kickland, Cambry Miller, Anna Lowary, Mycala Kickland, and McKenna Ewoldt.

Members of the Atlantic Trojan Swim Team attend the School Board meeting (1/11/17)

Coach Junker said this past year was likely the most successful for the team. The best finish for an individual team member was Jessie Hartwig, who placed 7th in the 100 Breast Stroke event, just shy of earning a place on the awards podium. This year was the first year for three divers to compete, as well.

The Coach said also their training begins at 6-a.m. and runs until around 7. They train again after school (around 3:30-p.m.) to 5-p.m.  Despite their rigorous day, they still manage to pull off a 3.41 GPA as a team. And, Junker said the girls are excellent representatives of the school district during and after their events. He said “These girls know how to act. And when  we go places, we we always get complimented on how good our girls are. When they get out of the pool, they congratulate their opponents, and the other coaches just love them. They have a very positive influence, and they’re really a good representative of Atlantic.”

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Arizona State has hired veteran coach Phil Bennett as its defensive coordinator. The school announced his hiring in a release Wednesday. Current Sun Devils defensive coordinator Keith Patterson will remain on Todd Graham’s staff as linebackers coach.

Bennett has coached for nearly 40 years, including six seasons as SMU’s head coach from 2002-07 and as a defensive coordinator at eight schools. Bennett most recently served as defensive coordinator from 2011-16 at Baylor following three seasons in the same position at Pittsburgh. He also was the defensive coordinator at Kansas State, TCU, Texas A&M, LSU, Purdue and Iowa State.

Quad at Bedford

Bedford/Lenox 60 Griswold 12
Bedford/Lenox 51 Southwest Iowa 30
Red Oak 66 Southwest Iowa 11
Red Oak 51 Bedford/Lenox 28
Red Oak 66 Griswold 0
Southwest Iowa 36 Griswold 33

Double Dual at Underwood

Abraham Lincoln 47 Shenandoah 27
Abraham Lincoln 45 Underwood 30
Underwood 37 Shenandoah 36

Quad at Van Meter

North Polk 45 Nodaway Valley 21
Saydel 68 Nodaway Valley 6
Van Meter 53 Nodaway Valley 15

Double Dual at West Central Valley

AHSTW 50 Southwest Valley 21
AHSTW 46 West Central Valley 27
West Central Valley 48 Southwest Valley 33

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (7.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs is moving to bring back one form of dog racing after the live dog racing there went away in a consolidation agreement with the state. Iowa Racing and Gaming Administrator Brian Ohorilko says the casino and it’s non-profit partner, Iowa West Racing Association, have taken steps toward simulcasting. “They entered into a management agreement for simulcasting with William Hill Race and Sports Book,” Ohorilko says. He says William Hill does a lot of business in Nevada operating sports books.

Ohorilko says simulcasting would put the former greyhound racing venue back into service. “What the contract will do in the Council Bluffs area at the Bluffs Run facility — its contemplated that they’ll bring back simulcast horse racing and dog racing there in that area,” according to Ohorilko.

The live dog racing ended at Bluffs Run in a consolidation agreement with the state that shut down the track and shifted the management of dog racing in Dubuque to the Iowa Greyhound Association. He says if everything falls into place, the simulcasting of races could start up at the facility in a couple of months. Ohorilko says the simulcasting took a year of absence in 2016 and this could bring it back for this year.

Ohorilko says the management company has some added benefit. “As part of this management contract it looks like there will be some reinvestment into the property as well. William Hill will be putting some dollars into the property to try to get this area up that they want to use for simulcasting,” Ohorilko says.

The Racing and Gaming Commission approved the simulcast management contract at their recent meeting.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Hawkeye women return from an eight-day layoff on Wednesday night when they host Illinois. It will be their second meeting two weeks after the Illini beat the Hawkeyes 70-65 in their Big Ten opener. The Hawkeyes made only 7-of-28 from three point range in the first game.

The Hawkeyes are 1-2 in the Big Ten and Iowa coach Lisa Bluder wants to see her team play with more energy. Iowa is 10-6 overall. You can listen to the game beginning at 6:45-p.m. on KJAN, with the tip-off from Carver Hawkeye Arena at 7.

(Learfield Sports)

Iowa State begins a busy week tonight (Wednesday night), with a visit to Oklahoma State. It opens a three game in six day stretch for the Cyclones that will conclude with a Big Monday game against second ranked Kansas. Deonte Burton had 27 points in Saturday’s win over Texas and Cyclones Coach Steve Prohm says they need more of that from their senior forward.

A key against the Cowboys will be slowing down sophomore point guard Jawun Evans, who averages 19 points and is shooting 51 percent from three point range. Oklahoma State is 10-5 under first year coach Brad Underwood but they are 0-3 in the Big-12 after a 61-57 loss at top ranked Baylor.

Tip-time for the game is 7-p.m. at Gallagher-Iba Arena, in Stillwater, OK.

(Learfield Sports)

Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson is focused on the future as the Panthers get ready for tonight’s (Wednesday’s) game at Bradley. The Panthers are 0-4 in the Missouri Valley race after an 80-66 loss to Wichita State and their current six-game losing skid is the longest for the program since 2001.

Despite a 5-10 overall record Jacobson says the players have remained positive. Improvement begins with eliminating breakdowns on defense and the mistakes on offense that plagued them in Sunday’s loss to the Shockers.

Bradley is 7-10 overall and 2-2 in the Valley. Tip time from Carver Arena in Peoria, IL, is 8-p.m.

(Learfield Sports)

A-H-S-T-W, Avoca 75, Griswold 27
Atlantic 68, Glenwood 62
Boyer Valley, Dunlap 68, Woodbine 53
Carlisle 73, ADM, Adel 69
Clarinda 66, Red Oak 44
Des Moines Christian 76, Panorama, Panora 41
East Union, Afton 51, Southwest Valley 45
Fremont Mills, Tabor 60, East Mills 35
Gretna, Neb. 57, Lewis Central 37
Lenox 51, Mount Ayr 42
Nodaway Valley 74, Bedford 61
Sioux City, East 65, Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 60
Sioux City, North 76, Council Bluffs, Thomas Jefferson 59
Treynor 77, Riverside, Oakland 28
Underwood 74, Logan-Magnolia 63
Van Meter 41, Earlham 40
Winterset 67, Bondurant Farrar 61

Audubon vs. Tri-Center, Neola, ppd.
Ballard vs. Carroll, ppd. to Jan 19.
Charter Oak-Ute vs. Ar-We-Va, Westside, ppd. to Jan 12.
Glidden-Ralston vs. Coon Rapids-Bayard, ppd.
Kuemper Catholic, Carroll vs. Harlan, ppd. to Jan 21.
Missouri Valley vs. IKM-Manning, ppd.
West Monona, Onawa vs. Westwood, Sloan, ppd. to Jan 13.
Woodward-Granger vs. West Central Valley, Stuart, ppd.

A-H-S-T-W, Avoca 46, Griswold 23
Carlisle 56, ADM, Adel 39
Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 65, Sioux City, East 53
Des Moines Christian 50, Panorama, Panora 39
Fremont Mills, Tabor 27, East Mills 20
Glenwood 51, Atlantic 37
Lewis Central 60, Bishop Heelan Catholic, Sioux City 49
Logan-Magnolia 59, Underwood 50
Mount Ayr 73, Lenox 30
Nodaway Valley 63, Bedford 22
Red Oak 56, Clarinda 38
Sioux City, North 55, Council Bluffs, Thomas Jefferson 40
Southwest Valley 56, East Union, Afton 36
Treynor 55, Riverside, Oakland 22
Van Meter 61, Earlham 36
Winterset 37, Bondurant Farrar 13

Audubon vs. Tri-Center, Neola, ppd.
Ballard vs. Carroll, ppd. to Jan 16.
Charter Oak-Ute vs. Ar-We-Va, Westside, ppd. to Jan 12.
Denison-Schleswig vs. St. Albert, Council Bluffs, ppd.
Harlan vs. Kuemper Catholic, Carroll, ppd. to Jan 23.
Missouri Valley vs. IKM-Manning, ppd.
West Monona, Onawa vs. Westwood, Sloan, ppd. to Jan 13.