Sydney Affolter scored a career high 24 points and added 11 rebounds, Wednesday, as the Iowa Hawkeye women won at Michigan 79-66. The Hawkeyes led by as many as 21 points in the second half to move to 9-8 in the Big Ten.

The Hawkeyes close the regular season on Sunday by hosting Wisconsin.

Senior center Jacob Hutson scored a season high 26 points as UNI closed its home schedule Wednesday, with a 74-52 win over Illinois-Chicago. Hutson finished four-of-seven from three point range.

After leading by 19 in the opening half the Panthers fought off an Illinois-Chicago rally that saw them climb to within seven in the second half.

It was also the final home game for senior forward Tytan Anderson, who scored 14 points as the Panthers clinched a 20 win season.

The Panthers close the regular season Sunday at Bradley. The winner claims second place in the Valley.

Drake won its first outright Missouri Valley Conference regular season title since 2008, Wednesday night. The Bulldogs survived to second half rally by Evansville to escape with a 65-61 win. Drake won despite being held without a field goal the final four minutes and 35 seconds.

That’s Drake coach Ben McCollum. Drake won despite shooting less than 41 percent for the game, including six-of-22 from three point range.

Daniel Abreu led Drake with 19 points. He was one of four players who followed McCollum to Drake from Northwest Missouri State.

Drake is 16-3 in the Valley and 26-3 overall. The Bulldogs close the regular season at home on Sunday against Missouri State.

1A Regional Finals 

St. Albert – 47 vs. Riverside – 40

Montezuma – 49 vs. Lenox – 37

Newell-Fonda – 71 vs. Coon Rapids-Bayard – 40

Springville – 65 vs. Sigourney – 44

Bishop Garrigan – 73 vs. Saint Ansgar – 44

Gladbrook-Reinbeck – 43 vs. Lynnville-Sully – 39

Dunkerton – 37  vs. Kee – 30

North Linn – 58 vs. Marquette Catholic – 44

2A Regional Finals 

Treynor – 45 vs. Exira/EHK – 44

Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont  – 64 vs. ACGC – 30

Hinton – 49 vs. Westwood – 35

Central Lyon – 69 vs. West Fork – 53

Rock Valley – 65 vs. Pocahontas Area – 51

North Mahaska – 48 vs. Hudson – 39

Regina Catholic – 73 vs. Danville – 22

Maquoketa Valley – 54 vs. Denver – 36

The Exira-EHK girls basketball team lost a heartbreaker at the hands of the Treynor in the Class 2A Region 7 final. Although ahead at halftime, the Spartans battled from behind multiple times in the ball game. Down by 3 with seconds remaining, Exira-EHK scored off a turnover to make it a one-point game. With seven-tenths of a second remaining, Taryn Petersen intercepted a long inbound beyond center court and heaved it toward the basket. As the buzzer sounded, the ball bounced off the backboard and stayed out as the Treynor Cardinals defeated the Spartans 45-44.

The game was hard fought from start to finish and saw lots of three-point shooting early. The teams combined for just two field goals in te opening frame while knocking down six from beyond the arc. The scoring went back and forth with each team answering the other after Taryn Petersen scored the opening points of the ballgame. However, Treynor came out of the first quarter with a slim three point lead.  Despite the Cardinals opening up a nine point lead in the early part of the second, Exira-EHK battled back. Petersen hit a pair of field goals and a three-pointer, while Zoey Rasmussen drained a pair of threes to give Exira-EHK a 28-27 halftime lead.

While the long ball ruled the first quarter, defenses ruled the third. After a three-ball from Rasmussen in the opening seconds of the quarter, the Spartans were held scoreless for the rest of the frame. Although Exira-EHK’s defense was just as good, a pair of Treynor of Nora Konz field goals helped Treynor retake the lead for good. Early in the fourth the Cardinals built a slim lead, but once again the Spartans battled back. However, despite the tremendous effort, Exira-EHK fell short at the buzzer. Konz led the charge for Treynor finishing the game with 19 points while Petersen finished with 16 for Exira-EHK. Head coach Tom Petersen said their inability to get into a rhythm affected other parts of their game but was also very proud of their effort.

One of the players to step up for the Spartans was Zoey Rasmussen.

Kadence Sporrer also had a phenomenal effort, handling the ball for large stretches of the game after Exira-EHK found themselves in foul trouble.

The Spartans graduate two seniors in Alissa Testroet and Harlee Fahn and coach Petersen says that the team is losing a lot of heart.

The Spartans finish the 2024-2025 campaign with a record of 18-6 falling short of the state tournament by a mere two points.

The Riverside Girls’ basketball team fell in the Class 1A-District 1 Regional Final 47-40 Wednesday night to the St. Albert Saintes. The Bulldogs ended their season at 20-4 on the season.

The two heavyweights came swinging out of the gate especially from the free throw line. Sophomore Guard Sophia Fenner was able to get to the charity stripe on two occasions in the first quarter and knocked down two free throws. Just three minutes in, Senior Guard Ryleigh Ewalt went down with an apparent knee injury on a non-contact play. Ewalt had to be helped off the floor.

The Bulldogs were down a key bench player early and played a little unsettled the rest of the first quarter. The Saintes began to warm up on the offensive side of the basketball. Junior Forward Avah Underwood earned two trips to the free throw line hitting three free throws on four attempts. Sophomore Forward Lexi Pearce hit two baskets from mid range to extend the St. Albert lead to 17-9 after the first quarter.

St. Albert Junior Forward Molly Wise came out firing in the second quarter by hitting a quick two followed by a corner three to give the Saintes their largest lead of the night 22-9. This caused Bulldog Head Coach Mark Jeppesen to call their first timeout of the evening. After the break, a spark was lit in the Riverside offense. The Bulldogs began to work the ball inside resulting in Sophomore Forward Sydney Somers with a quick four points and short jumpers from three other Bulldogs. All of a sudden it was 22-21 at the half.

The third quarter began, and the aggression ramped up on both sides of the ball from the two teams. It was a battle at the line in the third including six free throws from Riverside and four from St. Albert. Foul trouble began to rise as the two teams had several starters with multiple fouls. The depth of the benches began to play a factor in the third as Riverside Senior Forward Ayla Richardson knocked down too massive field goals to keep Riverside within one after the third quarter.

It was 34-33 St. Albert going into the fourth quarter, and the anticipation, stress, and excitement was building inside Abraham Lincoln High School. The Saintes relied on their leading scorer Avah Underwood, with the St. Albert offense beginning to feed the Junior Forward. Underwood was able to draw contact and earn several trips to the free throw line icing the game for the Saintes.

Riverside ends their season at 20-4 with many influential seniors leaving their mark on the program and a solid number of returners for next season.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa freshman Angelo Ferrari has been named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week and Big Ten Freshman of the Week , it was announced Wednesday by the league office.

The Melissa, Texas, native earned the distinction after defeating third-ranked Dustin Plott, 6-3, in sudden victory on Feb. 23 inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Hawkeyes won the dual over the second-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys, 21-16.

Ferrari is the third Hawkeye to earn Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honors this season (Kyle Parco on Jan. 9 and Drake Ayala on Jan. 23)

No. 2 Iowa returns to action on March 8-9 at the Big Ten Championships in Evanston, Illinois.

HUMBLE, Texas – The University of Iowa women’s golf team fired a final round 294 on Tuesday during the final day of the Chevron Collegiate at the Golf Club of Houston. The Hawkeyes finished the tournament in 16th with an 893 (309-290-294).

Senior Paula Miranda led the team, tying for 47th with a 218 (77-71-70). Her third round was her best as it included four birdies and 12 pars en route to her two-under par 70.  Miranda finished in the red in two of her three rounds.

Sophomore Maura Peters, junior Riley Lewis and sophomore Ximena Benites all carded two birdies each in the third round of competition.  Lewis was Iowa’s second-best finisher, tying for 64th with a 223.

Peters’ final round 73 was her best of the tournament.

No. 16 TCU took home the team title with a 34-under par 830, nine shots ahead of No. 17 Texas A&M. Individually Texas A&M’s Vanessa Borovilos was the medalist, shooting a 15-under par 201.

IOWA LEADERBOARD
T47. Paula Miranda 77-71-70 = 218
T64. Riley Lewis  78-71-74 = 223
T71. Ximena Benites 78-70-77 = 225
T79. Maura Peters 76-78-73 = 227
T86. Lily Heuther 79-79-77 = 235
16. IOWA 309-290-294=893

UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes will return to action on March 2-4, traveling to Tucson, Arizona, for the MountainView Collegiate.

STILLWATER, Okla. – No. 9 Iowa State (21-6, 11-5 Big 12) dropped its second straight road contest Tuesday evening, falling to Oklahoma State (14-14, 6-11 Big 12) in Gallagher-Iba Arena by a score of 74-68.

The Cyclones constantly found their offense disrupted by the Oklahoma State defense, as ISU never quite found an offensive rhythm. The Cowboys led wire-to-wire and by as much as 16 points as they went on to spring the upset.

ISU, who was still down its second leading scorer and team-leader in assists, Keshon Gilbert, stalled at times and seemingly was kept out of the flow of its offense. The Cyclones did get sixth-man Curtis Jones back from illness in this game.

Joshua Jefferson led the Cyclones with 17 points and eight rebounds, while both Nate Heise (13) and Milan Momcilovic (10) also finished in double figures. The Cyclones shot a touch over 41 percent from the field and 30 percent from deep, but 18 turnovers did them in as the Cowboys converted those into points, totaling 24 points off of ISU turnovers.

For OSU, four players finished with double figures as Abou Ousmane led all scorers with 25 points, as the big man went 3-5 from deep and 8-8 from the charity stripe. Arturo Dean (14), Bryce Thompson (11) and Marchelus Avery (10) all finished in double figures.

How it Happened

Iowa State couldn’t have gotten off to much worse of a start, as the early going was ugly for the Cyclones. After forcing a turnover on OSU’s first possession, the Cyclones would go on to turn the ball over seven times in the first five minutes, scoring just four points and finding themselves down 12-4 early.

The early hole set the tone for the rest of the half, as ISU trailed for the remainder of the stanza, never getting close than four points. ISU trimmed the lead to four points with just under four minutes left, but just as soon as they saw the OSU lead shrink, it grew right back as the Cowboys ended the first half on a 12-2 run to lead 40-26.

At the break, ISU found itself shooting 36 percent from the floor and 31 percent from 3-point land. The Cyclones had held OSU to just 25 percent shooting, but 11 first half turnovers for the Cyclones and a 14-0 fast break point advantage for OSU were the storylines of a lopsided first period.

Oklahoma State used a pair of free throws to open the second half, pushing its lead to a game-high 16 points. The Cyclones rallied though, ripping off a 9-0 run that eventually helped them trim the OSU lead to five within the first five minutes of the half.

Oklahoma State had another answer, as it pushed its lead back up to double digits and as large as 15 points.

The Cyclones were eventually able to whittle the Cowboy advantage down to four with two minutes remaining, but OSU was able to hold on for the six-point upset win.

Key Performers

Nate Heise had another solid game for the Cyclones, as the UNI transfer scored in double figures for the third-straight game, scoring 13 points – his most points as a Cyclone. Nate also chipped in six boards, the third most on the team, and tallied a steal.

Notes

• Curtis Jones buried one triple on the night, pushing him into the top 20 list of most 3-pointers made in a single season in school history (68, tied with Korie Lucious).
• Tamin Lipsey started his 97^th game at Iowa State, moving into a tie for 16^th in school history with Jared Homan (2002-05).
  • His four assists made him the eleventh player in program history with 400 career assists.
  • Tamin knocked down his 350^th career field goal this evening.
• Joshua Jefferson made his 250^th career field goal tonight.

Up Next

Iowa State will be back in action this weekend, when it returns to Hilton Coliseum for its penultimate home contest of the season, hosting Arizona on Saturday. Saturday’s game will be broadcast on ESPN and is set to tip off at 8 p.m. CT.