The Big Ten Conference and Big 12 Conference announced their annual women’s basketball award winners on Wednesday.

In the Big 10 the Iowa Hawkeyes were represented by Junior Guard Ally Disterhoft on the All Big Ten Second Team.  Disterhoft was named to the Second Team by both the coaches and media.  The Big Ten Coaches also named Hawkeye Freshmen Tania Davis and Megan Gustafson to the All-Freshman Team.  Disterhoft also was named a Sportsmanship Award honoree.

In the Big 12 the Iowa State Cyclones had three players honored.  Junior Guard Seanna Johnson was named an All-Big 12 First Team selection while Jadda Buckley and Bridget Carleton were Honorable Mention selections.  Carleton; a Guard from Ontario, Canada; was also named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team.

The Iowa Hawkeye women’s basketball team opens the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis this (Thursday) morning against Michigan. The ninth seeded Hawkeyes finished the regular season with an 8-10 league mark and go up against a Wolverine squad that finished 9-9. The teams split two regular season games.

In their last meeting the Hawkeyes beat the Wolverines 85-69 in Iowa City. Coach Lisa Bluder says outside of the fourth quarter of the game at Michigan the Hawkeyes have played well against the Wolverines. It will be an early 11:00 a.m. tip off in Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Pre-game coverage begins at 10:45, here on KJAN.

(@ Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines)
Class 1A Semifinals
10:00-a.m. Turkey Valley vs. Burlington Notre Dame
11:45-a.m. Springville vs. Newell-Fonda

Class 2A Semifinals
1:30-p.m. Western Christian vs. Okoboji
3:15-p.m. Unity Christian vs. Iowa City Regina

Class 3A Semifinals
5:00-p.m. Pocahontas Area Community (PAC) vs. Cherokee
6:45-p.m. Center Point-Urbana vs. Nevada

The Class 4A and 5A Semifinals take place on Friday along with the Championship games in Class 1A and 2A.  The rest of the title games will be held on Saturday.

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) – Making a long-term commitment to Kolten Wong as their second baseman, the St. Louis Cardinals agreed Wednesday to a $25.5 million, five-year contract with the 25-year-old. Wong gets $1.25 million this year, $2.5 million in 2017, $4 million in 2018, $6.5 million in 2019 and $10.25 million in 2020. St. Louis has a $12.5 million option for 2021 with a $1 million buyout.

He would have been eligible for salary arbitration next winter and for free agency after the 2019 World Series.

Class 4A State Tournament
State Quarterfinal
Marion 46, Harlan 38
Pella 47, Lewis Central 41

Class 5A State Tournament
State Quarterfinal
Ankeny Centennial 56, Davenport, North 52
Cedar Falls 48, Waukee 46
Johnston 60, Southeast Polk 48
Linn-Mar, Marion 60, Indianola 39

The upsets keep coming in Class 4A.

The latest victim was No. 3 Harlan, winner of the last two state championships. A young Marion team with no state tournament experience hit a slew of early 3-pointers, then countered Harlan’s comeback attempt to post a 46-38 quarterfinal victory.

With the win by the seventh-ranked Indians, the top four teams in the rankings were out of the tournament before the semifinal round. No. 1 Western Dubuque, No. 2 Lewis Central and No. 4 Ballard also were eliminated.

Marion starts three sophomores and two freshmen, but they played relaxed and easy from the start. The Indians’ first six field goals were 3-pointers as they bolted to a 20-4 lead, forcing Harlan into a near impossible game of catchup.

The Cyclones went without a field goal in the first quarter, trailed 20-6 at halftime and were down 32-16 late in the third quarter. But they finally started hitting some shots and fashioned a 13-1 run that Taylor Frederick capped with a banked 3-pointer, cutting the lead to 33-29 midway through the fourth quarter.

Harlan twice more got the lead down to four, the last time at 38-34 on Emma Ahrenholtz’s corner 3 with 2:18 remaining. The Indians stemmed the comeback there by making six free throws down the stretch, getting a key offensive rebound from Mia Laube along the way.

Laube rebounded Chloe Rice’s missed free throw and that resulted in two more free throws for Rice, who made both for a 45-36 lead with 39.2 seconds left.

Freshman Sophie Willette led Marion with 12 points and Rice, a sophomore, scored 10. Freshman Maddie Knapp added nine points in three 3-pointers.

Jordyn Moser and Taylor Frederick, veterans of Harlan’s title teams, led the Cyclones with 13 points each. The 5-foot-7 Moser also grabbed 14 rebounds. Frederick was bottled up early by a collapsing defense but broke free for 10 fourth-quarter points.

Eighth ranked Pella survived a lengthy drought in the fourth quarter to hold off second ranked Lerwis Central 47-41 in a class 4A quarterfinal round game. Leading 41-30 early in the fourth quarter the Lady Dutch went into a delay game and managed only one field goal the remainder of the game.

The Lady Dutch only managed eight points in the fourth quarter but held on for the victory. It was a struggle all game on offense for the Titans who made only five of 20 shots in the opening half and trailed 26-15 at the break. The Titans pulled to within 41-37 in the fourth quarter but misfired on four opportunities to get even closer.

Maegen Holt led Lewis Central with 21 points.

Class 4A
Pella 47, Lewis Central 41
Marion 46, Harlan 38

Class 5A
Linn-Mar 60, Indianola 38
Johnston 60,  Southeast Polk 48
Ankeny Centennial 56, Davenport, North 52
Cedar Falls 48, Waukee 46

Cedar Falls 76, Linn-Mar, Marion 74 (OT)
Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 72, Sioux City, East 65
Des Moines, Hoover 31, Ames 24
Dowling Catholic, West Des Moines 69, Ankeny 58
Dubuque, Senior 66, Dubuque, Hempstead 63
Iowa City, West 50, Iowa City, City High 30
Pleasant Valley 47, Muscatine 33
Valley, West Des Moines 68, Ankeny Centennial 51

Class 4A State Tournament Bracket

4) Dowling Catholic, West Des Moines vs. 5) Valley, West Des Moines- March 9th 1:05pm
1) Pleasant Valley vs. 8) Dubuque, Senior – March 9th 2:45pm
2) Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln vs. 7) Cedar Falls- March 9th 6:35pm
3) Des Moines, Hoover vs. 6) Iowa City, West – March 9th 8:15pm