Hawkeye Ten Conference 

Atlantic – 86 vs Shenandoah – 60

Harlan – 65 vs Clarinda – 49

Lewis Central – 78 vs Glenwood – 75 (OT)

Western Iowa Conference 

Audubon – 52 vs Riverside – 43

Logan-Magnolia – 63 vs AHSTW – 49

Tri-Center – 55 vs Underwood – 46

Missouri Valley – 59 vs IKM-Manning – 47

Rolling Valley Conference 

CAM – 64 vs Glidden-Ralston – 45

Paton-Churdan – 60 vs Exira-EHK – 46

Ar-We-Va – 64 vs Boyer Valley – 41

Woodbine – 58 vs Coon Rapids-Bayard – 57

Pride of Iowa Conference 

Central Decatur – 81 vs Nodaway Valley – 55

Mount Ayr – 81 vs East Union – 32

Southeast Warren – 54 vs Lenox – 46

Southwest Valley – 56 vs Martensdale-St. Marys – 51

Corner Conference 

Sidney – 69 vs Fremont-Mills – 34

Non-Conference 

Kuemper Catholic – 73 vs Bishop Heelan Catholic – 46

Spencer – 65 vs Denison-Schleswig – 26

Grinnell – 57 vs Creston – 53

East Mills – 43 vs Red Oak – 40

Spirit Lake – 63 vs Sergeant Bluff-Luton – 61

Des Moines Lincoln – 71 vs Thomas Jefferson – 41

The 23rd ranked Iowa Hawkeyes women are at home on Sunday to take on eighth ranked Maryland. The Terrapins are 13-0.

That’s Iowa coach Jan Jensen. The Hawkeyes are 12-2 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten.

The CAM Cougars girls basketball team is looking to keep heading in the right direction heading into 2025. Despite losing four of their first five games of the season, the Cougars won back-to-back games to close out 2024. This included a 51-49 win over third place Boyer Valley. Head coach Joe Wollum said he’s been very happy with the way his team has pursued improvement.

CAM is a young team, sporting a roster with just three seniors.  Along with the continued improvement Wollum has also been happy with a number of pleasant surprises.

Another big piece for the Cougars is senior Maddie Richter. She currently leads the team in scoring averaging 15.3 points. She also is atop the team in takeaways nabbing 2.7 steals per game. Wollum has been impressed with her ability to shot and get into the paint while saying that her abilities are also creating opportunities for others.

The main goal for the cougars in 2025, continue to improve while learning how to win.

Up next the Cougars will kick off 2025 with a conference matchup against Glidden-Ralston. Wollum says he’s expecting a tough battle.

That game in Anita is schedule for 6 pm on Friday.

DES MOINES, Iowa – A huge turnaround in the second half sent the Drake women’s basketball team to its sixth straight victory.

Courtney Becker made her final nine shots in scoring a career-high 26 points and the Bulldogs outscored UIC 50-25 over the final two quarters in rolling to an 86-53 victory at the Knapp Center on Thursday night. Becker had plenty of help, too. Anna Miller added 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds, Katie Dinnebier scored 16 and handed out nine assists and Abbie Aalsma contributed 10 points.

Drake (8-5, 2-0 Missouri Valley Conference) also got major minutes off the bench from Ava Hawthorne, Taedyn Gray, Peyton McCabe and Brooklin Dailey in a game that went from a dogfight in the first half to a decisive victory for the Bulldogs, who won their 18th straight MVC game at the Knapp Center and improved to 7-0 against UIC at home.

They did it with a third-quarter scoring burst that became a showcase for Drake’s offensive efficiency. Drake went from down two to up 20 in the first 7:07 of the quarter, keyed by scoring runs of 6-0 and 14-0.

The Bulldogs shot 81.3 percent in the quarter (13-for-16) and led 66-46 heading into the final period after trailing 38-36 at halftime. The Drake guards, Dinnebier in particular, struggled to break down the UIC defense in the opening half, but it was a different story after that. Dinnebier drove for a layup to start the third-quarter scoring, Becker got a bucker inside, then scored on a fastbreak layup on a pass from Dinnebier. After a UIC basket, the Bulldogs proceeded to rattle off the next 14 points.

Dinnebier drove for two straight baskets, then hit Becker for a transition layup. Miller got into the act by putting the ball on the floor and taking it to the hoop to make it 50-40 and force UIC’s second timeout of the quarter.

When play resumed, Aalsma knocked down a 3-pointer and Becker converted a three-point play to cap a 20-2 run that produced a 56-40 lead.  A UIC basket interrupted the run, but only briefly. Becker buried two straight treys from the left side and it was 62-42 with 2:53 still to play in the quarter. Becker hit yet another three to start the fourth quarter and finished 10-for-16 from the field, including four 3-pointers to match her career high. She made the first basket of the game, a layup, then missed six straight shots before knocking in her final nine.

Dinnebier and Ava Hawthorne hit back-to-back treys to stretch the lead to 77-51. The Bulldogs led by 26 two other times down the stretch.

Drake, which made 11 of its first 12 shots in that torrid third quarter, shot 77 percent in the second half and 51.5 percent for the game – the third straight time the Bulldogs have made at least half their shots.

Miller finished 9-for-12 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers and Aalsma added two 3s in going 4-for-5. After missing seven of nine shots in the first half, Dinnebier went 5-for-7 in the second half and finished with six rebounds and two steals.

UIC (4-7, 1-1) broke down the Drake defense often at the outset and shot 51.6 percent in the opening half while outrebounding the Bulldogs 23-18. But the Flames went 3-for-14 with five turnovers in the third quarter and never recovered. Drake ended up with a 37-32 rebounding edge and had assists on 23 of its 35 field goals.

“That second half…we talk a lot about details and adjustments,” Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman said. “We were just able to start making shots and our offense really inspired our defensive effort. Just so, so proud of our team today. We had some incredible individual performances, Courtney Becker couldn’t miss in the second half, and it was awesome to see our team feed off that and keep the momentum going.”

The Bulldogs will be back in action on Saturday, hosting Valparaiso at 2 p.m.

The Atlantic Trojans boys basketball team is working to start 2025 on a better note. The Trojans have struggled to start the 2024-25 season, going 1-5 in their opening six games. This includes four conference losses against the top four teams in the Hawkeye Ten. Despite the start of the season not going the way Atlantic wanted, head coach Dalton Franken says his team’s effort has been a bright spot in the early going.

Another bright spot for the Trojans has been the play of Gavin McLaren. The junior currently leads the Trojans in scoring averaging 16.4 points per game and is shooting over 44 percent from the floor.  McLaren also leads the team in rebounding averaging 6.2 per game. Franken knows how important McLaren is and credits a lot to his size and athleticism.

Regardless of the team, there are always pleasant surprises in sports. Whether it be players, a unit, or an aspect of the team game, someone or something almost always exceeds initial expectations. For Franken, several players come to mind including Shelton Mualia, who is back after taking the season off last year.

Defensively Franken has also been impressed with Grant Petty and Hudson McLaren.

The Trojans have been working hard over the break to start 2025 on the right note. However, Franken has emphasized the defense as an area of improvement that can also help other parts of their game.

Atlantic is scheduled to kick off 2025 with back-to-back games at home on Friday and Saturday. Saturday’s contents is a make-up from the postponed Creston game that was originally scheduled for Dec. 13. However, Friday’s contest against Shenandoah has all of Atlantic’s attention.

Friday’s game is scheduled to tipoff at 7:30 pm. Stay tuned to KJAN and KJAN.com for all the latest sports updates.

The UNI women shot better than 56 percent for the game and had four players in double figures in a 93-70 win over Valparaiso in the McLeod Center. The Panthers are 2-0 in the Missouri Valley.

That’s UNI coach Tanya Warren. The Panthers held Valpo to five of 14 shooting in the opening quarter as they raced out to a 20 point lead at halftime.

Maya McDermott and Riley Goebel) each had 20 points to lead UNI.

The third ranked Iowa State men are at home on Saturday in Big-12 play to take on 25th ranked Baylor. The Cyclones are 11-1 overall and opened conference play with a win at Colorado. Baylor is 9-3 overall.

That’s ISU coach T.J. Otzelberger. Baylor opened the Big 12 race with a lopsided win over Utah.

Iowa sophomore center Owen Freeman will return to the lineup Friday night when the Hawkeyes visit Wisconsin. Freeman missed the win over New Hampshire with an injured ankle. He leads the Hawkeyes in scoring at just over 17 points per game and rebounding at six and-a-half per contest.

Freeman will be challenged in the paint by the Badgers.

A key for the Hawkeyes will be Freeman avoiding foul trouble.

The Hawkeyes return to Big Ten play with a record of 1-1 and will look to steal one on the road.

That’s Iowa coach Fran McCaffery who says it will take a consistent effort to have a chance.

McCaffery says the Badgers have the ability to stretch a team on the defensive end.

The Badgers are 10-3 overall and 0-2 in the league race.

The Exira-EHK Spartans boys basketball team is looking for continued improvement in 2025. The Spartans started the year with a tough 5-game conference slate and went 2-3 during that stretch. This included a pair of losses to undefeated teams in Coon Rapids-Bayard and Woodbine. Despite not getting off to the most fantastic of starts head coach Tony Santistaben has been pleased with the way his team has fought and continues to improve.

When it comes to offense, Exira-EHK have been well balanced. Four Spartans are averaging over 8 points per game including senior Cannon Hansen. In addition to his nine points per game, he is also pickup rebounds averaging nearly five per game. Owen Juhl and Austin Rasmussen have also contributed averaging 8.8 and 8.2 points per game respectively. Santistaben says he not surprised with his team’s balanced scoring to start the year.

However, leading the way for the Spartans has been senior Josh Nelson. He is currently averaging a double-double per game scoring 12.2 points and grabbing 10.8 rebound per game. Santistaben stated that his hard work, leadership and his ability to have fun while maintaining a seriousness have all lead to his success.

As the end of the break is fast approaching one area that Santistaben wants to see improved the most is his team’s shot selection.

Coming up for Exira-EHK is another conference matchup against Paton-Churdan and Santistaben is looking forward to the opportunity to start the new year on a good note.

That game against Paton-Churdan is scheduled for Friday at 7:30 pm.

Northern Iowa is 3-0 in the Missouri Valley for the first time since 2010. The Panthers held off a second half rally by Belmont in a 76-70 win in the McLeod Center. Tytan Anderson led four Panthers in double figures with 18 points.

UNI jumped out early to a 31-17 lead before holding off the Bruins in the second half.

That’s UNI coach Ben Jacobson.