Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

MOLINE, Ill. (AP) — Alexa Willard scored a career-high 30 points and second-seeded Missouri State ended No. 21 Drake’s 12-game winning streak with a 94-79 victory in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament for the Bears’ 15th NCAA Tournament berth. Sydney Manning added 14 points, Brice Calip 13 and Danielle Gitzen 12 for the Bears (23-10), whose last win over a ranked team was against No. 5 Duke in the 2001 Sweet 16.

UNDATED (AP) — The Atlantic Coast Conference comes into the NCAA Tournament with three No. 1 seeds, but no league has put three teams in the Final Four since 1985. That year, Georgetown and St. John’s arrived as Big East behemoths, only to be upstaged when conference rival Villanova took the title. The ACC’s top-seeded trio this year is Duke, North Carolina and Virginia.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — North Carolina earned the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region, but that’s about the only gift the Tar Heels got for the NCAA Tournament. Their path to the Final Four could include games against Kansas just down the road from the Jayhawks’ campus in Lawrence, and a matchup with second-seeded Kentucky in the regional finals.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Zion Williamson and Duke are the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Devils sit atop the East Region, and their road to Minneapolis could include matchups with ACC rival Virginia Tech _ which beat Duke without Zion _ and Big Ten champion Michigan State.

NEW YORK (AP) — Saint Louis rallied from a15-point, first-half deficit, locking down St. Bonaventure in the second half for a 55-53 victory in the Atlantic 10 championship and an NCAA Tournament bid. The sixth-seeded Billikens won four games in four days to earn their first A-10 Tournament title since 2013 and get back in the NCAAs for the first time since 2014.

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Back tightness is expected to keep St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter out of the lineup until Wednesday. Carpenter first noticed the issue on Saturday, when he wasn’t scheduled to be in the lineup. The 33-year-old Carpenter hit .257 with 36 homers last season.

MOLINE, Ill. (AP) — Alexa Willard scored a career-high 30 points and second-seeded Missouri State ended No. 21 Drake’s 12-game winning streak with a 94-79 victory in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament on Sunday for the Bears’ 15th NCAA Tournament berth.

Sydney Manning added 14 points, Brice Calip 13 and Danielle Gitzen 12 for the Bears (23-10), whose last win over a ranked team was against No. 5 Duke in the 2001 Sweet 16. It is the 11th MVC tournament title for Missouri State, the most recent coming in 2016.

The Bulldogs (27-6) had won 12 straight since an 85-79 home loss to the Bears on February 1 and were 61-1 against league opponents coming into their third-straight title game.

Bachrodt led Drake with 18 points, MVC player of the year Becca Hittner had 16 and Sara Rhine 14.

Brandon Baier of Atlantic has taken home a bronze medal in his first event at the 2019 Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.  The 27 year old had the third best throw of 12.36 meters on Tuesday, March 12th in the M13 preliminaries and grabbed a third place finish in the finals on Sunday, March 17th with a toss of 13.58 meters.  Brandon is one of only 36 United States athletes competing in track & field.  He will be competing in the 100 meter dash on Tuesday, March 19th and will be part of a United States 4 x 100 meter relay team on Wednesday, March 20th.  His teammates on the 4 x 100 include:  25 year old Calvin Massenburg; 21 year old Christopher Lloyd Xzavion Tucker and 26 year old James Enoch Dawson.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Lindell Wigginton found his way to Iowa State from Canada, Marial Shayok took a detour through the University of Virginia, and Michael Jacobson started his career at the University of Nebraska. Three players from three very different backgrounds now have something in common: a title.

The trio helped the fifth-seeded Cyclones race to a big early lead against No. 17 Kansas on Saturday night, then contributed to enough crucial stops down the stretch, preserving a 78-66 victory over the Jayhawks in the Big 12 Tournament finale at Sprint Center. Wigginton finished with 17 points, Shayok had 15 on his way to winning tournament MVP, and Jacobson finished with 14 for the Cyclones (23-11), who became the lowest-seeded team ever to win the conference tournament. They also improved to 2-0 against Kansas (25-9) in the finals.

Iowa State had its own trouble on the offensive end of the floor, getting five shots swatted into the seats. But the Cyclones were effective at getting to the rim, and easy layups by Wigginton and Tyrese Haliburton allowed them to take control.

Iowa State has leaned on Shayok and Talen Horton-Tucker much of the season, but Wigginton and Haliburton shined in Kansas City. Wigginton is averaging more than 15 points over his last five games while Haliburton continues to lead the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Both teams will learn their NCAA Tournament destinations today (Sunday) .

MOLINE, Ill. (AP) — Becca Hittner, the two-time Missouri Valley player of the year, scored 16 of her 22 points in the second half to propel No. 21 Drake into the conference tournament championship game with a 65-54 win over fourth-seeded Illinois State on Saturday.

Sara Rhine added 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs (27-5), who take a 12-game winning streak into the title game they have won the past two years. Drake faces the winner of second-seeded Missouri State and third-seeded Northern Iowa on Sunday.

w/ Chris Parks

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CHICAGO (AP) — Zavier Simpson was pretty much perfect, and everything fell into place for No. 10 Michigan.

Just another day at the Big Ten Tournament for the Wolverines.

Simpson sparked Michigan’s balanced attack with 10 points and 11 assists, and the Wolverines rolled past Iowa 74-53 on Friday night.

Seeking its third consecutive Big Ten tourney title, third-seeded Michigan advanced to the semifinals for the fourth straight year. It will go for its third win against Minnesota this season when it takes on the surprising Gophers on Saturday afternoon.

“There’s nothing intentional here. We’re just trying to get better every day,” coach John Beilein said. “I think if you go into tournaments and you’re usually a team that doesn’t beat itself during the season, maybe you have some success then.”

It certainly helps to have a point guard like Simpson, who went 4 for 4 from the field and 2 for 2 at the line with just one turnover. The 6-foot junior also played tough defense on Jordan Bohannon, who was averaging 11.7 points before he went scoreless in almost 27 minutes against the Wolverines (27-5).

Michigan made 10 3-pointers and placed five players in double figures, bouncing back nicely from Saturday’s disappointing loss to rival Michigan State. Ignas Brazdeikis had 15 points, and Jon Teske had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Luke Garza and Tyler Cook each scored 14 points, but Iowa was ice cold from deep one night after it made 12 3-pointers in an 83-62 victory over Illinois. The Hawkeyes went 1 for 16 from beyond the arc against the Wolverines and shot 36 percent (21 for 59) overall.

UP NEXT
Iowa waits to see where it’s going in the NCAA Tournament.
Michigan edged Minnesota 59-57 on Jan. 22 and topped the Gophers 69-60 on Feb. 21.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Marial Shayok had watched shot after shot hit everything but net Friday night, and Iowa State’s leading scorer and veteran leader could very well have grown hesitant and frustrated. Instead, he hit the two biggest shots of the game.

Shayok rattled in a tying 3-pointer down the stretch, swished another from right in front of his own bench, then added a couple of free throws in the closing seconds to help the fifth-seeded Cyclones beat No. 15 Kansas State 63-59 in the Big 12 semifinals. Shayok finished with 21 points, Nick Weiler-Babb added 12 and Iowa State (22-11) advanced to play Kansas or West Virginia on Saturday night. The Cyclones are 4-0 when playing for the title.

Iowa State won despite committing 17 turnovers and struggling from the field for most of the second half. The Cyclones also won without much help from sharpshooter Talen Horton-Tucker, who had six points on 3-for-10 shooting.
UP NEXT
Iowa State will play the West Virginia-Kansas winner for the title.

MOLINE, Ill. (AP) — Two-time Player of the Year Becca Hittner scored 18 points and No. 21 Drake used a game-breaking run in the first quarter on Friday to roll to an 86-58 win over ninth-seeded Valparaiso in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament quarterfinals.

Maddy Dean added 16 points, Sara Rhine 14 and Monica Burich 10 for the Bulldogs (26-5), who have won 11 straight. The three-time defending league champion and two-time defending tournament winner faces the winner of fourth-seeded Illinois State against fifth-seeded Bradley in Saturday’s semifinals.

Dean’s 3-pointer broke a 2-2 tie and kicked off an 18-0 run with contributions from six different players. The lead was 21-5 after one quarter as the Crusaders missed 11 straight shots after making their first one of the game.

Their second make was their first shot of the second quarter.

The second quarter was pretty even but not until an 8-0 run had pushed the lead to 23.

Addison Stoller had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Valparaiso and Grace Hales had 15 but the two combined to shoot 7 of 25.

The Crusaders shot 28 percent for the games while Drake was at 52 percent.

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State women’s basketball team will hold a Selection Show viewing event in the Sukup South End Zone Club on Monday, March 18. The viewing will be open to the public, and fans can meet the team and watch the NCAA Selection Show on ESPN alongside the Cyclones and see who Iowa State will face in the NCAA Tournament.

Doors will open at 5 p.m. and attendees will have the opportunity to meet and greet with the team and coaches prior to the Selection Show, which will air on ESPN. The event will officially get underway at 5:45 p.m. beginning with a short program and video highlighting the team’s season to date.

The Selection Show will officially begin at 6 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN. Following the conclusion of the show at 6:30 p.m., Iowa State athletics staff members will provide ticketing information for those in attendance that wish to purchase tickets for the first and second round games.

Light refreshments and bottled water will also be provided.