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

UNDATED (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs have released veteran linebacker Justin Houston after they were unable to work out a trade, freeing up $14 million in much-needed salary cap space. The 30-year-old Houston signed a $101 million, six-year deal with the Chiefs in 2015 that was at the time a record for a defensive player.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Megan Gustafson scored 45 points Sunday to lead No. 10 Iowa past No. 8 Maryland 90-76 for its first Big Ten Tournament title since 2001. It’s the longest gap between conference crowns since the tourney became an annual event in 1995, and the Hawkeyes claimed the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid with a victory over the Big Ten’s regular-season champion. Kaila Charles scored a career-high 36 point for the Terrapins.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Amir Harris scored the go-ahead layup with 10.8 seconds left and Thorir Thorbjarnarson blocked Jordan Bohanon’s 3-point try at the buzzer as Nebraska came back from a nine-point deficit in the last minute of regulation to beat Iowa 93-91 in overtime. The win might have served as an emotional sendoff for Cornhuskers’ coach Tim Miles, whose future at Nebraska is in serious doubt after his team’s free fall the second half of the season. Iowa lost its fourth straight.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Bradley rallied from an 18-point deficit in the second half and earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2006, beating Northern Iowa 57-54 in the Missouri Valley Conference championship game. Elijah Childs scored 16 points for fifth-seeded Bradley. The Braves trailed 35-17 with 17 minutes left. They advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time overall _ in their last appearance, as a 13th seed, they beat Kansas and Pittsburgh before losing to Memphis.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Alexa Middleton scored 24 points, Bridget Carleton and Ashley Joens had double-doubles and No. 19 Iowa State took control down the stretch to defeat No. 21 Texas 75-69 in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals. The second-seeded Cyclones, winners of five straight, will face No. 1 Baylor in their first championship game appearance since 2013.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Kalani Brown scored 23 points in 21 minutes, and No. 1 Baylor breezed past Kansas State 88-60 in a Big 12 Tournament semifinal. Juicy Landrum scored 19 points and Lauren Cox had 18 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists for the Lady Bears, who won their 22nd straight game.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Alexa Middleton scored 24 points, Bridget Carleton and Ashley Joens had double-doubles and No. 19 Iowa State took control down the stretch on Sunday to defeat No. 21 Texas in the Big 12 Conference tournament semifinals. The second-seeded Cyclones (25-7), winners of five straight, face No. 1 Baylor on Monday night in their first championship game appearance since 2013.

Carleton, the Big 12 Player of the Year, had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Joens added 13 and 12.

Megan Gustafson scored 26 points in the first half and finished with 45 on Sunday to lead No. 10 Iowa past No. 8 Maryland 90-76 for its first Big Ten Tournament title since 2001. It’s the longest gap between conference crowns since the tourney became an annual event in 1995.

The Hawkeyes (26-6) also claimed the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid with a victory over the Big Ten’s regular-season champion. Gustafson’s point total was the second-most in tourney history, trailing only her 48-point performance in a quarterfinal loss to Minnesota last year.

Kaila Charles scored a career-high 36 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Terrapins (28-4), who lost for just the second time in 14 games — both to Iowa and this time largely because of Gustafson’s incredible start.

The two-time conference player of the year, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, went 10 of 14 from the field and drew seven fouls in the first half.

The Hawkeyes have won five straight and 10 of 11. And while Gustafson’s dominance inside this weekend should be a major concern for whomever Iowa plays in the NCAA Tournament, the Hawkeyes also demonstrated they can use her presence to free up teammates. It could be a wicked postseason combination.

Gustafson also had 10 rebounds to extend her own conference record for career double-doubles to 85 and her single-season school record to 31. She finished 17 of 24 from the field and 11 of 14 at the free-throw line. … Davis added 14 points while Kathleen Doyle had 13. … Makenzie Meyer and Alexis Sevillian each had five assists.

The Hawkeyes had two injury scares. First, Stewart left briefly in the first half when Austin rolled into her legs in front of the Iowa bench. She walked to the end of the court, where she composed herself before returning to the game. Two minutes later, Davis stayed down after appearing to get hit in the face as Charles was driving to the basket. Davis also returned and finished the game.
UP NEXT
Iowa: Must wait until next week to find out its NCAA Tournament destination.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Amir Harris scored the go-ahead layup with 10.8 seconds left, Thorir Thorbjarnarson blocked Jordan Bohanon’s 3-pointer try at the buzzer and Nebraska came back from a nine-point deficit in the last minute of regulation to beat Iowa 93-91 in overtime Sunday. The win might have served as an emotional sendoff for Cornhuskers’ coach Tim Miles, whose future at Nebraska is in serious doubt after his team’s free fall the second half of the season. The loss, in Iowa coach Fran McCaffery’s return from a two-game suspension, was the fourth in a row for the Hawkeyes (21-10, 10-10 Big Ten).

Nebraska (15-15, 6-14), which had lost 11 of its previous 13 games, trailed by as many as 16 points in the second half and by nine with 50 seconds left. The Huskers made nine shots in a row and 10 of their last 11 in regulation, with Watson making three 3-pointers and Palmer two before Palmer tied it at 81-all with his baseline drive with eight seconds left. Luka Garza matched his career high with 25 points and Jordan Bohannon had 20 for the Hawks.

When it was over, the 12,000 fans who watched so much bad basketball at Pinnacle Bank Arena were on their feet, the Nebraska players were at center court dancing and Miles made his way back to the locker room to cheers and high-fives. A 19-3 run over the halves turned a 28-28 tie into a 47-31 Iowa lead, and the Hawkeyes looked ready to win going away. Their offense didn’t go dormant; Nebraska just kept pushing. Iowa, which made 9 of 10 free throws in the last minute of regulation, seemed almost powerless to stop an inspired Nebraska team.

The Hawkeyes looked as if they were on their way to a feel-good win after seeing their potential NCAA Tournament seeding go south following three straight losses and six in their previous 11 games. They didn’t get it. UP NEXT: Iowa plays Illinois or Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday. Nebraska plays Rutgers in the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday.

The Kansas City Chiefs have released veteran linebacker Justin Houston after they were unable to work out a trade, freeing up $14 million in much-needed salary cap space. The 30-year-old Houston signed a $101 million, six-year deal with the Chiefs in 2015 that was at the time a record for a defensive player. But Houston has been slowed by injuries the past four seasons, and has been unable to replicate the 22-sack season that helped him land the contract.

He was due $15.25 million this season. The Chiefs will take on $7.1 million in dead money. Houston departs Kansas City having started 96 games and appearing in 102 over eight seasons. He had 78½ sacks to trail only Derrick Thomas, Tamba Hali and Neil Smith in franchise history.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Bradley rallied from an 18-point deficit in the second half and earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2006, beating Northern Iowa 57-54 Sunday in the Missouri Valley Conference championship game. Elijah Childs scored 16 points and Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye added 13 for fifth-seeded Bradley (20-14). The Braves advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time overall — in their last appearance, as a 13th seed, they beat Kansas and Pittsburgh before losing to Memphis.

AJ Green led sixth-seeded Northern Iowa (16-18) with 23 points. Northern Iowa went 8 of 20 from 3-point range and has made at least one 3-pointer in 628 successive games, the longest streak among MVC teams.

DALLAS (AP) — Texas Tech star Jarrett Culver has been voted Big 12 player of the year and coach Chris Beard has been honored as coach of the year after the Red Raiders shared the regular-season title with Kansas State. The league announced its awards Sunday.

The Wildcats’ Barry Brown was voted defensive player of the year and Dedric Lawson of Kansas was the newcomer of the year. Jaxson Hayes of Texas was freshman of the year, Lindell Wigginton of Iowa State was the best sixth man and Kristian Doolittle of Oklahoma was the most improved player.

Culver, Brown and Lawson were unanimous first-team All-Big 12 selections in voting conducted by the league’s coaches. They were joined by Kansas State’s Dean Wade and Iowa State’s Marial Shayok.

Hayes was joined on the second team by Texas Tech’s Matt Mooney, West Virginia’s Derek Culver, Makai Mason of Baylor and Desmond Bane of TCU.

The Northern Iowa Panther (16-17, 11-9) take on the Bradley Braves (19-14, 11-9) at Noon today (Sunday) in St. Louis, during the Missouri Valley Conference Tourney Championship at the Enterprise Center. The teams split the regular season series at one win apiece. The teams last played on Feb. 6, when the Braves shot 54.9 percent from the field while holding Northern Iowa to just 44.6 percent en route to the eight-point victory.

Bradley’s Elijah Childs has averaged 12.1 points and 7.9 rebounds while Darrell Brown has put up 14.9 points. For the Panthers, AJ Green has averaged 14.7 points while Wyatt Lohaus has put up 10.5 points. Green has connected on 34.3 percent of the 198 3-pointers he’s attempted and has made 9 of 25 over his last five games. He’s also made 85.7 percent of his foul shots this season.

Northern Iowa is a perfect 13-0 when its defense holds opponents to a field goal percentage of 43.8 percent or less. The Panthers are 3-17 when allowing the opposition to shoot any better than that. The Braves have recently used assists to create buckets more often than the Panthers. Bradley has an assist on 41 of 63 field goals (65.1 percent) over its past three matchups while Northern Iowa has assists on 29 of 67 field goals (43.3 percent) during its past three games.

Bradley is ranked second among MVC teams with an offensive rebound percentage of 28.1 percent. The Braves have averaged 9.4 offensive boards per game.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Wyatt Lohaus had a career-high 27 points as Northern Iowa narrowly defeated Drake 60-58 in the semifinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Saturday.

Trae Berhow had 12 points and six rebounds for Northern Iowa (16-17). Anthony Murphy had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs (24-9). Tremell Murphy added 13 points.