Two men, credited with saving the lives of strangers, will be honored during Friday’s Iowa-Nebraska football game in Lincoln. The recognition of “citizen heroes” from each state has become a halftime tradition in the annual battle between the Hawkeyes and Cornhuskers. Mark Tauscheck, spokesperson for the Iowa Red Cross, says this year’s Iowa honoree is 40-year-old Jerry Goeders of Dayton. Goeders and his family were at Lake Rathbun in southern Iowa this summer when they heard a girl screaming across the lake. She was struggling in the water with no one near her to help. “She was only about 15 feet from the shore, but she could not touch and was flailing and struggling to keep her head above water,” Tauscheck said. “Jerry Goeders’ wife, Stacey, said ‘you’ve got to go.’ So, Jerry took off running down the hill and jumped in and Stacey said her husband swam for probably four minutes or so to get to her. He was pretty exhausted by the time he got to her.”

Jerry Goeders

Goeders grabbed the girl, 8-year-old Jersie Ostino, and got her safely to shore. “He said he’ll never forget getting his foot to a rock and feeling that rock with his big toe,” Tauscheck said. “He said that’s when he knew he and the girl were going to be OK, but it was a very frightening experience for him as well.”

This year’s Nebraska citizen hero is 26-year-old Geoffrey Bennett, a soldier in the Army National Guard, who moved with his family to Norfolk, Nebraska from Illinois as a teenager. Bennett was driving through Omaha last December, in a snowstorm, when he stopped to help a woman near her broken down car. The 34-year-old woman had been critically injured when she was struck by passing vehicle. “(Bennett) showed up and saw how bad she was bleeding. He used his own belt as a tourniquet on her leg to slow the bleeding down. Authorities credit him with saving her life,” Tauscheck said.

Geoffrey Bennett photo

Bennett stayed with the woman and her friend, a 28-year-old man who was also badly injured, until an ambulance arrived. The woman’s leg was later amputated. Bennett graduated from high school in Norfolk before attending Morningside College in Sioux City where he was a pitcher on the baseball team. Bennett joined the Army National Guard in 2011. He recently started a new job as a technician at Camp Dodge in Johnston (Iowa). He previously served as perimeter security guard at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha. Earlier this year, fans of both schools were invited to nominate residents of Iowa and Nebraska for this “Citizen Hero” award. Staff and volunteers from the American Red Cross selected the winners.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa State women’s basketball team (2-1, 0-0 Big 12) took care of UMKC (0-4, 0-0 WAC) on Monday night as the Cyclones defeated the Kangaroos 61-45.

The Cyclones had four players in double-digits. Freshman Madison Wise led all scorers in the contest with 15 points and also hauled in a game high 15 boards.

The Cyclones opened separated themselves from UMKC in the second quarter with a 13-1 run to lead 39-15 at the break. ISU held the Kangaroos to just 5-39 (13%) from the field in the first stanza.

ISU out rebounded UMKC by a margin of 61-38 and the defense held UMKC to 16-75 shooting, which included 7-32 from behind the arc.

Next up for Iowa State they will travel to the Bahamas for the Junkanoo Jam. The Cyclones will open the tournament on Friday afternoon with a matchup with Tulane at 2:45 CT.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

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

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Marcus Foster scored 23 points, Mitch Ballock added 22 in front of his boyhood fans and Creighton beat No. 23 UCLA 100-89 in the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Classic. Kyrhi Thomas added 16 points and Ty-Shon Alexander had 12 for the Bluejays. Aaron Holiday led UCLA with 25 points and Prince Ali scored 18 before fouling out.

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Shaquille Morris scored 25 points, Landry Shamet added 23 and No. 6 Wichita State got the Maui Invitational off to a wild start by rallying from an 18-point deficit to beat California 92-82.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs’ spot atop the AFC West remained unchanged after the weekend, even if the public perception of them did. Their lowly loss to the Giants was their fourth in five games, but they maintained their two-game lead on the rest of the division. Still, few think the team that started 5-0 is still a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Tim Duncan and John Stockton, who became stars in college and icons in the NBA, headline the 2017 class that was inducted into the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. The class also includes Rick Mount, Scott May, Jay Williams, Cleo Hill, Paul Silas and Bo Ryan.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Mike Riley’s demeanor offers no hint he likely will be coaching his last game for Nebraska when it plays Iowa on Friday. Nebraska has lost 11 of its last 17. Full-throated calls for Riley’s ouster have been coming from the fan base since Northern Illinois stunned the Cornhuskers in Lincoln in September. Riley said his players deserve him and his staff to put their full energy into preparing for the final game of the season.

Girls basketball scores from Monday, November 20th

Atlantic 71, Carroll 50 (Alyssa Ginther 22, McKenzie Waters 16)
Audubon 52, AC/GC 50 (Three players in double figures for Audubon: Leah Subbert 14, Keaton Wessel 12, McKenna Petersen 11.)
Boyer Valley 52, Maple Valley Anthon-Oto/Charter Oak-Ute 42
Mount Ayr 66, Coon Rapids-Bayard 28

The Atlantic Trojans opened up the season with a 71-50 road victory over the Carroll Tigers on Monday night. Alyssa Ginther came off the bench in the second quarter and led the team with 22 points, including 4 threes to lead all scorers in the game. McKenzie Waters had 16 and Baylee Newell had 9 to help the Trojans get the win.

Atlantic started slow but got the last bucket of the first quarter to take a 12-11 lead. A couple of threes by Ginther and another by freshman Haley Rasmussen helped the Trojans push the lead to 10 by halftime 32-22. The final two threes of Ginther’s night came in the third quarter as the Trojans blew the game open to a 52-36 lead.  Free throws helped to expand the lead as well as Atlantic ended up in the bonus both halves and finished 18-33 from the stripe.

Atlantic Head Coach Kelly Juhl said it was nice to see everyone get on track after starting the game slow.

Coach Juhl thought the defensive effort was pretty good for the Trojans and was impressed by the offensive production.

Alyssa Ginther talked about the team knowing that they need to play tough pressure defense to make up for the size difference that they will face most nights.

Atlantic will be back home on Tuesday night to face the 4A 11th-rated Denison-Schleswig Lady Monarchs. We’ll have coverage on KJAN with pregame at 7:15pm and Tip-off at 7:30pm. Watch the replay of the Carroll contest on our TV page!

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) — Bryce Washington scored 15 points and pulled down 10 rebounds and Louisiana-Lafayette defeated Iowa 80-71 in the opening game of the inaugural Cayman Islands Classic on Monday.

Frank Bartley IV led the Ragin’ Cajuns (3-1) with 17 points. JaKeenan Gant added 16 points and four blocks, and Justin Miller scored 14 points to go with seven rebounds. Louisiana was only 5 of 21 from 3-point range but shot 49 percent overall.

The Hawkeyes (3-1), who opened their season with three home games, were led by Isaiah Moss, who made all 10 of his free throws, with a career-high 24 points. Jordan Bohannon added four 3-pointers and 21 points. Iowa shot just 37 percent overall and 32 percent from the arc, where they had been shooting at a 44 percent clip, tops in the Big Ten.

The teams were tied at 10 when the Ragin’ Cajuns went on a 21-1 run capped by a Washington bucket with 2:22 left in the half, which ended with Louisiana ahead 37-17.

The lead reached 24 points early on after the break but Moss led an Iowa rally in the second half in which he scored 20 points. His 3-pointer with just under two minutes left got the Hawkeyes within nine, 70-61, and he added seven more points but Gant hit a pair of free throws with 49 seconds left and his dunk with a half-minute to go made it a 13-point game.

The eight-team tournament runs through Wednesday.

Iowa will now play South Dakota State on Tuesday and we’ll have it on KJAN. Pregame will start at 10:00am, with tip-off scheduled for 11:00am Central Time.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State coach Matt Campbell says running back David Montgomery will be ready to go when the Cyclones play at Kansas State on Saturday.

That’s good news for the Cyclones (7-4, 5-3 Big 12) because they’ll need all the healthy bodies they can muster against a Kansas State team that is coming off an upset of Oklahoma State and has won three of its last four games. The Wildcats (6-5, 4-4) have defeated Iowa State nine straight times and haven’t lost to the Cyclones at home since 2004.

Montgomery tweaked his left ankle in a 23-13 victory over Baylor last Saturday. He remained on the field for several minutes. X-rays found no damage and he walked without a limp on Monday

Game Score: Purdue 24, Iowa 15

$25– Ron Jensen of Anita- Purdue 24, Iowa 17- 2pts

$10– Amber Leed-Kelly of Omaha, NE- Purdue 24, Iowa 12- 3pts

$5– Ryan Leed of Anita- Purdue 20, Iowa 15- 4pts

$5– Charles Allen of Avoca- Purdue 21, Iowa 13- 5pts

$5– Perry Kelley of Harlan- Purdue 28, Iowa 21- 10pts

Next Game: Friday, November 24^th @ Nebraska 3:00pm

The high school girls basketball season gets into full swing this week and the preseason rankings have been released by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

2017 Preseason Iowa Girls High School Basketball Rankings
Compiled by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union
Friday, November 17, 2017

Class 1A

Class 2A

Class 3A

Class 4A

Class 5A