AMES, Iowa – Iowa State women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly will reach a milestone season next fall when he begins his 25th season on the sidelines in Ames.

And, after agreeing to a three-year contract extension Thursday, the dean of Big 12 coaches, will continue his tenure at Iowa State beyond the anniversary campaign. Fennelly’s contract extension runs through June 30, 2025.

“I love this place,” Fennelly said in his post-game comments Monday. “I love everything about it. I love coming to work. I love telling people I coach and work at Iowa State.”

The appreciation for Fennelly is equally strong.

“Bill built a program from scratch and, more impressively, maintained major success for more than two decades,” Athletics Director Jamie Pollard said. “There’s a loyalty factor and a commitment (to Iowa State) factor with Bill that isn’t very typical today. He has been fully invested in the ‘Iowa State Way’ for a long time and our fan base has reaped the benefits.”

As Fennelly prepares for his silver anniversary season in Ames, he will join a list of peers with at least 25 years working at one school that includes the likes of Geno Auriemma (34 years at UConn), Doug Bruno (33, DePaul), Sylvia Hatchell (33, North Carolina), Tara VanDerveer (33, Stanford) and Muffet McGraw (32, Notre Dame).

Fennelly is also climbing the list of longest-tenured coaches in Iowa State history, which includes Jack McGuire (men’s swimming, 34 years), Cap Timm (baseball, 33), Harold Nichols (wrestling, 32), Dale Anderson (men’s golf, 30), Hugo Otopalik (wrestling, 28) and Bill Bergan (men’s cross country, 25).

Fennelly won his 500th game at Iowa State last season and has a 24-year record of 505-262 (.658) with the Cyclones. His career mark over 31 years is 671-315 (.618). His career win total is 14th nationally among active coaches.

“Both (Iowa State President) Dr. Wendy Wintersteen and I wanted to extend our support to Bill in light of the fact that my tenure with the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee begins this fall,” Pollard said. “I will miss some Cyclone games with my committee work, so we wanted to re-state and extend our support for Bill’s leadership of this program.”

Fennelly’s 2018-19 team was 26-9, finished second in both the Big 12 regular-season standings and the Big 12 Tournament and hosted two games in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. It was Fennelly’s 20th season with at least 20 victories, making him one of only 13 active coaches with that distinction. He is one of 13 finalists for the 2019 U.S. Marine Corps / WBCA National Coach of the Year award.

St. Louis Cardinals (88-74, third in the NL Central in 2018) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (96-67, first in the NL Central in 2018)

Milwaukee; Thursday, 1:10 p.m. CDT Pregame begins at 12:15pm on KJAN

PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (0-0, 0.00 ERA) Brewers: Jhoulys Chacín (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

BOTTOM LINE: St. Louis visits Milwaukee on opening day.

The Brewers went 51-30 at home in 2018. Milwaukee averaged 8.6 hits with 3.0 extra base hits per game last year.

The Cardinals finished 41-35 against NL Central Division opponents in 2018. St. Louis averaged 8.5 hits with 2.9 extra base hits per game and 248 total doubles last year. The Brewers won the season series 11-8 in 2018.

Brewers Injuries: Jeremy Jeffress: day-to-day (shoulder).

Cardinals Injuries: None listed.

TODAY’S MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

NCAA Sweet 16

WEST
at Honda Center

Florida St. vs Gonzaga 6:09 p.m.
Texas Tech vs Michigan 8:39 p.m.

SOUTH
at KFC Yum! Center

Purdue vs Tennessee 6:29 p.m.
Oregon vs Virginia 8:59 p.m.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast with Jim Field.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

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

UNDATED (AP) — Christian Yelich and the Milwaukee Brewers host Paul Goldschmidt and the St. Louis Cardinals on opening day. Miles Mikolas pitches for St. Louis and Jhoulys Chacin gets the ball for Milwaukee in a matchup of NL Central teams with postseason aspirations. Goldschmidt is making his Cardinals debut after he was acquired in an offseason trade with Arizona. (Listen for the game today beginning at 12:15-p.m. on KJAN)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The consensus among prognosticators is that the Chicago White Sox or Kansas City Royals will finish in the bottom of the AL Central, and whichever team avoids the cellar won’t fare a whole lot better. Well, one of them will start the season with a win. The White Sox visit the Royals for opening day Thursday.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa reached the Sweet Sixteen in large part because of the spectacular play of Megan Gustafson. If the Hawkeyes want to go further, they’ll need Gustafson’s teammates to give her some help.

The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats are on to the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Final Four after an Elite Eight win over Mercyhurst 55-51 on Wednesday afternoon.

Most of the game was a defensive battle with Northwest leading by just 2 at halftime 24-22. The Bearcats were able to build a small lead early in the second half and held the Lakers off at the end of the game. Mercyhurst cut the lead to 3 with under a minute to play but Atlantic native Ryan Hawkins grabbed a key rebound off a three point miss from the Lakers and the Bearcats made their free throws to hold serve.

Hawkins finished with 13 points and 7 rebounds. Trevor Hudgins lead the Bearcats with 20 points, 3 boards, and 3 assists. Northwest improves to 36-0 on the season and advances to the Final Four Thursday.

Mercyhurst was led by 17 points and 6 rebounds from Jason Massey. The Lakers end their season at 26-8.

The Bearcats will face St. Anselm in the Final Four on Thursday. Saint Anselm (25-5) beat Nova Southeastern on Wednesday 91-81 to advance. All games are being played at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

Other scores from Elite Eight action had No 7. seed Southern Indiana knocking off No. 2 seed West Texas A&M 94-84. The nightcap saw No. 6 Point Loma defeat Queens (NC) 87-74.

The Final Four schedule on Thursday will have Northwest Missouri State facing Saint Anselm at 6:00pm CT followed by Point Loma taking on Southern Indiana at 8:30pm. Both games will be televised on CBS Sports Network.

Northwest Missouri State begins their run at the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Elite Eight this afternoon. The Bearcats (35-0) take on Mercyhurst (26-7) at 2:30pm in Evansville, Indiana.

Atlantic alum Ryan Hawkins has been a key member of the Bearcats success this season and was named MIAA Defensive Player of the Year. Hawkins led the way in the Bearcats Regional Final win over Missouri Southern State with 28 points and 9 rebounds.

Northwest Missouri State is three games away from becoming just the fifth undefeated national champion in the history of Division II men’s hoops.

The other Elite Eight games on the schedule today include:

No. 4 Nova Southeastern vs. No. 5 St. Anselm at 12:00pm
No. 1 Northwest Missouri State vs. No. 8 Mercyhurst 2:30pm
No. 2 West Texas A&M vs. No. 7 Southern Indiana 6:00pm
No. 3 Queens (NC) vs. No. 6. Point Loma 8:30pm

All the games today will be streamed through ncaa.com

Justin Kammrad is taking over the head football coaching duties at Lewis Central High School. Kammrad has spent time as an assistant for the Titans as well as a stint as head coach for the Abraham Lincoln Lynx.

Kammrad takes over for Jim Duggan who led the Titans to the playoffs 8 of the 9 years he led the program. Duggan’s son Max begins his freshman season at TCU this upcoming season.

Kammrad posted a 33-27 record at AL during a six season run.

A few teams got out on the court for some boys tennis competition on Tuesday night. Here’s the scoreboard.

Lewis Central 6, Thomas Jefferson 3

CB Abraham Lincoln 9, Harlan 0

Panorama, Earlham, West Central Valley, ADM, and Southeast Warren all participated in the Earlham Early Bird Co-Ed Meet on Tuesday night. Check out the full results below.

EarlhamEarlyBirdBoys2019

EarlhamEarlyBirdGirls2019