The Atlantic Trojans have back-to-back wins for the first time this season as the Trojans escaped Audubon with a 66-60 victory at Audubon Thursday night. It was a slow start offensively for the Trojans as the Wheelers played a box and one defense on Trojan senior forward Colton Rasmussen. The Wheelers used this strategy two weeks ago as they held Grady Jeppensen to just five points in a Wheeler win. But Rasmussen did a great job early on forcing any bad shots and playing through the flow of the offense. Head Coach of the Trojans Dalton Franken said they expected the Wheelers to run that defense and told Colton Rasmussen to just stay patient and let your teams get you open.

That allowed Trojan big guys Brock Henderson and Gavin McLaren benefitted off the tight defense scoring at the rim early and often that saw the Trojans jump to a double figure lead.  Rasmussen would get scoring in the second quarter with 11 points pushing a Trojan lead to 19 at the halftime break. The third quarter saw much of the as the Trojans rode the offense of McLaren, Henderson, and Rasmussen to a 57-36 lead into the final eight minutes. Looking like a Trojan blowout win was possible the Wheelers turned it on in the final frame and gave Atlantic everything they could handle. The Wheelers went to a full court press that the Trojans struggled with. The Trojans would have five+ turnovers in the final minutes as they watched their 21-point lead evaporate all the way down to five with 2:30 left. Gavin McLaren got a huge basket to settle the nerves of the Trojans, but the Wheelers responded, and it was a five-point Trojan lead with under 30 seconds when Colton Rasmussen made the play of the night. The Trojans up 65-60 turned the basketball over and Audubon’s Aaron Olsen had a chance at a layup and potential and one opportunity, but Rasmussen beat him to the spot and took a huge charge that helped get the basketball back and secure a road victory heading into the Christmas break.

The Trojans have won back-to-back games for the first time under coach Dalton Franken. Coach Franken talks about how big it is going into the break on a high positive note.

The Trojans improve their record to 3-6 on the year and will be back in action in the new year on January 2d when they welcome in Glenwood for a 7:30 tipoff at Atlantic High School.

The fourth ranked Iowa Hawkeye women took command with a 19-3 third quarter run and beat Loyola of Chicago 98-69 in Iowa City. Caitlin Clark had a triple-double with 35 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists. The Hawkeyes played without starting guard Gabbie Marshall who was ill.

That’s Iowa coach Lisa Bluder. The 17 rebounds for Clark were a career high.

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State men’s basketball team kept up with the Joneses Thursday night in Hilton Coliseum. Robert Jones and Curtis Jones combined for 33 points and 13-of-20 shooting from the field to aid the Cyclones (10-2, 0-0 Big 12) in an 80-48 victory over Eastern Illinois (6-7, 0-0 Ohio Valley).

The victory kept Iowa State unbeaten at home (8-0) and gave head coach T.J. Otzelberger win No. 150 in his career.

Curtis Jones drilled five 3-pointers and tallied 15 of his game-high 18 points in the first half, and Robert Jones added 16 points on a 7-of-9 effort from the field. He also had a team-high six boards. Tamin Lipsey posted 11 of his 16 points after intermission and Milan Momcilovic netted 16 points after being scoreless at the break.

Iowa State, which led by as many as 37 points late in the game, was 10-of-23 from 3-point range (43.5 pct.) and connected on 16-of-18 at the charity stripe (88.9 pct.).

How It Happened

Curtis Jones gave the Cyclones a spark from the bench in the early moments. He scored nine quick points behind a pair of 3-pointers to give the Cyclones an 18-9 lead. After increasing their lead to 26-12, the Cyclones went on a four-minute scoring drought to allow the Panthers trim the deficit to under double digits at 26-18 with under eight minutes remaining.

Curtis Jones made two more treys down the stretch to give the Cyclones a 39-26 advantage at the break. The Cyclones were 6-of-13 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.

A Lipsey steal and nifty pass to Robert Jones for a bucket began second half scoring for the Cyclones. Robert Jones scored another basket on ISU’s next possession, as ISU soon forged ahead 48-30.

Lipsey and Momcilovic each scored seven points in the first nine minutes of the second period to increase the Cyclone lead to 58-34.

The lead grew to 33 points (76-43) after a Momcilovic trey with 3:15 remaining in the game.

Top Performer

Tamin Lipsey scored 16 points, but he made his mark in multiple areas in the victory. Lipsey added seven assists, six rebounds and notched four steals, his 10th-straight game with three or more thefts. Lipsey now has 116 steals in his young 45-game career, already ranking No. 18 in school history.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The Drake women’s basketball team (7-4) punctuated their non-conference schedule with a 108-60 blowout victory over North Dakota (3-8) on Thursday afternoon. The Bulldogs erupted for their first 100+ point performance since the 2021-22 season.

Courtney Becker and Taylor McAulay went back-to-back to start the contest with a three-pointer off the tip and a strip and score on the next trip down the floor. Anna Miller joined in with her first bucket with a shimmy down the lane before McAulay buried a three of her own.

McAulay continued her all-around start with a blocked shot on the perimeter, the second-straight for Drake, before Grace Berg canned the team’s third three-pointer in four attempts to force a North Dakota timeout. Drake led 13-2 at the first pause.

Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman put on a press out of the timeout as a change of pace defensively. The Fighting Hawks probed their way to a couple scores despite the increased pressure, but the Bulldogs maintained their early advantage. Anna Brown chipped in with five-straight points for the Bulldogs as the clock ticked under the halfway point of the opening quarter.

Drake’s lead bloomed into double figures for the first time after a Katie Dinnebier three as the Bulldogs continued their red-hot start.

Anna Brown led the Bulldogs down the stretch of the first period, reaching 11 points as the first player in double figures. Drake led by eight after the first 10 minutes of play. Pohlman’s squad hit seven three-point baskets in the opening stanza, their most in a single period since making the same number vs. DePaul in the 2021 WNIT.

The second quarter started with a much slower pace as the initial sprint tapered off. North Dakota used the shift to briefly swing momentum back in its direction as the hosts chipped away at Drake’s lead.

The Bulldogs weathered their way through the lower-scoring second quarter and rebuilt their lead in the process. Drake took a 51-34 advantage into the half.

Kacie Borowicz provided the first points of the second half for North Dakota, but Anna Miller answered on the other end. The Bulldogs’ onslaught ensued as Drake exploded out to a 27-point lead to force a Fighting Hawk timeout. Ava Hawthorne pitched in with her first triple of the afternoon to extend Drake’s advantage to 30.

Dinnebier banked one in as time expired on the third quarter. The Dogs led by 33 with 10 minutes to play.

Hawthorne fed Brown in the fourth quarter to give Drake exactly 100 points, their first triple-digit performance since beating Illinois State 104-62 in Feb. 2022. The Dogs cruised from there, eventually emptying their bench and earning the 108-60 road win.

“We scored 31 points in the first quarter,” Pohlman said after the game. “But I also thought that North Dakota did they made their set of runs..but we didn’t falter at all. We constantly stayed within the gameplan, getting inside touches outside touches, utilizing our versatility. We shot the three extremely, extremely well, especially in that very first quarter…just watching people step up to that line, go ahead and let it fly… it just felt really, really good.”

Six Bulldogs scored in double figures led by Anna Miller’s 20. Katie Dinnebier and Anna Brown both added 16 while Grace Berg and Taylor McAulay posted 13. Courtney Becker rounded out the Bulldogs’ offensive leaders with 10 points.

Freshman Shannon Fornshell corralled a team-high nine rebounds while Miller, Dinnebier, and reserve guard Ava Hawthorne dished out five assists.

Brooklin Dailey came off the bench for her best showing to date with a career-high seven points and seven rebounds.

“[This win] really means a lot,” Brown said in the postgame show. “Especially coming off [our last game] and then also just going into this little break we have before conference. I think it just gives us a little mojo going into MVC play.”

The Bulldogs will tip off their 2023-24 Valley slate on Dec. 30 with a trip to Southern Illinois.

The 59th annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships and the second annual Soldier Salute live stream exclusively on B1G+, Dec. 29-30.

As wrestling season ramps up, a season-long wrestling pass is available for $69.99 on B1G+, the Big Ten Network’s home for non-televised events and on-demand archives. The subscription includes access to both the Midlands Championships and Soldier Salute, as well as more than 80 additional non-televised Big Ten wrestling events, 2024 Big Ten Wrestling Championships coverage and on-demand replays of televised duals. Additionally, you can watch up to four live streams/mats simultaneously on one screen at bigtenplus.com or with Apple TV.

Big Ten Network veteran wrestling broadcasters Shane Sparks and Jim Gibbons will anchor the Midlands Championships coverage on B1G+. For the first two sessions on Dec. 29, B1G+ will feature 10 individual mat cameras along with whip-around coverage focused on the best action at a given moment. On Dec. 30, B1G+ will once again be home to individual mat cameras for both the men’s and women’s divisions in sessions three and four, along with the whip-around feed.

Individual mat cameras will be available for all four sessions of the Soldier Salute. The tournament is hosted by the Iowa City Area Sports Commission and 100% of the annual tournament proceeds will be split between the United Service Organizations (USO) and a development fund targeted towards the continued growth of high school girls wrestling. As part of its coverage commitment, the Big Ten Network will also make a contribution benefitting both organizations.

Competitors from 10 Big Ten men’s programs are expected to compete across both tournaments, including several ranked in Intermat’s top 30. The list includes No. 2 Iowa, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 10 Michigan, No. 12 Minnesota, No. 14 Rutgers, No. 23 Illinois, No. 30 Wisconsin, Michigan State, Northwestern and Purdue. The Iowa women’s program will also compete at the Solider Salute.

Additional Big Ten wrestling coverage can be found on the B1G Wrestling Instagram page and the Big Ten Network YouTube wrestling page.