ST. LOUIS, Mo. –Drake rookie hooper Anna Becker earned her fifth weekly league award with the MVC Freshman of the Week, the conference announced this morning.

Becker had another superb weekend as the Bulldogs complete season sweeps of Evansville and SIU on the road. Becker averaged 18.5 points, three rebounds, two steals, and two assists per game while scoring at a 68.2 percent clip. She began the weekend with 17 points and three rebounds on 7-of-9 shooting in a dramatic win over the Purple Aces. Becker provided the final lift to beat Evansville, finishing in the paint with just 11 seconds left. She then dropped 20 points and added another three boards, plus four steals, in a victory at Southern Illinois. Becker is now averaging 11.5 points and 4.7 rebounds in her rookie season.

Becker and the Bulldogs will conclude their regular season slate this week with a home tilt vs. Illinois State (Mar. 5) and rivalry road trip to UNI (Mar. 8).

MVC Women’s Basketball Weekly Award Winners – Mar. 3

Player of the Week – Camryn Runner, Guard, Evansville

Newcomer of the Week – Clemisha Prackett, Forward, Indiana State

Freshman of the Week – Anna Becker, Guard, Drake

4A

Substate 1:

Dowling Catholic – 58 vs Norwalk – 42

Substate 2: 

Urbandale – 48 vs Ames – 43

Substate 3:

Waukee Northwest – 82 vs Ankeny – 64

Substate 4: 

Cedar Falls – 66 vs Linn-Mar – 39

Substate 5:

Dubuque Senior – 69 vs Muscatine – 56

Substate 6: 

Prairie – 59 vs North Scott – 54

Substate 7: 

Johnston – 43 vs Des Moines Roosevelt – 43

Substate 8: 

Waukee – 61 vs Abraham Lincoln – 47

3A

Substate 3:

Xavier – 66 vs Wahlert Catholic – 53

3A

#3 Des Moines Christian – 52 vs #6 Forest city – 46

4A

#1 Bishop Heelan – 81 vs #8 North Polk – 56

#2 Dallas Center-Grimes – 59 vs #7 Waverly-Shell rock – 39

#3 Norwalk – 50 vs #6 Central DeWitt – 37

#5 Carlisle – 58 vs #4 Clear Creek Amana – 44

2A

#1 Hinton – 46 vs #8 West Lyon – 45

#4 Denver – 45 vs #5 Emmetsburg – 42

With a 57-38 regional final win over GTRA, the Exira-EHK Audubon Spartans Girls are back at the state tournament for the first time since 2022. They enter Des Moines with a 22-1 record, and more impressively, a 22-game win streak. To get here, they defeated Griswold, CAM and GTRA by an average margin of victory of 22 points in the regional tournament. They will take on the St. Albert Saintes who sport their own impressive 21-3 record. Head Coach Tom Petersen is not new to coaching teams with great records, but that fact does not take away from how special these girls are in their own right.

The Spartans responded to that first loss by rattling off 22 wins in a row, all by double digits. Coach Petersen admires how much this team has grown from day one:

It takes one look at the stat sheet to know that Exira-EHK prioritizes defense. They only allow 36 points per game which is the 7th best defense in Class 1A. This will be a key to victory for the Spartans:

As the season has progressed, Coach Petersen has prioritized how the team can play more as a unit and not just a group of individuals:

Taryn Petersen leads the team in scoring (20 ppg) and assists (5.5 apg). She is one of two captains on the team and one of the biggest leaders for this group:

The Spartans certainly have star power, but a lot of their success is due to girls who put in work behind the scenes and play their role:

On paper, these are very similar basketball teams. They average the exact same number of points (61.9 ppg) and allow just about the same as well. The State Quarterfinal between 22-1 Exira-EHK Audubon and 21-3 St. Albert will take place at the Casey’s Center in Des Moines on Wednesday, March 4th. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:45pm with pregame coverage beginning at 6:00pm on KJAN Radio Atlantic.

The Northern Iowa men hope to make a deep run at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in St. Louis, even though they open in Thursday’s play-in round. The Panthers are seeded sixth and open Thursday night against 11th seeded Evansville. Regular season champ Belmont is the favorite but UNI coach Ben Jacobson says the rise of the Illinois-Chicago and Valparaiso programs mean the field is deeper than it has been in several years.

The Panthers finished 11-9 in the Valley race and losses in their final two home games prevented them from being a top three seed.

Jacobson is not concerned with his dealing with a late 8:30 tip-off on Thursday night.

Iowa State announced it is dropping the sport of women’s gymnastics. It comes after the school announced in early February it had canceled the remainder of the season.

That’s ISU AD Jamie Pollard, who says disputes within the program led to the season being canceled.

Pollard says the decision was not a financial one.

Pollard says gymnastics will eventually be replaced by another women’s sport.

A college career that Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz describes as different is winding down as the Hawkeyes get ready to close the home schedule on Thursday night against third ranked Michigan. Stirtz began his career at Division II Northwest Missouri State before leading Drake to the NCAA Tournament. He followed coach Ban McCollum to Iowa for his final season.

After being named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year at Drake had plenty of options. He is averaging just under 23 points per game, which ranks second in Big Ten play and is a major reason the Hawkeyes are likely headed back to the NCAA Tournament after missing out the past two seasons.

Stirtz says McCollum believed in him before he believed in himself.

Stirtz says he and McCollum are a good combination, even though their personalities are different.

The Hawkeyes are 10-8 in the Big Ten and 20-9 overall.

An eastern Iowa native is preparing to take to the ice at the Paralympic Winter Games which begin this week in Milan, Italy. Kevin McKee grew up in Davenport. He was born with a rare spinal condition and has used a wheelchair his entire life. McKee says he started playing sled hockey at around 10 years old. He says he plays other adaptive sports but loves the speed and physicality of sled hockey.

(As said) “What makes this sport so hard is you have to use your hands to not only skate but then to puck handle, pass, shoot,” McKee says, “and also maneuver so you don’t get your head taken off when people are trying to hit you.”

McKee won gold medals in sled hockey in 2014, 2018 and 2022. He says the sled hockey team hopes to repeat in 2026, especially after the American women’s and men’s hockey teams won gold last month.

(As said) “So there’s a little bit of pressure, but I think it’ll be good too,” he says, “because I don’t think our team’s had that kind of pressure over the last four years. I mean, we’ve been pretty dominant at the world level.”

Speaking on Iowa Public Radio’s “Talk of Iowa,” McKee says he feels fortunate to be on the 2026 Paralympic team. He had emergency surgery on a broken femur in October after breaking it in practice in the Czech Republic.