The 10th ranked Iowa Hawkeye women will try to bounce back Thursday night when they host Minnesota. The Hawkeyes are 9-2 in the Big Ten after blowout losses at USC and second ranked UCLA. The Gophers have won four straight and are 7-4 in conference play.

Jensen says under third year coach Dawn Plitzuweit, the Gophers have become an NCAA Tournament team.

Jensen says the depth of the Big Ten makes ever game a challenge.

The Atlantic Trojans are sending two girls to state! Cadence Kinzie and Haley Armstrong will represent Atlantic at this year’s Girls State Wrestling Tournament. Haley Armstrong, who finished first in her weight class at the Class 1A Girls Region 1 Wrestling Tournament, will be the number 2 overall seed in the 235 division at State. The senior finished the regular season with a perfect 36-0 record. Cadence Kinzie, a junior, finished 2nd at the regional championships. Kinzie finished the season with an 18-9 record and is slotted as the 8 seed in the 115-division bracket. The road to a state title is daunting, but Coach Mike Greving doesn’t think Haley and Cadence should go away from what led to such successful seasons.

Coach Greving is impressed with how these girls have found ways to improve and become better at their craft:

Both Haley and Cadence have shown that they are great examples off the mat and have been able to reach out to girls who are younger than they are. This attitude of leadership is something that Coach Greving admires about both of them:

For Haley and Cadence, the pressure doesn’t seem to get to them. These big-time matches are not intimidating to them, and Coach Greving believes in how each of them can do heading into the state tournament.

In the first round, Haley Armstrong will face off against Reese Connolly of Wapello, and Cadence Kinzie will see Taryn Moore from Alburnett. Haley and Cadence will both start the journey to a state title on Thursday, February 5th in Coralville.

Southwest Valley’s Kenzie Maeder is heading to state! Maeder finished as the regional champ with a perfect 3-0 record and is going to state with an overall record of 51-3. She is making her second appearance at the state tournament and is the lone girl’s wrestler from Southwest Valley moving on. Maeder will enter Coralville as the number 3 seed in the 145 division. It took Kenzie a while to even begin as a wrestler, but Coach Derek Maeder is impressed in how she adapted to the sport and continues to improve.

Despite missing her freshman year, Maeder has grown into a great “lead by example” wrestler. While not being the most outspoken girl on the team, Coach Maeder praises Kenzie on her ability to let her game do the talking and being an inspiration for other girls on the team:

State Tournament’s in any sport can make or break an athlete. The win or go home scenario puts a lot of pressure on the coach and wrestler, but Coach Maeder doesn’t think that Kenzie has to approach the state tournament with any different mindset than she has all season.

As far as how Coach Derek Maeder sees things from the sideline, he doesn’t think he needs to do anything extra as a coach to get Kenzie prepared for what his one of the biggest wrestling matches of her High School career.

Kenzie Maeder will face off against Addie Koenig of Pleasantville High School in the first round on February 5th to begin her journey to a State Title.

The Northern Iowa women are on the road in Missouri Valley Conference play Thursday night to take on Bradley. The Panthers are Braves are both 7-4 in the league race and part of a three-way tie for third.

That’s UNI coach Tanya Warren, who says Bradley will be a tough test.

Despite keeping the game close in the first half, a rough second half derailed the Griswold Tigers’ 5-game win streak as they fell to the Sidney Cowgirls 55-31 on Tuesday night. Although the defense played well throughout the game, it was the offense that struggled for Griswold. Despite scoring just 10 points in the first half, their skill and aggressiveness of their defense held them in the game. However, things changed in the second half as Sideny exploded in the third quarter to blow open the game. Although Amanda Houser had a strong effort in the final frame, it did little to change the outcome as Griswold’s win streak came to an end.

Head coach Aaron Houser gave his thoughts on what happened in the second half.

He did like the effort from the defense, but knows that the offense has to play complimentary basketball.

Heading into the post season, Houser’s message to the team was to put this one in the rear-view mirror.

Griswold will have a chance to get back in the win column Friday, when they travel to Stanton. The girls game will tip off at 6:00 pm.

Hawkeye Ten Conference 

Glenwood – 62 vs Clarinda – 49

Western Iowa Conference 

Audubon – 61 vs Riverside – 42

Treynor – 59 vs AHSTW – 26

Underwood – 69 vs Tri-Center – 58

IKM-Manning – 64 vs Missouri Valley – 52

Corner Conference 

Griswold – 48 vs Sidney – 31

Stanton – 57 vs Hamburg – 48

East Mills – 63 vs Bedford – 52

Fremont-Mills – 70 vs Essex – 34

Pride of Iowa Conference 

Southwest Valley – 63 vs Lenox – 44

Nodaway Valley – 65 vs East Union – 59

Rolling Valley Conference 

Boyer Valley – 66 vs CAM – 56

Coon Rapids-Bayard – 69 vs Ar-We-Va – 47

West Central Activities Conference 

ACGC – 64 vs West Central Valley – 55

Non-Conference 

Storm Lake – 73 vs Denison-Schleswig – 26

Hawkeye Ten Conference 

Glenwood – 55 vs Clarinda – 42

Corner Conference 

Sidney – 55 vs Griswold – 31

Stanton – 54 vs Hamburg – 23

East Mills – 51 vs Bedford – 31

Fremont-Mills – 63 vs Essex – 35

Western Iowa Conference 

Treynor 67 vs AHSTW – 40

Underwood – 38 vs Tri-Center – 36

IKM-Manning – 59 vs Missouri Valley – 54

Rolling Valley Conference 

CAM – 50 vs Boyer Valley – 35

Coon Rapids-Bayard – 57 vs Ar-We-Va – 10

Pride of Iowa Conference 

Southwest Valley – 51 vs Lenox – 26

Nodaway Valley – 76 vs East Union – 30

West Central Activities Conference 

ACGC – 46 vs West Central Valley – 30

Non-Conference 

Storm Lake – 61 vs Denison-Schleswig – 33

2A AT SERGEANT BLUFF-LUTON

Glenwood – 44 vs Atlantic – 31

Glenwood – 40 vs Sergeant Bluff-Luton – 29

Glenwood Advances

Individual 

Atlantic – Keaton Schroeder, Braxton Hass, Landon Hagen, Jayden Harter, Dreven Smith, Donovan Hedrington

1A AT RIVERSIDE

Earlham – 42 vs Interstate-35 – 32

Riverside – 45 vs Earlham – 31

Riverside Advances

Individual 

Riverside – Colton Hering, Kingston Carrigan, Drew Anderson, Mason Houser, Jaxon Gordon, Max Shanno, Jackson Allen, Gaven Hackett

1A AT LOGAN-MAGNOLIA 

West Sioux – 51 vs Nodaway Valley – 24

Logan Magnolia – 56 vs West Sioux – 14

Logan-Magolia Advances

Individual

Nodaway Valley – Josh Nelson, Keyin Steve, Caleb Christensen, Ashton Honnold

QUAD AT EAST SAC COUNTY 

Tri-Center – 36 vs East Sac County – 30

MVAOCOU – 36 vs Tri-Center – 30

Woodbine – 48 vs Tri-Center – 24

Woodbine – 48 vs East Sac County – 27

Woodbine – 54 vs MVAOCOU – 24

East Sac County – 48 vs MVAOCOU – 30

Individual

Tri-Center – Tucker Olsen (3), Owen Good (3), Noah Goodwin (3), Carter Gittens (2), Christopher Rock (2), Judah York (2),

Drake could not find a way to slow down Missouri Valley leader Belmont. The Bruins shot a sizzling 59 percent and made 17 three pointers to beat the Bulldogs 103-90 in Nashville.

That’s Drake coach Eric Henderson. The Bulldogs connected on 53 percent but 12 turnovers proved costly.

The Bulldogs fall to 12-12 overall and 6-7 in the Valley.