By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
Second-ranked Sioux City North made its way to its fourth-straight Class 4A girls state basketball appearance with a 69-38 regional championship win over Council Bluffs Lewis Central Tuesday night. Jalyssa Carter scored a season-high 31 points for the victorious Stars in the victory, improving their record to 22-2 for the year.
It's the third straight year that Lewis Central saw its season end at the hands of the Stars, this year closing with an 18-5 record and a No. 15 ranking. North was aided in the game by 40 Lewis Central turnovers.
Girls Basketball: Heelan advances to defend state title
Sioux City Heelan won a Class 3A regional championship game against Denison-Schleswig 54-49 to advance to the state tournament and defend last season’s championship.
Heelan rallied from 36-33 deficit with 2:18 left in the third quarter, forced some key turnovers, and ran off a 10-0 run in the final 1:45 of the period to take control of the contest.
College prospect Carli Tritz (5-foot-10) finished the night with 21 points and five assists for the Crusaders.
The seventh-ranked Crusaders will open the state tournament against 14th ranked Dubuque Wahlert Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
Wahlert survived a bid from Marion and defeated the Indians 58-55 in their regional championship game in Manchester. The Golden Eagles gave up two sizeable leads before hanging on the victory, ending Marion’s season at 22-2 with the only losses coming at the hands of Wahlert.
Claire Till scored 25 points for the 18-6 Golden Eagles, who are going to the state tournament for the first time since 2004. It’ll be the first trip to Wahlert under coach Kris Spiegler.
Marion was led by the 29 points of Morgan Paige and lone senior on the roster Sam Rinehart with 21.
Wrestling: Roosevelt earns Des Moines records at state
Des Moines Roosevelt became the first capital city school to ever finish in the top three of the team championship race at the recent Iowa state wrestling tournament. The Roughriders were third in Class 3A, 24 points behind state champion Waverly-Shell Rock.
In addition to the team accolades, Roosevelt wrestler John Nicholson became the first Des Moines wrestler to win multiple state titles. Nicholson added to last year’s 152-pound state championship with a 160-pound championship over Urbandale’s Michael Moreno.
Nicholson was joined on the championship podium by teammate John Meeks, who finished a 39-0 season with a championship at 119 pounds.
Wrestling: Don Bosco wins fourth straight state crown
Gilbertville-Don Bosco claimed the school’s fourth consecutive state Class 1A traditional team championship last weekend with a dominating performance over runner-up Belle Plaine, 194 to 96.5.
In the process, Bart Reiter became the state’s 18th four-time state individual champion, taking home the 135-pound championship with a 7-1 decision over Cameron Wagner of Belle Plaine.
Reiter joined his brother Mack as siblings who have both won four state championships. Mack went on to wrestle at the University of Minnesota, as will Bart when he graduates from Don Bosco in the spring.
Bart and his brothers, Mack, Joe and Eddie, have won a combined 15 state wrestling championships.
Ballard of Huxley was even more dominating in its Class 2A championship run, defeating second place Denver-Tripoli 222 to 88.5 for its second straight crown. Ballard did it with five state champions in one night. Before Saturday, the school had a total of six champs in its history.
The Class 3A traditional title race was much closer, as Waverly-Shell Rock edged Iowa City West 146.5 to 138.5. The win for Waverly-Shell Rock was the Go-Hawks’ first since 2007.
Wrestling: Team dual championships this weekend
The final wrestling matches of the season take place Saturday at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids. Three dual team champions will be determined simultaneously in each class.
First round Class 1A pairings will have traditional team champion Gilbertville-Don Bosco against Manson-Northwest Webster and Logan-Magnolia against unbeaten Nodaway Valley of Greenfield in the top bracket.
In the bottom bracket, it’s Belle Plaine against Pleasantville and Nashua-Plainfield taking on Coon Rapids-Bayard.
Quarterfinal matches in Class 2A will have traditional team champion Ballard of Huxley against LaPorte City-Union and Davenport Assumption against Independence in the top bracket.
The bottom bracket pairings will have unbeaten Clear Lake against Atlantic and Denver/Tripoli against Odebolt-Arthur/Battle Creek-Ida Grove.
In Class 3A, it’s Iowa City West against Fort Dodge and Indianola against West Des Moines Valley in the top half of the bracket, while on the bottom half, it’s traditional team champion Waverly-Shell Rock against Western Dubuque and Southeast Polk takes on Bettendorf.
The meet starts Saturday morning and the finals in all three classes start at 6 p.m.
