By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

CLEAR LAKE—A slow start saw the Algona Bulldog girls’ basketball squad fall behind by double digits in the opening half and they never recovered on Tuesday, Dec. 20 in a 48-36 North Central Conference loss to the Clear Lake Lions.

CLEAR LAKE—Clear Lake built an eight-point first period advantage and slowly pulled away from the Algona Bulldog boys’ basketball team in a 77-48 North Central Conference victory on Tuesday, Dec. 20.

The seventh-ranked (Class 3A) Lions started fast by scoring the first 10 points of the contest and led 15-7 at the end of the first stanza. The home team took a 34-23 lead to the locker room at halftime and led 53-33 heading into the fourth quarter of play.

BUFFALO CENTER—Senior Andrew Fogarty ripped down a career-high 17 rebounds and tossed in 11 points on Tuesday, Dec. 20 to help lead the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bear boys’ basketball team to an 82-42 Top of Iowa Conference victory over the North Iowa Bison.

The black-and-gold held a 21-10 advantage at the conclusion of the first eight minutes of play. The visitors increased the lead to 48-19 at intermission and had a 67-34 margin at the end of the third quarter.

ARMSTRONG—Lake Mills overcame an early first quarter deficit and went onto a 60-42 Top of Iowa Conference boys’ basketball win on Tuesday, Dec. 20 over the North Union Warriors.

The home team started strong building a 12-6 lead but the Bulldogs scored the last three points to make the score 12-9 at the conclusion of the first stanza.

BUFFALO CENTER—No. 1 rated Bishop Garrigan earned their ninth consecutive victory on Tuesday, Dec. 20 with an 85-41 Top of Iowa Conference girls’ basketball win over the North Iowa Lady Bison.

The black-and-gold enter the Christmas break with a season overall record of 9-1 and sit alone in first place in the conference at 6-0 as North Iowa fell to 3-4 overall and is now 1-3 in the league.

ARMSTRONG—North Union raced out to a big lead early and never looked back in a 66-26 Top of Iowa Conference girls’ basketball victory on Tuesday, Dec. 20 over the Lake Mills Bulldogs.

The green-black-and-silver connected on 25 of 48 attempts from the field in the contest for 52 percent, drained nine of 20 three-pointers for 45 percent and sank seven of 11 charity tosses for 63.6 percent.

North Union’s Emily Meyer recently signed a national letter of intent to play volleyball and softball at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato during the 2023-2024 season.

Garrett Heying of Bishop Garrigan recently signed a national letter of intent to continue his baseball career next year at Viterbo University located in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

ALGONA—Algona erupted for 26 first quarter points and fought off a late run to hand Bishop Garrigan a 72-53 defeat in the annual crosstown battle held on Saturday, Dec. 17 in boys’ basketball action.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

BRITT—Both Mason Knapp and Drew Fehr finished in third place to highlight the performances of the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines wrestling team at the Al DeLeon Invitational held on Saturday, Dec. 17.

Knapp went 1-2 at 106 pounds during the day to place third while Drew Fehr was 2-2 at 120 pounds as the purple-and-gold ended up in sixth place in team standings with 90 points.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

ALGONA—The annual crosstown battle between No. 1 ranked Bishop Garrigan and Algona girls’ basketball squads saw the red-and-black put up a good battle but in the end the top-ranked Golden Bears were just too strong as they handed the Bulldogs a 70-30 non-conference victory on Saturday, Dec. 17.

FORT DODGE—Sixth-ranked Tate Slagle won the 138-pound title at the Don Miller Invitational to highlight the performances of the Algona Bulldog boys’ wrestling team on Saturday, Dec. 17.

The red-and-black finished in fifth place in the 14-team field with a team score of 147.5 as the host school won the team title with 226 points and Ankeny Centennial was the runner-up with 205 points.

FORT DODGE—Malyn Davis won an individual title to highlight the performances at the Fort Dodge Girls’ Invitational wrestling tournament that took place on Saturday, Dec. 17.

Davis improved to 18-1 on the season as she went 3-0 on the day at 115 pounds by registering a pair of falls to go along with 22-9 major decision in the finals.

CHEROKEE—Brennen Bollinger and Landon Price earned individual titles while North Union finished in third place in the team standings with 164 points at the Paul Fuhrman Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 17.

Both wrestlers went 3-0 during the day with three falls at Cherokee as Bollinger won the title at 220 pounds and Price took the title at 120 pounds.

MANSON—The West Bend-Mallard Wolverines wrestling team won their first dual meet of the season on Monday, Dec. 19 as they defeated the Manson Northwest Webster Cougars by the score of 42-33.

Mason Knapp, Garrett Fehr, Cortlyn Schupbach and Coltin Hoover all recorded falls for the purple-and-gold as Drew Fehr, Logan Grimm and Ethan Zaugg each won their matches by forfeits.