ARMSTRONG—The North Union Warrior boys’ basketball team earned their 10^th victory of the 2024-2025 season on Monday, Feb. 17 in the opening round of the Class 1A district tournament with a 69-66 win over Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn.

The green-black-and-silver built a lead as high as 13 points in the second half but could never put the Hawks away as they moved forward into the district semi-finals.

STORM LAKE—West Bend-Mallard wrapped up their 2024-2025 regular season on Tuesday, Feb. 11 with a 61-26 Twin Lakes Conference boys basketball victory over the Storm Lake St. Mary’s Panthers.

The purple-and-gold raced out to a 22-2 first quarter lead and never looked back in the league win to conclude the regular season at 4-18 overall and finish 3-9 in Twin Lakes Conference contests.

ALGONA—Fourth-ranked Bishop Garrigan concluded the regular season with a 71-33 Top of Iowa Conference girls basketball victory over the North Iowa Lady Bison on Tuesday, Feb. 11.

The black-and-gold ended the regular season with an overall mark of 19-3 and finished second in the conference with a record of 14-2. The Golden Bears’ three losses came to No. 3 (1A) Newell-Fonda and twice to No. 4 (3A) Forest City.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

BOONE—The post-season basketball pairings were released for the four area boys’ teams last week as the district tournament is already well in progress.

Bishop Garrigan was assigned to sub-state No. 2, District No. 3 while North Union and West Bend-Mallard were assigned to sub-state No. 1, District No. 2.

ALGONA—Eighth-ranked Algona raced out to huge early advantage and never slowed down in an 84-18 victory on Monday, Feb. 17 over the Southeast Valley Jaguars in the opening round of the Class 3A regional girls basketball tournament.

A balanced scoring was featured in the win as Lauren McLaughlin led the way with 19 points followed by Casey VanOtterloo with 15 and Hayden McLaughlin added 13 more.

NEWELL—Newell-Fonda drained 13 three-point field goals and cruised to an 81-49 win over the West Bend-Mallard Wolverine boys basketball team on Monday, Feb. 17 in the first round of the Class 1A district tournament.

Three Mustangs reached double figures in the win as did the purple-and-gold as Abner Zaugg led the way with 17 points while teammate Kacen Flynn tossed in 11 points and Houston Nielsen added 10 more.

ALGONA—Bishop Garrigan grabbed a share of the Top of Iowa Conference boys basketball title on Tuesday, Feb. 11 with a 56-44 win over the North Iowa Bison.

The victory allowed the black-and-gold to share the 2024-2025 conference title with Forest City with identical 14-2 records, and the Golden Bears finished the regular season with an overall mark of 18-3.

STORM LAKE—Hailey Stalzer scored her 1,000^th point of her career as the West Bend-Mallard Wolverine girls basketball squad defeated the Storm Lake St. Mary’s Panthers 60-34 in Twin Lakes Conference play on Tuesday, Feb. 11.

The purple-and-gold finished the regular season with an overall record of 16-6 and went 7-5 in Twin Lakes Conference contests as Storm Lake St. Mary’s ended the regular season winless at 0-22 and went 0-12 in the league.

LAKE MILLS—Lake Mills edged North Union 42-38 in a Top of Iowa Conference girls basketball contest played on Tuesday, Feb. 11.

North Union led 14-13 before Lake Mills rallied to take a 28-20 advantage to the locker room at intermission and led 34-31 heading into the final quarter of action.

Shallie Walders led the green-black-and-silver in scoring with 12 points and was joined in double figures by Alexis Cummins with 11 points.

LAKE MILLS—North Union led in the fourth quarter before Lake Mills rallied for a 58-51 Top of Iowa Conference boys basketball victory over the green-black-and-silver on Tuesday, Feb. 11.

The Warriors led 43-40 with five minutes remaining in the game when the home team went on an 18-8 run to finish the contest and pick up the league victory.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

CORALVILLE—Tradition has always been a part of a strong Algona Bulldog boys wrestling team as the program has a long history of success.

But on Saturday, Feb. 8, for the first time in the school’s history, the Algona Bulldogs are the Class 2A state team dual champions as the top-ranked red-and-black won three matches to make history.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

ALGONA—It has been a banner year for the area girls basketball squads and as of this story, all four of them have garnered at least a total of 14 wins this winter.

Last week the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union released their post-season pairings for the four area schools with Algona and Bishop Garrigan both earning number one seeds.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

ALGONA—One thing is for sure for the 2024-2025 edition of the Algona Bulldog girls basketball squad. They like to keep their fans on the edge of their seats by playing in close games.

For the seventh straight game, the red-and-black earned a win by single digits as the eighth-ranked Bulldogs earned a hard-fought 36-32 North Central Conference triumph over No. 11 Hampton-Dumont on Friday, Feb. 7.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

ALGONA—Algona built a big first half lead and went onto a 70-58 North Central Conference boys basketball victory on Friday, Feb. 7 over Hampton-Dumont.

Three players reached double figures for the winners with two of those players netting at least 20 points while the visitors had one player go over the 20-point plateau.

CORALVILLE—The Algona Bulldog girls wrestling squad sent three young ladies to the Class 1A state tournament on Feb. 6-7, and all three wrestlers returned home with a medal around their neck for placing in the top eight of their respective weight classes.