CLEAR LAKE—Top-ranked Clear Lake completed a perfect regular season and North Central Conference slate with a 78-53 victory on Tuesday, Feb. 18 over the Algona Bulldogs by the final score of 78-53.

The Lions raced out to a 28-11 first quarter advantage and never looked back as they ended the regular season undefeated at 21-0 and were the North Central Conference champions with a perfect 14-0 record.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

ALGONA—Eight area girls basketball players were recently honored by the Iowa Girls Basketball Coaches Association as the 2024-2025 season comes to an end.

Four girls were selected to the Class 1A Northwest All-District team as another one was chosen to the Class 3A Northwest All-District team and three more were named to the Academic All-State team.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

SIOUX CENTER—Eleven of the thirteen Algona Bulldog boys wrestlers advanced to the Class 2A state tournament as the red-and-black cruised to the district title on Saturday, Feb. 15 with a team score of 240 points, far ahead of second place Estherville-Lincoln Central’s total of 150.5 points.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

EMMETSBURG—North Union’s Max Merrill and Brennen Bollinger along with Mason Knapp of West Bend-Mallard punched their tickets to the Class 1A state wrestling tournament after their showings at the district meet held on Saturday, Feb. 15.

Wednesday, Feb. 19

1:30 P.M.—Class 1A 1^st + 2^nd Championship Rounds, 1^st Round Consolation

6:00 P.M.—Class 2A 1^st + 2^nd Championship Rounds, 1^st Round Consolation

Thursday, Feb. 20

1:30 P.M.—Class 1A Championship Quarterfinals, 2^nd + 3^rd Round Consolation

ALGONA—Completing a perfect 12-0 run through their North Central Conference schedule, the Algona Bulldog girls basketball squad wrapped up a perfect conference trip through the league with a 46-36 victory over the Humboldt Wildcats on Tuesday, Feb. 11.

WEST BEND—A short-handed West Bend-Mallard Wolverine girls basketball squad got a pair of career-highs to earn a 61-48 victory on Thursday, Feb. 13 over the West Hancock Eagles in the opening round of the Class 1A regional tournament.

ARMSTRONG—A swarming North Union defense forced 31 turnovers and pocketed 25 steals in a 67-16 win on Thursday, Feb. 13 over the Northwood-Kensett Vikings in the first round of the Class 1A girls regional basketball tournament.

The green-black-and-silver raced out to a commanding 20-0 advantage at the end of the first quarter while holding the Vikings scoreless for the first 12:49 of the contest.

ALGONA—Bishop Garrigan jumped out to big early lead and never looked back in a 76-38 victory over Rockford in the opening round of the Class 1A district boys basketball tournament on Monday, Feb. 17.

Nine different black-and-gold players broke into the scoring column as four of them reached double figures. Tate Foertsch led the way with 20 points as Carter Schwab poured in 18 and both Amaury Thomas and Michael Joyce added 12 more.

ALGONA—Humboldt used a 13-0 run early in the third period to break open a one-point game at halftime and went onto a 71-56 North Central Conference boys basketball win on Tuesday, Feb. 11 over the Algona Bulldogs in the Battle of Highway 169 take two.

The Wildcats held a narrow 32-31 lead at intermission before using the 13-0 run to outscore the home team 22-10 in the frame and took a comfortable 54-41 advantage into the final eight minutes of play.

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.