Algona only had one wrestler make the finals in the 2018 North Central Conference wrestling meet but senior Calvin Kruse made sure the red-and-black came home with a title as he prevailed in the 182-pound class.
The Bulldogs finished in sixth place as a team with 112 team points in the league meet held at Humboldt on Saturday, Jan. 20 as two wrestlers ended up in third place, a trio of grapplers took fourth, one Algona wrestler was fifth and four more placed sixth.

For the second straight night, some uncanny shooting from long distance by Aliyah Buscher helped the Algona Bulldog girls’ basketball team to a 62-45 North Central Conference victory over the Webster City Lynx in a game played at Algona on Friday, Jan. 19.
The Bulldog sophomore poured in a game-high 22 points, including making 5-of-6 behind the three-point arc just 24 hours after going 7-of-10 from deep the previous evening against Pocahontas Area.

The biggest strength of the Algona boys’ basketball program under the guidance of Head Coach Noel McLaughlin is the squads’ strong defensive play.
On Friday, Jan. 19 at home, that defense was solid as ever as the red-and-black avenged a loss earlier in the season at Webster City by defeating the Lynx by the score of 44-31, limiting the visitors to just 19 points the final three quarters.

Senior Mason Studer placed third at 145 pounds to highlight the performances of the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines wrestling squad at the Twin Lakes Conference meet held on Saturday, Jan. 13 at Gowrie.
The purple-and-gold finished in ninth place as a team with 62 team points as one wrestler ended up in fourth place, two were fifth and two more finished in sixth place in the meet.

Newell-Fonda erupted for 27 points in the final eight minutes to rally for a 69-50 Twin Lakes Conference boys’ basketball victory over the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines in a league contest played at West Bend on Friday, Jan. 12.

After dropping three straight close games to teams with combined records of 31-7, including two in overtime, the 12th-ranked Bishop Garrigan Golden Bear girls’ basketball squad got back on the winning track with a 75-37 Top of Iowa Conference win over the Belmond-Klemme Broncos.

North Union used a strong fourth quarter to rally for an exciting 57-55 Top of Iowa Conference boys’ basketball victory over the North Iowa Bison in a contest played at Buffalo Center on Friday, Jan, 12.
The visitors out-scored the Bison 17-10 in the final eight minutes of action to earn their third win of the season.  The Warriors won the game at the charity stripe by converting 22-of-28 chances on the night.

Overcoming a sluggish start, the Algona Bulldog girls’ basketball squad defeated the St. Edmond Gaels 74-30 in a North Central Conference contest that was played at Algona High School on Friday, Jan. 5.
Emma Hjelle open the game’s scoring with a basket for the home team before the green-and-white responded with a 9-0 run to take a 9-2 advantage with 4:25 remaining in the opening frame as Bulldog Head Coach Mike Ford called a timeout.

Scoring early and often with some hot shooting from the perimeter, the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bear boys’ basketball team earned a 95-71 Top of Iowa Conference victory over the West Hancock Eagles.
The black-and-gold came out on fire with the inside presence of T.J. Schnurr along with some outside sniping from guards Brad Capesius and John Joyce to build a 26-19 advantage at the conclusion of the first stanza.

Defense wins a lot of basketball games and two teams with a reputation of being two of the top defensive squads in the area battled on Saturday, Jan. 6 at Algona High School as Garner-Hayfield/Ventura held off a stubborn Bulldog team by the score of 43-38.

When two good teams meet, sometimes the little things in a game decide the winner of the contest.  That was the case on Thursday, Dec. 21 at Bishop Garrigan as the Algona Bulldogs out-lasted the Golden Bears 59-54 in overtime.
The visitors connected on 7-of-10 free throws in the final two minutes of regulation and in overtime while the black-and-gold went 4-of-10 at the charity stripe during that span.

Height is one of the things you cannot coach in the game of basketball and the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bear boys’ basketball team used it to their full advantage in a 70-52 non-conference victory over cross-town Algona in a game played at Bishop Garrigan on Thursday, Dec. 21.

It has been a tough first half of the season for a young North Union Warrior boys’ basketball team and things did not get any easier on Friday, Dec. 15 as 5-1 Bishop Garrigan squad came calling in Armstrong.
To make things worse, senior post player Hunter Pierce was home sick with the flu, point guard Riley Bauer was also battling the flu and starting forward Blake Crawmer went down in the first quarter with a knee injury.

North Union defeated West Bend-Mallard by the score of 45-9 in a non-conference wrestling match held at Swea City on Thursday, Dec. 14.  There were just six contested matches in the dual as the home team won four of those bouts.
Angel Martinez won by fall in 0:23 against Logan Studer at 285 pounds while teammate Trevor Kruse earned a pin in 0:56 against Hunter Jergens at 152.

To say what the North Union Warrior girls’ basketball team has accomplished so far this season is an understatement.  In the last 10 days, the green-black-and-silver has beaten three undefeated teams in the league that were ranked.
The Warriors, ranked 15th in Class 2A in the latest rankings by the Iowa Girls Athletic Union, defeated Bishop Garrigan 64-41 in a game between the last two unbeaten squads in the Top of Iowa Conference at Armstrong on Friday, Dec. 15.