North Union senior basketball players Naomi Jones (above) and Olivia Merrill (below) were selected to the Iowa Girls Coaches Association academic all-state team recently.
DES MOINES—Basketball is sometimes simply a game of makes or misses.
On Wednesday, Feb. 28 in the first round of the Class 1A girls state basketball tournament at Wells-Fargo Arena, the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears fell victim to that statement in a 53-42 first round loss to fourth-rated Council Bluffs-St. Albert.
SPENCER—For the first time in the school’s history, the eighth-ranked North Union Warrior boys’ basketball team has qualified for the Class 1A state tournament.
It took an extra four minutes but the green-black-and-silver defeated the South O’Brien Wolverines 58-51 in overtime on Saturday, Feb. 24 inside the Spencer Fieldhouse gymnasium.
MASON CITY—Fifth-ranked Bishop Garrigan started fast and never looked back in a 62-44 Class 1A Region No. 6 regional final victory over the 10th rated Riceville Wildcats on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at Mason City High School.
ALGONA—A nice group of 21 swimmers from the Wahoo Swim Team will compete at the state swim meet this weekend. A total of 17 of those swimmers will compete in individual events.
The team will be taking a total of 47 individual events and also compete in eight relays. The male Wahoo swimmers will be competing on March 2nd while the female Wahoos will compete on March 3rd.
POCAHONTAS—Senior guard Preston Guerdet went five of five behind the three-point line and poured in a career-high 25 points to help lead eighth-ranked North Union to 54-51 win over the St. Edmond Gaels.
The hard-fought victory over the green-and-white came on Tuesday, Feb, 20 and the win gave the Warriors the District No. 1 title.
GARNER—Bishop Garrigan led the first 12:40 of the game but once fourth-ranked Lake Mills took the lead they never gave it back and went onto a 61-52 victory over the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears.
The Class 1A, District No. 3 final took place on Tuesday, Feb. 20 and was the second game of the night behind an exciting Class 2A 54-52 overtime win by Estherville-Lincoln Central over Forest City.
ALGONA—Bishop Garrigan led most of the way but could not put away a stubborn Northwood-Kensett squad until late in the second half on Thursday, Feb. 15 in a 65-57 win over the Vikings to advance the district final.
A balanced scoring attack led the way for the black-and-gold in the victory as Carter Schwab led the way with 17 points, one more than teammate’s Michael Joyce’s total of 16 points.
DES MOINES—Second-ranked Des Moines Christian built an eight-point lead on three different occasions only to see No.11 Algona roar back within one point with 21 seconds left but held on for a 45-41 victory. The 3A Region No. 2 final took place on Saturday, Feb. 17.
DES MOINES—Three different Algona Bulldog boys’ wrestlers earned medals in their weight class by finishing in the top eight at the Class 2A state wrestling tournament on Feb. 14-17 at Wells-Fargo Arena.
Tate Slagle (150) placed fifth while red-and-black teammate Taevyn Zinnel (157) took seventh and Barrett Morgan (138) ended up in eighth place.
ALGONA—A 10-0 run to start the game got fifth-ranked Bishop Garrigan off to a great start and they were never challenged in a 64-41 regional semi-final victory on Friday, Feb. 16 over the Saint Ansgar Saints.
Emmi Bartolo drained three triples in the opening eight minutes as teammate Graclyn Eastman added eight points as the home team led 22-9 at the conclusion of the first period.
REMSEN—Although West Bend-Mallard put up a good fight for 32 minutes, third-ranked Remsen St. Mary’s remained undefeated with a 67-47 win over the purple-and-gold on Friday, Feb. 16 in the Region No. 3 semifinals.
The Hawks simply had too much firepower for the purple-and-gold as they started fast with the first 13 points and led 20-7 at the conclusion of the first period.
ALGONA—For the second time this season, 32 minutes was not enough time to determine a winner between the Algona Bulldogs and Garner-Hayfield/Ventura Cardinals girls’ basketball squads.
On Wednesday, Feb. 14, the Bulldogs outscored the Cardinals 11-4 in the extra session to earn a 70-63 victory and advance to the Class 3A, Region No. 2 regional final against second ranked Des Moines Christian.
ARMSTRONG—A strong long distance shooting performance by Pocahontas Area Indians help lead the red-and-white to surprise 12th ranked North Union 58-40 on Friday, Feb. 16 in the Class 2A regional semi-finals.
The Indians drained eight of 20 attempts behind the three-point arc and connected on 20 of 49 overall field goals for the evening for 40.8 percent.
ARMSTRONG—Senior guard Naomi Jones scored 21 points, ripped down 14 rebounds, dished out six assists and registered six steals to guide No. 12 North Union to a 60-38 Class 2A, Region No. 5 girls basketball victory on Tuesday, Feb. 13 over the Belmond-Klemme Broncos.
The home team led 10-5 at the end of the regional quarterfinal round contest’s first stanza and also led 19-16 at halftime.
ALGONA—North Iowa used some hot shooting to stay in the game but No. 5 ranked Bishop Garrigan found a way to win the Class 1A, Region No. 6 quarterfinal girls’ basketball round victory over the Lady Bison by the final score of 56-47.
Bishop Garrigan led 18-9 but the blue-and-white made all seven of their field goal attempts in the second frame and trailed by just four points, 32-28 at intermission.
