(Radio Iowa) – The Board of Regents approved a request from the University of Northern Iowa Wednesday to proceed with planning for a practice facility for the volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball teams. U-N-I’s Michael Hager says the project is estimated to cost between eight and ten million dollars.

Hager says having the facility in one location will make it easier on the teams.

The project will be funded by gifts and some athletic department funds.

(Radio Iowa) – Some 23-hundred students from nearly 150 Iowa schools will be in Des Moines this weekend to take aim in the state archery tournament. Zach Benttine, the Iowa D-N-R’s archery coordinator, says there are two types of competition for the students in grades four through 12.

This program didn’t exist 20 years ago, but archery has become extremely popular in Iowa’s schools, with more than 46-hundred children taking part this past year.

About 250 Iowa schools teach the course, with about 150 of them running the after-school program. Top Iowa finishers this weekend will go on to the National Archery in the Schools Program Tournament. The shooting starts tomorrow (Friday) afternoon.

Prizes include more than 20-thousand dollars in college scholarships based on performance at the state tournament, while another 10-thousand dollars will be awarded outside of the competition to archers based on academics, essays, and other criteria. Teams are also aiming for some 18-thousand dollars in archery equipment for their schools. The state tournament will be held in the Richard O. Jacobson Exhibition Center and the 4-H Building at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

online at www.iowadnr.gov/nasp

Tucker DeVries scored 39 points and added 13 rebounds as Drake won a triple overtime thriller at Illinois-Chicago 107-105, Wednesday night.

The Bulldogs trailed by as many as nine in the second half.

The Bulldogs are 24-6 and close the regular season on Sunday by hosting Bradley.

The sixth ranked Iowa Hawkeye women raced out to a 30 point second quarter lead and rolled to a 108-60 victory over shorthanded Minnesota, Wednesday night. Caitlin Clark had 33 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds as the Hawkeyes made 22 of 39 from three point range.

That’s Iowa coach Lisa Bluder. Senior guard Gabbi Marshall broke out of a shooting slump with 16 points, including four of seven from behind the arc.

The Hawkeyes are 14-3 in the Big Ten and close the regular season at home on Sunday against Big Ten champ and second ranked Ohio State.

The eighth ranked Iowa State men held Oklahoma to a season low in a 58-45 win Ames, Wednesday. The Cyclones move to 11-4 in the Big 12 and 17-0 in Hilton Coliseum. Sophomore guard Demarion Watson finished with a career high 15 points and added nine rebounds.

Watson made all seven of his shots and says moving without the ball was a key.

The Cyclones are 22-6 overall.

The Iowa State women overcame an early 10 point deficit and beat 15th ranked Kansas State 82-76 on the road, Wednesday night. Freshman Addy Brown equaled a season high with 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Cyclones improved to 11-7 in the Big 12.

That’s ISU coach Bill Fennelly. The Cyclones out-rebounded the Wildcats 47-30.

The Cyclones are 17-10 overall.

The Audubon Wheelers ended the season in a 51-44 loss to Coon Rapids-Bayard Crusaders in the Class 1A – Region 8 bracket. Wheelers sophomore Austin Christensen led the team on the night scoring 17 points. The Wheelers had a 8-14 overall record and ended up with a 5-10 in the Western Iowa Conference.

The Wheelers were led in scoring this season by senior Edward Miller, who scored 334 points and averaged 15 points per game. Miller has scored 809 points in his high school career.

The Wheelers will lose three seniors to graduation: Edward Miller, Brody Beane and Logan Schmidt.

Wheelers coach Darran Miller was sure proud of the way his guys played good defense in their post season game against Coon Rapids-Bayard as the game was close.

Coach Miller stated most of the regular season Western Iowa Conference games were all close games and stated that two Western Iowa Conference teams Treynor and Underwood made to the state tournament.

Coach Miller says he really going to miss all three seniors on this years team.

Coach Miller said there will be a core of kids coming back for next season.

Coach did mention that the kids will be attending couple team basketball camps this summer and do their usual summer workouts.

(Minneapolis, MN) — The University of Minnesota women’s basketball team hosts sixth-rated Iowa tonight at Williams Arena at 8 P-M. The injury-riddled Golden Gophers are 15-12 on the season overall and 5-11 in the Big Ten. They have dropped eight of their past nine games. The visiting Hawkeyes enter tonight’s game at 24-4 overall and 13-3 in the conference. They are paced by guard Caitlin Clark, who helped Iowa to a 94-71 win over Minnesota in Iowa City on December 30th. Iowa leads the all-time series at 59-27.

Gopher senior guard Janay Sanders says she is excited about Senior Night tonight.

Sanders says she has enjoyed her final season of college ball in Minnesota.

Sanders says she knows she has to step up in the absence of the injured Mara Braun.

Sanders says they remember the first meeting against the nationally-ranked Hawkeyes in December.

Sanders says Iowa star Caitlin Clark is a tough challenge.

Sanders says she is looking forward to playing in front of a sold out crowd.

The University of Iowa men’s basketball team defeated Penn State, 90-81, on Tuesday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes advance to 17-12 on the season and 9-9 in Big Ten conference play.

Junior Payton Sandfort had an historic night, becoming the first Iowa men’s basketball player to record a triple-double. Sandfort finished with 26 points, 10 assists, and 10 rebounds.  Sandfort tied his career high in points and set a new career high in assists. Sandfort also set new career bests for free throw attempts and makes, shooting 18-of-19 from the free throw line.

Sophomore Josh Dix started the game 7-of-7 from the field including 2-of-2 from three. Dix finished the game with 20 points, just one shy of his career high. Freshman Owen Freeman scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Freeman shot 5-of-9 (55.5%) from the field.

Senior Tony Perkins finished the game with 10 points despite having to sit the first half in foul trouble. Perkins pulled in five rebounds, dished out five assists, blocked a shot, and had two steals.

The Hawkeyes return to action Saturday, traveling to Evanston to face Northwestern at 4:30 p.m. (CT) at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

IRVING, Texas – Yonger Bastida has been named the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week for the second time this season, the league office announced Tuesday. It is the third Big 12 weekly honor of Bastida’s career and the fourth time this season a Cyclone has been recognized.

Bastida put an exclamation point on a perfect regular season with a major decision over Missouri’s No. 5 Zach Elam on Sunday.

The heavyweight bout was the featured match in the Iowa State-Missouri dual, pitting two unbeatens against each other. The match was all Bastida, as the Cyclone established control early with a first-period takedown and added takedowns in each of the final two periods for an impressive 13-4 win over Elam.

Bastida finished the regular season with a 20-0 record, an 83:2 takedown ratio, 13 bonus-point victories and six top-10 wins.

Iowa State is back in action March 9-10 at the Big 12 Championship in Tulsa, Okla.