CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — Ron Baker scored 21 points and Wichita State pulled away from Northern Iowa down the stretch in the Shockers 74-55 win on Wednesday night. After an 80-76 OT loss to Seton Hall on Dec. 19 dropped Wichita State’s record to 5-5, the Shockers have won eight in row including their first seven in conference play.

Markis McDuffie finished with 15 points and Fred VanVleet added 12 points and six assists for Wichita State (13-5, 7-0 Missouri Valley), which shot 56.5 percent from the field while holding Northern Iowa to 32.8 percent.

The Shockers led just 58-52 with 4:11 to play but closed the game on a 16-3 run highlighted by two VanVleet 3-pointers and a perfect 4 for 4 at the free-throw line for Baker. Matt Bohannon, Bennett Koch, and Wes Washpun each finished with 14 points for the Panthers (10-10, 2-5). Northern Iowa has lost five of six.

Representatives from 15 small schools in Southwest Iowa met in Griswold Wednesday for a discussion on possible conference realignment.  The meeting was a discussion jumping off point for those schools that are interested in the possible benefits of forming a new conference.

Schools invited to the meeting were Southwest Valley, Griswold, Riverside, Clarinda Academy, East Mills, Sidney, Lenox, Bedford, Fremont-Mills, Audubon, CAM, Coon Rapids-Bayard, Exira-EHK, Essex, Stanton, Heartland Christian, and South Page.  Clarinda Academy and East Mills were the only two schools without representatives at the Wednesday meeting.

KJAN Sports spoke with Griswold Athletic Director Kevin Whitehill after the meeting and he said it was a positive meeting that was well attended.  He emphasized one of the major talking points was the educational aspect of starting a new conference in that schools of similar small size could potentially share teachers or other resources.

Whitehill also felt there could be benefit from the activities and athletics standpoint in having these similar sized schools joined together.  When asked if travel was a concern for any schools, Whitehill said that was something that was discussed but that could be helped out by the organization of the conference with the potential for divisions if enough schools are interested.  He thought it was a small concern for some schools but not something that was a prohibitive factor in his mind.

Fremont-Mills Athletic Director Jeremy Christiansen has been one of the leaders in this process and he will be the point-man for the next step. Whitehill said schools will now have time to consider a move with their school districts and then let Christiansen now if they want to continue to pursue a change by April 1st.

Whitehill said any changes that would be made wouldn’t happen until the 2017-2018 school year at the earliest.

You can listen to our full discussion with Mr. Whitehill below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Iowa High School Athletic Association has released the new football district assignments that will be in place for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.  Check out the districts for all classes by following the links below:

A number of small schools in Southwest Iowa are meeting in Griswold today for a discussion on possible conference realignment.  The meeting is meant to be a discussion jumping off point for those schools that are interested in a potential shakeup of Activities conferences they belong to.  Fremont-Mills Athletic Director Jeremy Christiansen has been one of the leaders in getting a meeting organized and gauging interest from other schools in making a change.

Schools that were invited to the meeting include those from a number of different conferences: Corner Conference, Western Iowa Conference, Rolling Valley Conference, and Pride of Iowa Conference.  Those schools that were invited to participate are: Southwest Valley, Griswold, Riverside, Clarinda Academy, East Mills, Sidney, Lenox, Bedford, Fremont-Mills, Audubon, CAM, Coon Rapids-Bayard, Exira-EHK, Essex, Stanton, Heartland Christian, South Page.  The schools were meeting starting at 10:00am today at the Griswold Community Center.

KJAN Sports will be speaking with Griswold Athletic Director Kevin Whitehill later today to get his reaction to the meeting and insight on the ideas discussed.

The Pro Football Writers of America announced their annual award winners on Tuesday and a number of Kansas City Chiefs players were among those honored.  Rookie Cornerback Marcus Peters was named the Defensive Rookie of the Year.  Safety Eric Berry was named to the All-NFL team and Peters, Berry, and Linebacker Derrick Johnson were named to the All-AFC team.  Rookie Center Mitch Morse was also named to the PFWA All-Rookie team with Peters.

Peters was a first-round pick for the Chiefs out of Washington.  In his rookie season he tied for the NFL lead in interceptions with eight. Peters also led the league in interception yards with 280 and tied for first in the NFL in passes defensed with 26. He intercepted the first pass he saw in his NFL career against the Houston Texans and Brian Hoyer.  He also returned a pair of picks for touchdowns and finished fourth on the Chiefs in total tackles with 60.

Rams Running Back Todd Gurley was named Offensive Rookie of the Year after rushing 229 times for 1,106 yards and 10 touchdowns in 13 games, while averaging 4.8 yards per attempt.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

BOYS BASKETBALL

IKM-Manning 74, Audubon 63
Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto 61, Lawton-Bronson 37
Westwood, Sloan 46, OA-BCIG 41
Woodbury Central, Moville 57, West Monona, Onawa 55

POSTPONEMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS

Hawkeye Ten Conference

Kuemper Catholic, Carroll vs. Atlantic, ppd. to Jan 21.
Denison-Schleswig vs. Lewis Central, ppd.
Shenandoah vs. St. Albert, Council Bluffs, ppd.
Red Oak vs. Glenwood, ppd.

Western Iowa Conference

Logan-Magnolia vs. A-H-S-T-W, Avoca, ppd.
Riverside, Oakland vs. Missouri Valley, ppd.
Tri-Center, Neola vs. Griswold, ppd.
Treynor vs. Underwood, ppd.

Rolling Valley Conference

Boyer Valley, Dunlap vs. Ar-We-Va, Westside, ppd.
Woodbine vs. Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton, ppd. to Jan 25.
CAM, Anita vs. Paton-Churdan, ppd. to Feb 8.
Charter Oak-Ute vs. Adair-Casey, ppd.
Glidden-Ralston vs. West Harrison, Mondamin, ppd.

Pride of Iowa Conference

Lenox vs. Nodaway Valley, ppd. to Jan 21.

Other Scores

Sergeant Bluff-Luton vs. Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln, ppd. to Feb 15.
Pella vs. ADM, Adel, ppd.

Corner Conference Tournament
First Round

Nishnabotna vs. Essex, ppd. to Jan 20.
East Mills vs. Sidney, ppd. to Jan 20.
Heartland Christian vs. Stanton, ppd. to Jan 20.
Clarinda Academy vs. Fremont Mills, Tabor, ppd. to Jan 20.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Audubon 62, IKM-Manning 58
Lawton-Bronson 74, Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto 38
Westwood, Sloan 49, OA-BCIG 19
Woodbury Central, Moville 68, West Monona, Onawa 47

POSTPONEMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS

Hawkeye Ten Conference

Atlantic vs. Kuemper Catholic, Carroll, ppd. to Jan 21.
Clarinda vs. Creston, ppd.
Lewis Central vs. Denison-Schleswig, ppd.
Red Oak vs. Glenwood, ppd.

Western Iowa Conference

Logan-Magnolia vs. A-H-S-T-W, Avoca, ppd.
Tri-Center, Neola vs. Griswold, ppd.
Riverside, Oakland vs. Missouri Valley, ppd.
Treynor vs. Underwood, ppd.

Rolling Valley Conference

Boyer Valley, Dunlap vs. Ar-We-Va, Westside, ppd.
Woodbine vs. Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton, ppd. to Jan 25.
CAM, Anita vs. Paton-Churdan, ppd. to Feb 8.
Charter Oak-Ute vs. Adair-Casey, ppd.
Glidden-Ralston vs. West Harrison, Mondamin, ppd.

Pride of Iowa Conference

Lenox vs. Nodaway Valley, ppd. to Jan 21.

Other Scores

Sergeant Bluff-Luton vs. Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln, ppd. to Feb 15.
Pella vs. ADM, Adel, ppd.