The 68th Annual John J. Harris Wrestling Tournament fires up today in Corning and will finish on Saturday. It’s another stacked tournament with 28 teams involved and 31 ranked wrestlers in the field. Atlantic head coach Tim Duff said it’s always great competition at this tournament.

Creston is the defending champion of the tourney and is the odds-on favorite to repeat this year. Winderset, Atlantic, Riverside, and Missouri Valley are some of the other teams that are expected to be top contenders.

Multiple weights will feature two or more ranked wrestlers. The tourney is a double elimination event. Two mats run in the Activity Center gym and two mats in the Southwest Valley High School gym. Action begins at 4:00 p.m. on Friday and finishes with the Quarterfinals and first round consolations. Saturday action fires back up at 10:00 a.m. and the event finishes with the Championship and 3rd/4th place matches from 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. They will run ahead of schedule if possible.

The UNI women’s basketball team cruised to an 89-58 win over Valparaiso on Thursday night. Grace Boffeli had 18 points and six rebounds to lead the Panthers. Maya McDermott added 14 points.

The Panthers controlled the game from the outset with a 24-11 advantage in the first quarter. Cailyn Morgan also added 10 points off the bench for UNI. The Panthers improved to 11-5 overall and 6-1 in the Valley.

Next up for UNI is a home game against Illinois-Chicago on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

Maggie Bair’s double-double and lockdown defense lifted the Drake women’s basketball team to a 63-51 victory over UIC at the Knapp Center on Thursday night.

Bair scored 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Bulldogs (10-5, 5-2 Missouri Valley Conference) won for the fifth time in the last six games and gave up the fewest points against a league opponent since beating Loyola 75-46 in Chicago on Feb. 5, 2021.

It was the fifth double-double this season for Bair, who made 9-of-17 shots, blocked two shots, and came up with two steals. Grace Berg also reached double figures with 10 points, all in the first half, while tacking on three rebounds, four assists and two steals.

The Bulldogs will return to the Knapp Center on Saturday to host Valparaiso. Game time is 2 p.m.

@ Clarinda
Atlantic 39, Glenwood 34
(Atlantic Winners: Braxton Hass, Easton O’Brien, Donovan Hedrington, Jarrett Armstrong, and Brenden Casey won by fall. Tyson O’Brien won by decision.)
Atlantic 63, Clarinda 9
(Atlantic Winners: Easton O’Brien, Jarrett Armstrong, Evan Sorensen, and Jadyn Cox won by fall. Nathan Keiser grabbed a decision victory.)
Glenwood 54, Clarinda 18

Easton O’Brien reached 100 career wins for Atlantic.

@ CB Abraham Lincoln
Lewis Central 49, St. Albert 12
Lewis Central 38, Abraham Lincoln 3
Lewis Central 65, CB Thomas Jefferson 6
CB Abraham Lincoln 54, CB Thomas Jefferson 27
CB Abraham Lincoln 51, St. Albert 27
CB Thomas Jefferson 42, St. Albert 28

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Atlantic 49, St. Albert 44 (A: Paytn Harter 18pts)
Glenwood 60, Red Oak 37
Southwest Valley 69, East Union 44 (SWV: Ryanne Mullen and Hailey Randall 16pts each.)

Corner Conference Tournament

Fremont-Mills 53, East Mills 48
Stanton 59, Sidney 41

BOYS BASKETBALL

Grand View Christian 79, Atlantic 39
Glenwood 78, Red Oak 76

Corner Conference Tournament

East Mills 65, Sidney 36
Fremont-Mills 73, Stanton 63

Iowa’s game against Northwestern has been rescheduled for January 31st in Iowa City. Originally scheduled for Wednesday, the game was postponed due to COVID issues in the Northwestern program. The Hawkeyes return from an unexpected layoff when they visit Ohio State on Saturday.

That’s Iowa coach Fran McCaffery who was pleased with how the Big Ten handled the situation. The revised schedule will have the Hawks playing three games in six days.

Iowa visits an Ohio State team on Saturday that has lost five straight. Four of the losses were by four points or fewer.

Patrick McCaffery has returned to practice and is nearing a return to the games. He missed the last four games after stepping away to deal with anxiety.

The Hawkeyes take a four game win streak into Columbus. Junior forward Kris Murray.

Murray says past experienced helped them adjust after the postponement.

The top two defensive teams in the Big 12 collide on Saturday afternoon in Stillwater when 12th ranked Iowa State visits Oklahoma State. The Cyclones are 5-1 in the league race and face a Cowboy squad that just got seven-footer Moussa  Cisse back from injury.

That’s ISU coach T.J. Otzelberger who says for the Cyclones success on offense will begin on the defensive end.[

Senior forward Tre King says the Cowboys are talented despite their 2-4 start in Big 12 play.

The Cyclones enter as the top three point shooting team in the league.

Senior forward Hason Ward says a key for the Cyclones has been ball movement.

Under T.J. Otzelberger Iowa State has been known for defense and toughness but it is improved offense that has helped propel the Cyclones to a 5-1 start in Big 12 play. The Cyclones are the top three point shooting team in the league and at better than 46 percent rank second in field goal percentage.

Otzelberger says balance makes the Cyclones tough to guard.

Otzelberger says unselfish play helps them generate quality shots.

Iowa State visits Oklahoma State Saturday afternoon.

The Atlantic girls basketball team earned a big road win over St. Albert 49-44 on Thursday night. The Trojans had a strong second quarter and built a 23-12 lead by halftime and built the lead up to 20 points at one point in the second half. The Saintes rallied strong in the fourth but Atlantic held on for the win.

The Trojans were led by 18 points from Paytn Harter, 13 from Maddie Huddleson, and 12 from Maddie Richter. Atlantic improves to 11-4 on the season. The Trojans will now get set to host Creston on Monday. We’ll have that game on KJAN.

St. Albert was led by 14 from Ellie Monahan and 12 points from Missy Evezic. The Saintes fall to 13-2.