The Woodbine boys basketball team controlled the lead most of the way in a 68-56 win at Exira-EHK on Friday night, earning a season split with the Spartans. The Tigers led by 3 at half but increased that advantage to 11 by the end of the third and held serve down the stretch.

The Tigers jumped out to a 7-1 lead at the beginning of the game to set the tone. The Spartans were able to fight back for a brief lead in the second but a layup by Carter Gruver just before half swung momentum back to the Tigers. Gruver was huge in the second half as well making 10 of 10 from the free throw line to maintain the lead.

Gruver finished with 16 points, as did Cory Bantam. Dylan Hoefer led the Tigers with 18. Woodbine improved to 10-8 on the season. Next up for the Tigers is a road trip to West Harrison on Monday.

Exira-EHK was led by 16 points from Cash Emgarten and 15 from Aiden Flathers. The Spartans fall to 11-8 on the season and they will head to Paton-Churdan on Monday.

Exira-EHK fought back from a 7-point halftime deficit to defeat Woodbine 68-62 on Friday night and secure another Rolling Valley Conference Championship. Woodbine came out firing and had a 9-2 lead to start the game, forcing the Spartans to play catch-up until the third. Exira-EHK poured in 28 points in the third quarter and took the lead back by 2. The Spartans then took control down the stretch.

Exira-EHK wrestled that lead back in the third despite the Tigers knocking down 6 threes in the period. Exira-EHK Head Coach Tom Petersen was proud of the way the team locked in during that run.

Shots started to fall for the Spartans in the second half and Macy Emgarten finished with 21 points to lead the way. Shay Burmeister was big with 17 points, 9 in the third quarter alone. Coach Petersen said he needs her to come up big.

The Spartans improved to 18-1 with the win and secure another Rolling Valley Conference Championship. The Spartans have two games left on the schedule before hosting a Regional Quarterfinal on the 15th.

It was a valiant effort from Woodbine as they hit a ton of big shots all night. The Tigers were led by 17 points from Charlie Pryor. She had 15 points in the first half. Nicole Sherer added 14 as the Tigers dropped to 15-3 on the season, with two of those losses to the Spartans. Woodbine also has two games left before hosting Heartland Christian in First Round play on the 10th.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association has released the district basketball brackets for Classes 1A and 2A.

Preliminary round games in Class 1A are scheduled for Friday, Feb. 11. First round games in Class 2A and Class 1A begin on Monday, Feb. 14. Opening round substate games for Class 4A and Class 3A tipoff on Monday, Feb. 21.

Here’s a look at the area match-ups in 1A and 2A.

CLASS 1A

District 15

First Round
Heartland Christian @ Griswold 7:00pm

Quarterfinals

@ AHSTW
Audubon vs. Riverside 6:30pm
Griswold/Heartland Christian vs. AHSTW 8:00pm

@ CAM
Nodaway Valley vs. Exira-EHK 6:30pm
IKM-Manning vs. CAM 8:00pm

District 16

First Round
Paton-Churdan @ Glidden-Ralston 7:00pm

Quarterfinals
P-C/G-R @ West Harrison 7:00pm
Woodbine @ Tri-Center 7:00pm
Logan-Magnolia @ Boyer Valley 7:00pm
Ar-We-Va @ Coon Rapids-Bayard 7:00pm

District 13

First Round
Woodward Academy @ Orient-Macksburg 7:00pm

Quarterfinals

@ Saydel
Murray vs. Ogden 6:30pm
O-M/WA vs Grand View Christian 8:00pm

@ Madrid
Earlham vs. Ankeny Christian Academy 6:30pm
East Union vs. Madrid 8:00pm

District 14

First Round
Southwest Valley @ Diagonal 7:00pm

Quarterfinals

@ East Mills
Bedford vs. Sidney 6:30pm
SWV/Diagonal vs. East Mills 8:00pm

F-M/Essex @ St. Albert 7:00pm
Lenox @ Stanton 7:00pm

CLASS 2A

District 5

First Round @ Kuemper Catholic
Greene County vs. Southeast Valley 6:30pm
Eagle Grove vs. Kuemper Catholic 8:00pm

Semifinals
Greene County/Southeast Valley @ Roland-Story 7:00pm
Eagle Grove/Kuemper Catholic @ South Central Calhoun 7:00pm

District 15

First Round @ Panorama
I-35 vs. Woodward-Granger 6:30pm
Panorama vs. West Central Valley 8:00pm

Semifinals @ Van Meter
West Central Valley/Panorama vs. ACGC 6:30pm
I-35/Woodward-Granger vs. Van Meter 8:00pm

District 16

First Round @ Red Oak
Shenandoah vs. Clarinda 6:30pm
Missouri Valley vs. Red Oak 8:00pm

Semifinals @ Treynor
Missouri Valley/Red Oak vs. Underwood  6:30pm
Shenandoah/Clarinda vs. Treynor 8:00pm

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa head men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery has entered health and safety protocols after testing positive for COVID on Friday. McCaffery will miss Sunday’s home game versus Minnesota.

Assistant Coach Billy Taylor, who has the scout for the Gophers, will serve as acting head coach for the Hawkeyes in McCaffery’s absence.

Iowa (14-7, 4-6) hosts Minnesota (11-8, 2-8) on Sunday at 3:31 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.

IAwrestle released their final Class 1A and 2A regular season rankings this week.

CLASS 1A

Area Ranked Teams

2. Underwood
5. Logan-Magnolia

Area Ranked Individuals

106
12. Molly Allen, Underwood

113
1 Eli Becerra, Missouri Valley
4. Corbin Reisz, Logan-Magnolia
8. Brayden Maeder, Southwest Valley
11. Lucas Bose, Underwood

120
2. Jace Rose, Riverside
9. Riley Parkis, Kuemper Catholic

126
4. Westin Allen, Underwood

132
1 Gable Porter, Underwood
3. Elliot Cooney, Nodaway Valley

138
1. Stevie Barnes, Underwood
11. Sean Thompson, Logan-Magnolia
12. Hayden Fischer, AHSTW

145
1 Hagen Heistand, Underwood

152
1. Wyatt Reisz, Logan-Magnolia
4. Shea Parkis, Kuemper Catholic
12. Nolan Moore, Riverside

160
5. Gavin Maguire, Logan-Magnolia
10. Garrison Gettler, AHSTW
11. Caleb Illif, Treynor

182
6. Brecken Freeberg, Tri-Center
9. Gage Clausen, Missouri Valley

195
8. Carter Davis, Underwood

220
6. Cal Wanninger, Kuemper Catholic

285
6. Rex Johnson, Logan-Magnolia
7. Easton Eledge, Underwood
8. Daniel Gregory, Treynor
9. Devin Whipple, Bedford/Lenox
12. Connor Murray, Missouri Valley

CLASS 2A

Area Ranked Individuals

106
8. Aiden Smith, Atlantic-CAM

113
6. Vinny Mayberry, Glenwood

126
4. Ethan Follmann, Atlantic-CAM
6. Matthew Beem, Glenwood
9. Luke Freund, Harlan

132
8. Luke Musich, Harlan

160
6. Dawson Bond, Red Oak

170
3. Kadin Stutzman, Atlantic-CAM

182
5. Zane Bendorf, Harlan
11. Jase Wilmes, Clarinda

195
2. CJ Carter, Glenwood

285
5. Logan Green, Clarinda

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Hawkeye Ten Conference
Glenwood 67, St. Albert 50 (Glenwood secures Hawkeye Ten Championship)

Western Iowa Conference
IKM-Manning 57, Boyer Valley 44
Treynor 48, AHSTW 25
Underwood 65, Fremont-Mills 46

Rolling Valley Conference
CAM 58, Audubon 55
Glidden-Ralston 46, Madrid 29
Woodbine 81, Paton-Churdan 19

Corner Conference
Griswold 45, Heartland Christian 8 (G: McKenna Wiechman becomes Griswold’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made)
Sidney 48, SW Valley 32

Pride of Iowa Conference
Lenox 49, Lamoni 41

Other Scores
Earlham 41, Clarke 30
Chariton 43, Wayne 28
West Central Valley 53, Pleasantville 49

BOYS BASKETBALL

Hawkeye Ten Conference
Red Oak 66, Nodaway Valley 32
St. Albert 59, Glenwood 47

Western Iowa Conference
Audubon 59, CAM 35
AHSTW 48, Treynor 41 (AHSTW secures WIC Title)
Tri-Center 68, Stanton 51 (S: Carter Johnson reaches 1,000 career pts.)
Underwood 64, Fremont-Mills 24

Rolling Valley Conference
Madrid 81, Glidden-Ralston 39
Woodbine 70, Paton-Churdan 51

Corner Conference
Heartland Christian 56, Griswold 44
Sidney 59, Southwest Valley 50

Pride of Iowa Conference
Southeast Warren 65, Orient-Macksburg 26

Other Scores
East Union 57, Diagonal 56
Pleasantville 74, West Central Valley 37
Wayne 62, Chariton 49

The 21st ranked Iowa Hawkeye women closed the first half with a 10-0 run and beat Wisconsin 84-50 Thursday night, in Madison. Caitlin Clark had another triple-double with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.

That’s Iowa coach Lisa Bluder. The Hawkeyes were without injured starters McKenna Warnock and Gabbie Marshall. Bluder is not sure if they will be available Sunday at sixth ranked Michigan.

Iowa is 9-2 in the Big Ten

The 20th ranked Iowa State Cyclones are on the road Saturday afternoon in the Big 12 to face 23rd ranked Texas. The Cyclones beat the Longhorns 79-70 in Ames back on January 15th.

That’s ISU coach T.J.Otzelberger who says ball pressure remains the biggest key for his team on defense.

At 3-6 the Cyclones have some work to do to climb out of the bottom half of the Big 12 race.

Drake hosts Northern Iowa Saturday afternoon in a key Missouri Valley Conference showdown. The Bulldogs are tied at the top of the Valley standings with Loyola with an 8-2 record and two weeks ago in Cedar Falls erased a late 10 point deficit to beat the Panthers in overtime.

That’s Drake coach Darian DeVries who hopes a big crowd will give the Bulldogs a homecourt advantage.

UNI is 8-3 and a with a victory the Panthers would be in the thick of the title chase.

Panther coach Ben Jacobson. Senior guard Trae Berhow says the Panthers want to avenge the loss in the first meeting with the Bulldogs.

(Radio Iowa) – The second ranked Iowa wrestling team will close out the home season on Saturday against ninth ranked Wisconsin. It will be the final home appearance for a senior class that endured the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Championships due to COVID before leading the Hawkeyes to a national title last year. Iowa coach Tom Brands says it is a group that has had a big impact on the program.

Brands describes the senior class as “low maintenance”.

165-pounder Alex Marinelli is focusing on his match and not his final appearance in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

174-pounder Michael Kemerer on his final time coming out of the tunnel.