JUPITER, Fla. (AP) – Albert Pujols’ departure from the St. Louis Cardinals after 11 seasons drove home the point to his closest friend on the team. At the end of the day, it’s a hard, cold business. Four-time Gold Glove catcher Yadier Molina enters spring training this year a lifetime Cardinal seeking a long-term extension, just like Pujols a year ago. Molina is heading into the final year of his contract and he would like to stay in St. Louis. But he emphasizes it’s a two-way street.  
Molina said he thinks of Pujols as a big brother and said Pujols’ exit definitely hurt. But he also said he’s happy in St. Louis and downplayed absences at the team’s White House photo op and Winter Warmup, He said he simply had other commitments.

Chris Parks has the call of the game played Friday, February 17th at Harlan Community High School.

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w/ Jim Field

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AMES, Iowa – Iowa State got a crucial 3-point bucket by Lauren Mansfield with 1:41 remaining, a hook shot from Chelsea Poppens at the 1:02 mark and hit 9-of-10 free throw attempts late to stave off Oklahoma and climb into the top half of the Big 12 standings with a 77-71 win.  The victory, the Cyclones’ seventh in their last nine conference games, lifts them to 16-9 overall and 7-7 in the Big 12, good for fifth place. Oklahoma falls to 17-9 overall and 9-5 in the league.

Mansfield led Iowa State with a season-high 22 points, in part via six 3-pointers in eight attempts. Her last three were the biggest of the game.  The Cyclone lead had shrunk to 61-60 with 2:27 to go. A pair of Nikki Moody free throws set the table for Mansfield’s hit from beyond the arc with just 1:41 to boost Iowa State back to a 66-60 lead. Oklahoma, which had five players in double figures led by Aaryn Ellenberg’s 19 points, never got closer as Iowa State free throws and Poppens’ basket maintained the cushion.

Anna Prins had 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds for Iowa State. Hallie Christofferson had 13 points and Poppens added 12 points and five rebounds in just 20 minutes of play because of foul trouble. Moody had nine points and a career-high 11 assists for the Cyclones.

The Cyclones led 43-28 at halftime and before Oklahoma chipped away at the Iowa State advantage. A Christofferson jumper with 17:36 to go in the game gave Iowa State a 17-point lead before the Sooners struck back.

Iowa State had the hotter hand in the first half, which offset the absence of Poppens, who only played eight first-half minutes because of foul trouble. The Cyclones hits on 8-of-15 3-pointers, built up a 17-point lead and finished the first half up 43-28. Iowa State finished with a season-high 11 3-pointers in 21 attempts.

Iowa State plays host to Missouri Tuesday at 7 p.m. CST in Hilton Coliseum.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa senior Matt Gaten scored a career-high 30 points and Iowa beat No. 18 Indiana 78-66 on Sunday, snapping the Hoosiers’ three-game winning streak. Melsahn Basabe had 13 points for the Hawkeyes (14-13, 6-8 Big Ten), who beat the Hoosiers in Iowa City for the seventh time in eight tries. Iowa jumped out to an 11-point halftime lead and pushed it to 52-33 midway through the second half. Indiana closed to 10, but Gatens responded with four crucial 3s to guide the Hawkeyes to the easy victory. Freshman Cody Zeller had 15 points and 13 rebounds and Victor Oladipo added 15 points for Indiana (20-7, 8-7), which is now just a game over .500 in the Big Ten. Despite being just a game over .500, the Hawkeyes are now 3-3 against ranked opponents.

JUPTER, Fla. (AP) – Adam Wainwright’s season-ending elbow injury last February was supposed to ruin the St. Louis Cardinals’ season. Now, the former 20-game winner is healthy again, ready to rejoin a rotation that was strong enough to win it all without him.  That’s a major reason why the Cardinals are optimistic at the opening of their first spring training without Albert Pujols, Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan in a very long time. Even if the 6-foot-7, 230-pound Wainwright throws fewer than 200 innings, the estimate the Cardinals have used in their desire to play it safe with a right-hander not yet a year removed from elbow reconstruction, they view it as a major plus. The 30-year-old Wainwright was a workhorse before getting hurt last spring, totaling 266 1-3 innings in 2009-10.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Class 3A Region 2 Regional Semifinal:

Denison-Schleswig 53, Sgt. Bluff-Luton 51

Sioux City Heelan 86, Carroll 39 

Class 3A Region 8:

Glenwood 60, Creston 34

Regional Semifinal:

Winterset 56, Dallas Center-Grimes 49 

Class 4A Region 8 Regional Semifinal:

C. Bluffs/Lewis Central 40, C. Bluffs Abe Lincoln 17

Class 3-A

Class 2-A

Class 1-A

Class 3-A

• 106: Matt Wempen (Linn Mar) 48-2 won 3-1 in overtime over Travis Willers (Pleasant Valley) 50-3
• 113: Phillip Laux (Iowa City West) 50-3 won by 3-1 decision over Fredy Stroker (Bettendorf) 42-2
• 120: Tyler Willers (Pleasant Valley) 51-2 won by 3-1  decision over Chris Walters (CR Prairie) 40-4
  
• 126: Cory Clark (Southeast Polk) 46-1 won by 6-2 decision over Eric DeVos (Waverly-Shell Rock) 44-4
• 132: Dakota Bauer (Iowa City West) 52-2 won by 5-4 decision over Luke Kremer (Cedar Rapids Kennedy) 39-6
  
• 138: John Meeks (DM Roosevelt) 45-0 won by 9-6 decision over Connor Ryan (Bettendorf) 39-5
  
• ***John Meeks is the 6th Iowa wrestler to end his career undefeated with 4 state titles***
  
• 145: Gabriel Moreno (Urbandale) 41-0 won by 8-1 decision over Ross Lembeck (Linn Mar) 48-3
• 152: Zach Witte (CR Prairie) 23-0 won by 5-3 decision over Dylan Blackford (SE Polk) 44-4
  
• 160: Zeb Wahle (Lewis Central) 50-2 won by 3-2 decision over Justin Koethe (Iowa City West) 53-2
• 170: Alex Meyer (Southeast Polk) 46-1 won by 10-4 decision over Colbey Vance (Bettendorf) 39-6
  
• 182: Jared Bartel (Mason City) 49-0 won by 5-0 decision over Mark Atwater (Linn Mar) 31-4
• 195: Ross Larson (Ankeny) 41-0 won by pin (1:21) over Bud Smith (Southeast Polk) 37-5
• 220: Willie Miklus (Southeast Polk) 47-0 won by pin (1:49) over Zach Renshaw (Lewis Central) 48-3
  
• 285: Nate Shaw (Bettendorf) 31-1 won 6-4 in overtime over Don Dawson (Indianola) 37-3
  

Class 2-A

• 106: Doug Miner (Spirit Lake Park) 46-0 won by pin (3:03) over Mason Miller (Winterset) 41-4
  
• 113: Max Thomsen (Union) 47-1 won by 6-0 decision over Shadow Leshen (Albia) 44-6
• 120: Dylan Peters (Denver-Tripoli) 48-0 won by pin (:37) over Tony DeVriese (Dav. Assumption) 45-6
  
• 126: Colton McCrystal (Sergeant Bluff-Luton) 45-1 won by 8-6 decision over Kyle Springer (Dav. Assumption) 50-2
  
• 132: Brandon Sorensen (Denver-Tripoli) 49-1 won by 3-1  decision over Topher Carton (Dav. Assumption) 49-2
  
• 138: Jake Marlin (Creston/O-M) 51-1 won by 10-2 major decision over Logan Thomsen (Union) 45-2
• ***Jake Marlin wins his 3rd straight state title***
  
• 145: JC Vercande (Williamsburg) 53-1 won by 19-4 tech fall over Cory Chapin (Denver-Tripoli) 40-4
  
• 152: Nick Georgean (Dav. Assumption) 50-1 won by 8-5 decision over Cody Fritz (Solon) 46-1
  
• 160: Erik Lux (South Tama County) 45-3 won by pin (5:31) over Chase Shedenhelm (Denver-Tripoli) 37-3
  
• 170: Nick Fuller (Independence) 49-1 won by 9-0 major decision over JJ Hanus (Solon) 44-4
  
• 182: Seth Esaias (Red Oak) 50-0 won by pin (6:41) over Garrett Smith (Denver-Tripoli) 29-2
  
• 195: Adam Reth (West Delaware) 44-0 won by 3-2 decision over Keaton Hulett (Creston/O-M) 49-3
• 220: Kane Seeley (Perry) 48-1 won by 24-9 tech fall over Terron Geerdes (Central Lyon/GLR) 35-2
• 285: Collin Bevins (Creston/O-M) 52-1 won by pin (2:50) over Logan Hopp (New Hampton) 41-2
  

Class 1-A

• 106: Hunter Washburn (Alburnett) 46-0 won by 11-2 major decision over Blake Dietz (Nashua-Plainfield) 44-3
  
• 113: Jordan Bremer (Woodbury-Central) 47-1 won by 5-3 decision over Kyler Kiner (Ogden) 24-2
• 120: Charlie Jones (Columbus Catholic) 45-7 won by 8-2 decision over Aaron Anderson (Clarion-Goldfield) 37-1
• 126: Tyler Shulista (Alburnett) 46-1 won by pin (1:22) over Kyle White (Central Springs) 46-8
  
• 132: David Walker (Martensdale-St Marys) 52-0 won by 13-3 major decision over Kolbi Kohl (Lisbon) 31-5
  
• 138: Logan Mulnix (North-Linn) 45-0 won by 7-1 decision over Payton Rice (NW Webster) 46-4
  
• 145: Robert Walker (Martensdale-St Marys) 30-0 won by 13-4major decision over Jake Slocum (West Branch) 44-5
  
• 152: Loren Williams (Tri-Center) 52-0 won by 5-3 decision over Tait Simpson (Lisbon) 30-1
• ***This is Loren Williams 2nd state title***
  
• 160: Mark Weber (Don Bosco) 45-7 won by 3-2 decision over Taylor Wedeking (Nashua-Plainfield) 40-9
  
• 170: Brendan Schott (North-Linn) 46-0 won by 9-3 decision over Brett Roberts (Eddyville-Blakesburg) 52-3
• 182: Andy Glaser (Nashua-Plainfield) 43-3 won by  3-2 decision over Tanner Taylor (Okoboji, Milford) 43-1
  
• 195: Caleb Ciavarelli (Clarksville) 36-2 won by pin (2:17) over Cade Jones (West Branch) 39-7
  
• 220: Nick Schmelzer (South Winneshiek) 38-3 won by 6-3 decision over Derrick Miller (West Branch) 43-6
  
• 285: Marco Naughton (St. Albert) 37-0 won by 11-2 major decision over Brandon McCracken (Aplington-Parkersburg) 43-5