State News

Strait leads 4A Select team to victory

Courtney Strait of Kennedy High School scored 15 points Saturday to help the Class 4A Select team defeat the Class 3A Select squad, 78-65, in the featured game of the Iowa Girls Coaches Association Senior Basketball Classic at Mount Mercy University.

Strait popped in three 3-pointers to lead her team in scoring. Sydney Greiner of Washington (Iowa) led the 3A Select team with 16 points.

Strait led all Class 4A players in scoring this season with a 20.7 average and will play college basketball at Truman State next season.

Alex Bartz of Xavier High School scored 13 points for the Class 4A Dark team in a 78-74 loss to the Class 4A White squad. Jazz Royster of Cedar Rapids Washington scored six points for the 4A White team and Katlyn Andersen of Xavier had five points.

Dani Peyton of Marion High School scored 12 points for the Class 3A White team in a 75-61 loss to the 3A Dark squad. Peyton tied for team-high honors with her dozen markers.

Armstrong, Oney net 44 as UNI falls

MINNEAPOLIS - The Cedar Rapids Connection of K.K. Armstrong and Katelin Oney combined for 44 points Sunday afternoon, but it wasn't enough to save the University of Northern Iowa in the championship game of the Women's Basketball Invitational.

The Panthers squandered a 13-point lead and lost to Minnesota, 88-74, at Williams Arena.

Armstrong scored 24 points and finished her career as the ninth-leading scorer in UNI history. Oney tossed in 20 points. Armstrong and Oney, both seniors, starred together in high school at Cedar Rapids Washington.

Armstrong and Rachel Madrigal played in their 128th games for Northern Iowa, setting a school record.

The Panthers finished with a 19-15 record. Minnesota finished 19-17.

IC West tramples SC East for Class 4A crown

DES MOINES -- Jeremy Morgan scored 26 points, Dondre Alexander added 14 and Iowa City West routed Sioux City East, 67-52, in the Class 4A championship game of the state boys basketball tournament Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena.

Iowa City West, with four underclassmen in the starting lineup, finished the season with a perfect 26-0 record.

Sioux City East (21-4) was led by 7-foot-1 senior center Adam Woodbury, a University of Iowa recruit who scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

Iowa City West took control of the game with an 8-0 run midway through the first quarter. The Trojans led 20-9 after the first quarter, 39-23 at halftime and 52-33 after three quarters.

West, which was seeded second, defeated Waukee, Linn-Mar and East by margins of 22, 20 and 15 points en route to the title.

Boxscore

Final leaders, All-Tournament team

Mount Pleasant ends championship drought in 3A

DES MOINES -- Blake Vandenberg scored five of his 16 points in the second overtime and Mount Pleasant beat Western Dubuque, 66-62, Saturday night in the Class 3A state championship at Wells fargo Arena.

Mount Pleasant (26-1) claimed its first boys state basketball title since 1918.

Jordan Ashton led the Panthers with 20 points. Nick Lyon added 11. Vandenberg had 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.

TJ Lake led Western Dubuque (24-3) with 20 points. Cameron James scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Logan Pitz scored 12 points.

Western Dubuque erased a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter. The Bobcats tied the game, 49-49, on a pair of James free throws with 1:35 left in the game.

Western Dubuque held a three-point lead in the first overtime after Lake cashed in a pair of free throws with 26 seconds left.

Dalton Conrad's 3-pointer with five seconds left tied the game, 55-55, and sent it into a second overtime.

Vandenberg's three-point play barely a minute into the second overtime erased Western Dubuque's one-point lead and put the Panthers ahead to stay.

Boxscore

Final leaders, All-Tournament Team

SIOUX CITY HEELAN 69, GRINNELL 54 -- Shane Graves scored 25 points and Kyle Heaton 24 to lead Heelan to the win in the Class 3A consolation championship.

Heelan (19-7) led 35-24 at halftime. Grinnell (21-6) never got closer than seven points in the second half.

Boxscore