By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

DES MOINES—Top-ranked Council Bluffs St. Albert scored the first nine points of the game and went onto a 59-51 victory over the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears on Friday, March 7 in the Class 1A state semi-final round of the girls state basketball tournament.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

DES MOINES—Bishop Garrigan senior Zoe Montag was looking forward to her fourth straight state basketball tournament to be a memorable one, and she got things started in the right direction on Wednesday, March 5.

The black-and-gold senior poured in a season-high 16 points to lead the fourth-ranked Golden Bears to a convincing 69-31 victory over No. 6 Montezuma in the opening round of the Class 1A girls state basketball tournament.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

DES MOINES—Sophomores Graclyn Eastman of Bishop Garrigan and Ainsley Ulrich of North Union were selected this past weekend by the Iowa Sports Print Writers Association to the Class 1A girls basketball first-team all-state squad.

Eastman moves up from the third team last season as Ulrich makes an all-state team for the first time. Eastman’s teammates, juniors Sacha Alesch and Emmi Bartolo, were chosen to the third team.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

AMES—Former Bishop Garrigan standout and Iowa State sophomore Audi Crooks continues to earn more honors and records with her outstanding play on the hardwood.

Last week, Crooks was selected as a unanimous selection to the first-team All-Big 12 squad for a second straight year. It was the first time in the school’s history that a Cyclone women’s player had been chosen to the first team the first two years of one’s career.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

BOONE—The four area high school football teams found out last week their district groups for the 2025 and 2026 seasons from the Iowa High School Athletic Association.

Algona was assigned to the Class 3A, District No. 1 with five other teams. The Bulldogs went 9-2 overall last fall and fell in the quarterfinal round, falling one win short of playing in the UNI-Dome.

First Team

Graclyn Eastman, Bishop Garrigan, 10

Adasyn Lamb, Belmond-Klemme, 12

Colette Loges, Forest City, 12

Cora Sauer, Lake Mills, 10

Bella Schisel, Garner-Hayfield/Ventura, 11

Ainsley Ulrich, North Union, 10

Bethany Warren, Forest City, 12

Player of the Year-Ainsley Ulrich, North Union

Coach of the Year—Matt Erpelding, Forest City

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

MASON CITY—For the sixth consecutive season, the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bear girls basketball squad is headed to the Class 1A state basketball tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. The fourth-ranked black-and-gold made easy work of 12^th-ranked Saint Ansgar with their smothering defense and drained 10 three-pointers in the win.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

HUMBOLDT—A pair of 21-3 teams met on Saturday, March 1 in the sub-state number two final for the right to advance to the 2025 Class 1A state basketball tournament.

Fourth-ranked St. Edmond used an early 9-0 run in the final stanza to build a double digit advantage and put the contest away at the charity stripe late in a 78-61 victory over the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

CLEAR LAKE—A big third quarter sparked the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bear boys basketball team to claim the Class 1A District No. 3 title on Tuesday, Feb. 25 with a 63-51 victory over the Lake Mills Bulldogs, one of their conference rivals.

First Team

Cole Higgins, South Central Calhoun, 12

Jacksyn Hogrefe, Newell-Fonda, 11

Kasey Hough, G-T/R-A, 12

Guyson Lyman, Newell-Fonda, 12

Byron Maina, Emmetsburg, 12

Owen Mills, Sioux Central, 11

Logan Moline, Manson NW Webster, 12

Drake Warland, Southeast Valley, 12

Coach of the Year—Jordan Myers, Newell-Fonda

Second Team

First Team

Jackson Gaul, Lake Mills, 12

Carson Hill, Forest City, 12

Brody Heifner, Belmond-Klemme, 10

Michael Joyce, Bishop Garrigan, 10

Abraham Lin, Eagle Grove, 12

Holden Reynolds, Forest City, 10

Max Wilkerson, North Iowa, 12

Player of the Year—Carson Hall, Forest City

Coach of the Year—Dan Rosacker, Forest City

Second Team

First Team

*Hayden Kuhlmann, Algona, 10

*Morgan Mann, Humboldt, 12

*Lauren McLaughlin, Algona, 12

*Jordan Valley, Hampton-Dumont, 12

Ava Fischer, Humboldt, 11

Madi Ott, Clear Lake, 12

*Denotes unanimous selection

Second Team

Ashleigh Amble, Hampton-Dumont, 11

Elody England, Iowa Falls-Alden, 9

Olivia Gallentine, Webster City, 12

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

ALGONA—Coming into Saturday evening’s Class 3A Region No. 8 regional final, the talk was that the junior guard, Claire Turner of Spirit Lake, was one of the best players around.

After her 32 minutes of play in the contest, the Indian guard left no doubt as she poured in a game-high 28 points to lead the 12^th-ranked Indians to a 61-53 victory over eighth-rated Algona to advance to the girls state basketball tournament.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

DES MOINES—For the third straight year, Algona’s Tate Slagle finished in the top five wrestlers of his class at the Class 2A state wrestling tournament.

Slagle, a senior, finished in fourth place at 157 pounds after taking fifth place in the 2024 state tournament and third place in the 2023 state tourney for the red-and-black.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

DES MOINES—Three area wrestlers competed at the Class 1A state wrestling tournament held here on Feb. 19-22. North Union senior Brennen Bollinger went 3-2 at 285 pounds, falling one place short of winning a medal to lead the way.