By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

ALGONA—Senior guard Preston Guerdet buried a three-pointer from the left wing with 2.9 seconds remaining to give the North Union Warrior boys’ basketball team to an exciting 53-50 Top of Iowa Conference win over the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears on Friday, Jan. 26.

FORT DODGE—West Bend-Mallard stepped outside of Twin Lakes Conference girls’ basketball play on Thursday, Jan. 25 and earned a 46-30 non-conference win over the St. Edmond Gaels.

The purple-and-gold held a 13-6 advantage at the conclusion of the first period and increased their advantage at halftime. The visitors also led 38-25 after three quarters of play.

CLARION—Algona overcame an early 10-point deficit to rally for a 77-42 North Central Conference girls’ basketball victory over the Clarion-Goldfield/Dows Cowgirls on Thursday, Jan. 25.

The 11^th ranked Bulldogs trailed 12-2 early in the contest before taking a 20-15 lead at the end of the first period. The visitors led 32-22 at halftime and held a 55-37 advantage heading into the final eight minutes of action.

IOWA FALLS—Algona went on the road in North Central Conference boys’ basketball play on Friday, Jan. 26 and returned home to Algona after a 63-52 victory over the Iowa Falls-Alden Cadets.

Alex Manske poured in 21 points to lead the red-and-black, two more than teammate Ben Helmers with 19 points.

FORT DODGE—St. Edmond built a double digit first quarter lead and never looked back on Thursday, Jan. 25 in a 61-34 non-conference boys’ basketball victory over the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines.

Landon Montag was the only purple-and-gold player in double figures with 16 points as Abner Zaugg just missed with nine points.

ESTHERVILLE—Algona picked up three more non-conference wrestling dual wins to improve their season record to 21-2 overall on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

The red-and-black beat the Emmetsburg E-Hawks by the score of 45-18 before topping the Estherville-Lincoln Central Midgets 48-15 and ended the evening with a 69-12 victory over Spirit Lake Park.

WEST BEND—In their final home meet of the season on “Senior Night”, the West Bend-Mallard Wolverine boys’ wrestling team went 2-1 on Thursday, Jan. 25.

The purple-and-gold defeated East Sac County 36-33 and beat Southeast Valley 54-30 but lost to Alta-Aurelia by the final score of 69-12.

SWEA CITY—North Union hosted a Top of Iowa Conference wrestling quadrangular on Tuesday, Jan. 23 and won all three of their matches.

The green-black-and-silver topped West Fork 78-0, defeated Northwood-Kensett 60-18 and beat Garner-Hayfield/Ventura 42-39.

Caden Zotz (126), Jackson Hutchinson (132), Gabe Whaley (138), Gavyn Morphew (144), Josh Harmon (157), Breenan Bollinger (215) and Kolton Walter (285) all went a perfect 3-0 on the evening for the Warriors.

BELMOND—North Union picked up a hard-fought Top of Iowa Conference girls’ basketball road victory on Tuesday, Jan. 23 with a 52-44 win over the Belmond-Klemme Broncos.

Ainsley Ulrich led the 14^th-ranked green-black-and-silver in scoring with 19 points and was joined in double digits by Naomi Jones with 14 points.

GARNER—Lane Gayden made a layup with 4.1 seconds remaining to give the Garner-Hayfield/Ventura Cardinals a thrilling 62-60 Top of Iowa Conference boys’ basketball victory over the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

Carter Schwab led the black-and-gold in scoring with 16 points closely followed by Michael Joyce with 15 and Nick Leerar also reached double figures with 11 points.

BELMOND—Sixth-ranked Bishop Garrigan went on the road in a Top of Iowa Conference girls’ basketball make-up game on Thursday, Jan. 25 and returned home with a 66-45 victory over the Belmond-Klemme Broncos.

Balanced scoring was again a key factor in the win as the team placed four players in double figures led by Graclyn Eastman with 15 points.

IOWA FALLS—Algona improved to 13-4 overall and 10-1 in North Central Conference contests after a hard-fought 61-53 league victory over the Iowa Falls-Alden Cadets on Friday, Jan. 26.

The red-and-black led 17-7 at the conclusion of the first eight minutes of play and took a 27-22 advantage to the locker room at halftime. The visitors trailed 36-35 heading into the fourth period before rallying for the win.

EMMETSBURG—Emmetsburg tripped up the West Bend-Mallard Wolverine girls’ basketball squad by the score of 39-28 on Friday, Jan. 26 in Twin Lakes Conference action.

Kierstin Montag was the lone purple-and-gold player in double digits with 15 points. Tiffany Fehr chipped in with six points as Lexi Welter tallied three points with Claire Gerber and Chloe Dickey tossing in two points to round out the scoring.

ALGONA—Algona completed a season sweep on Monday, Jan. 29 as the red-and-black girls’ basketball squad defeated the Clear Lake Lions 54-30 in a North Central Conference contest.

The 11^th ranked Bulldogs remained one game ahead of Humboldt in the league standings at 11-1 and are now 14-4 overall while the Lions fell to 9-8 and 7-4 in the conference.

CLARION—Algona started slowly but fought back with a strong second half to earn a 64-51 North Central Conference boys’ basketball victory on Thursday, Jan. 25 over the Clarion-Goldfield/Dows Cowboys.

The visitors trailed 16-9 at the end of the first stanza but rallied to cut the lead to 25-24 at intermission. The Bulldogs held a narrow 40-36 advantage heading into the fourth period.