SIOUX RAPIDS ― Fifty-eight points isn’t a bad night. But it wasn’t enough for the Sioux Central boys basketball team against Ridge View Tuesday. The Raptors slowly pulled away in the second half for a 69-58 road win.

“We are writing to share an exciting update regarding the future of our school districts’ athletic programs,” shared Terry Hemann, superintendent of the Spencer School District.
The information was sent out to families and staff.
Starting in the 2026-27 school year, the school districts of Spencer, Cherokee, Estherville Lincoln Central, and Storm Lake will join the Siouxland Conference.

SPENCER ― “It was a great way to start the new year with a win over Denison,” suggested Matt Stevenson, Spencer girls coach. “We talked about how our defense needs to be what ignites our offense.”

The Tigers topped the visiting Monarchs, 51-28, in the field house Friday.

“We really applied a lot of pressure for four quarters, we were able to force 37 turnovers which allowed us to get into transition and get some easy baskets,” Stevenson said.

COUNCIL BLUFFS — Saturday, the Spencer Tigers girls and boys wrestling teams competed in Council Bluffs at the Lewis Central Team Duels Tournament.

“This tournament was joined this year to add tough competition to our schedule in order to get us prepared for the end of the year push,” said David Doebel, the Tiger boys coach.

The boys field included No. 19 Lewis Central, Lee Summit of Missouri and Papillion LaVista of Nebraska.

Spencer started off the new years 2-0 in road competition, downing both Bondurant-Farrar and Denison-Schleswig in nondistrict competition on back-to-back nights.

DES MOINES ― Spencer outscored Bondurant-Farrar in the first quarter and the overtime period, scoring a 54-52 win Thursday, on the same floor at the state tournament, at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

SHELDON — Nichole Hart, Nataley Frerk, Vivi Orenday and Sigrid Adams made the finals in four straight weight classes — 125-140 respectively — finishing as runner ups to help Sioux Central place sixth in the 15-team Sheldon Invitational.

“Overall, we wrestled OK today,” Rebel coach Joel McCoy said. “We were down a few of our starters again due to illness. Seems to be a common them amongst a lot of squads right now. Proud of their efforts today.”

GRAETTINGER ― Traveling to Graettinger, Friday night, the Rebel girls bested the Titans, 68-51, to open play after the holiday break, allowing the squad to improve to 6-3.

“I was happy with our activity and performance for the first competition after the break,” Sioux Central girls coach Kasey Krager said. “It’s typically a tough game to play, especially on the road against a quality opponent.”

Avery Wilson’s 30 points helped propel the Rebels to the win.

GRATTINGER ― Owen Mills hit for a game high 25 points as well as seven rebounds and six assists; while Jack Christian contributed for 18 points with five from behind the arc in Sioux Central's road win Friday at Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire, 58-52.

Abernathy to play at Lakers softball

I was a college student when the Upper Midwest experienced the rains of 1993. Even in the hills of northeast Iowa, we had to make tough decisions on our farm. Just getting equipment to and from the fields without getting stuck was an adventure. The 1993 flooding event had a devastating impact throughout the Midwest and is a fixture in the memory of many Lakes Area residents.

It’s hard to believe that we’re less than a month from the annual Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club’s annual Spring Fishing Seminar Night. Scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 6, the evening will be held at Oak Hill Outdoor on the north end of Milford. Doors will open around 5 p.m. with a free meal for all members and their family followed by the fishing seminar. Nonmembers are also welcome but with a meal charge of $10. Memberships will be available for $25 (same cost for individuals and families).

If you live in the Ice Belt, depending on where you live, we’re approaching the end of 2024. Soon we will be at the midseason or late season of 2025 ice fishing season. As a participant in many ice fishing seasons, I have some wonderful memories of fishing through the ice at this time of year. I’ve also learned a lot about catching fish this time of year that I would like to share. Let’s take a look at late ice.

DES MOINES — Spencer’s Shaylee Sutherland is the oldest of Bonnie and Jimmy’s three children and she is setting an example of how hard work and dedication pays off in success and accomplishment.

The Spencer High School wrestler reached the Century Club as a junior this past season en route to a runner-up finish at 140 pounds at the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union Wrestling Tournament in February to put a wrap on her varsity season.

DES MOINES — With the two regular gun seasons now in the books, Iowa’s deer hunting shifts to a more solitary endeavor with the opening of the late muzzleloader season and the reopening of the archery season.

Jace Elliott, state deer biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said roughly 15,000-20,000 hunters will participate in the late muzzleloader season and likely harvest about 10,000 deer.

For the past three decades, I’ve been exploring planet Earth and especially the polar regions of the globe. My travels occurred during a time of dramatic climate change. I’ve worked with, interviewed and listened to countless scientists who have been speaking in unison about the erratic changes to weather patterns in the Arctic and Antarctic polar regions.