LAKES ALL-CONFERENCE BASKETBALL

Boys Standings

• Storm Lake ― 8-0
• Spirit Lake ― 6-2
• Cherokee ― 4-4
• Spencer ― 2-6
• Estherville Lincoln Central ― 0-8

Girls Standings

CLEMENT, Fla. — Tuesday, the Iowa Lakes Community College softball team, competing in a Florida tournament, combined for 35 runs in two games to continue their six-game winning streak. The Lakers took down New College University JV 15-5 in five innings and then Erie Community College 20-0 in five innings. The Lakers advanced to 12-6 on the season.

GAME 1: ILCC 15, NC JV 5 — 5 INNINGS

Christians earns Player of the Week honors

Spencer will join the Siouxland Conference in the 2026-27 school year, but one of the Siouxland’s current members will likely not be there when the Tigers arrive.

Sibley-Ocheyedan — a former Lakes and current Siouxland Conference member — has applied to the 11-member War Eagle Conference.

The Shrine Bowl Media Night, originally set for last week but postponed because of the winter storm, will honor Mile Robbins (above) and Kinnick Fahrenkrog, representing Spencer and Sioux Central in the Shrine Bowl football game this summer. The two will attend the special dinner event to recognize the athletes and coaches of the northern teams on Wednesday, March 12, at 6:30 p.m., at the Clay County Regional Events Center. (File photo)

The GT/RA-Spencer Bulls Eyes trap team, composed of athletes from both Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire and Spencer schools, is hosting its annual spring fundraiser breakfast, Sunday, March 16, from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at the Ruthven American Legion. Pancakes, eggs and sausage will be served. The athletes will be doing the cooking, serving and cleanup. Along with the breakfast, there will be items for silent auction bidding.

The Iowa Lakes Community College softball team picked up two big wins Sunday on day two of the tournament. Game one saw a walk-off triple from Bailey Smith to pick up the 6-5 win over Mid-Michigan College. Game two was an offensive clinic by the Lakers to win 18-3 in five innings over SUNY Adirondack. The Lakers are now 8-6 overall on the season.

GAME 1: ILCC 6, MMC 5

The Lakers women's basketball team had one athlete named to the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference Division II Women's Basketball All-Region teams. Sophomore Gracelyn Deputy was named ICCAC All-Region Second Team. Deputy had two great seasons as a Laker and really showed a lot of growth in her sophomore campaign. She averaged 13.0 points per game, shot 75.5% from the free-throw line, and averaged 6.1 rebounds per game.

In a recent story, I discussed Jason Mitchell’s thoughts on weeds and walleyes, a topic that he shared at the Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club’s spring get-together. Mitchell gave great information about “Weed Walleye” and that weeds are the last best-kept secrets for walleye anglers. However, they are not for the faint of heart, and there is a true learning curve in first understanding weeds and walleyes and then turning that knowledge into how to catch weed walleyes!

People who started fishing at a young age probably were introduced to fishing by a parent, and oftentimes that parent had been introduced to fishing by their parent. One generation learned from the previous one. They learned that when fishing, there are certain ways to fish, certain “rules.” Following are a couple of “rules” about catching walleyes that you might want to reconsider.

The Midwest Walleye Challenge kicks off April 1 in the five Midwest States of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska and South Dakota, with Michigan joining in once their walleye fishery opens on May 15. These citizen science fishing events are a fun way for anglers and biologists to join forces in support of their state’s walleye fishery.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources suggests immediately finishing pruning oak trees to prevent the spread of oak wilt.

“We typically suggest to stop pruning oaks around March 15,” explained Tivon Feeley, forest health program leader with the Iowa DNR. “The unseasonably warm February has moved up that date. Pruning oak trees should stop out of an abundance of caution.”

Mallory Salton, a Spencer High School senior and member of the SHS Tigerettes Dance Team, was chosen through auditions in August for the All-Iowa Honor Dance Team. Salton will be performing in the hip-hop and pom sections of the halftime performances.

The halftime show will take place during the 4A championship game, at approximately 2:30 p.m., Saturday. The halftime group includes 252 dancers representing 102 Iowa high school dance teams.

Laker women fall in opener

Last weekend, the Iowa Lakes women's basketball fall to the Ellsworth Panthers 54-67 in their regular season finale, Saturday, March 1. The Lakers were led by Gracelyn Deputy with 16 points and Paige Martin added 14 points. Ellsworth was led by Laia Santanach with 18 points. The Lakers finish the season with an overall record of 12-19 on the season and a 6-12 finish in conference play.

OKOBOJI ― Organizers of the Boji Legends Golf Tournament announced the fourth annual event, scheduled for June 27 at the Okoboji View Golf Course. Proceeds from the tournament will benefit three worthy causes, Camp High Hopes in Sioux City, Children's Therapy Center of the Quad Cities and Keep Okoboji Blue.