Sports

SIOUX RAPIDS — The first half of Sioux Central girls basketball team’s 50-34 win over Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn featured one leading scorer and in the second half, another Rebel led the way. Morgan Christian paced the Rebels’ first-half effort with 15 of her game high 18 points and Bradi Krager took over the scoring duties lead in the second 16 minutes of play with 13 points.

ESTHERVILLE — Steady progress since preseason practices began last month has led the Iowa Lakes women’s basketball team to lead at the start of the 2021-22 season. “Practices have been going very well,” sixth-year Laker head coach Ashley Martin said. ...

SIOUX CITY — Spencer’s boys swim team opened the season against Sioux City West on Wednesday. Cole DeVaeminck led the Tigers efforts with a third place finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.56 and a third place in 50-yard butterfly as he finished in 26.24. He finished 11th in the 100-yard IM. Noah Rice was 10th in the 50-yard breaststroke and Sawyer Sand 11th in the 50-yard backstroke.

Sioux Central cheerleaders Brooklyn Cavanaugh, Lauren Berberich and Abby Rentsch participated in the Iowa Cheer Honor Squad performance last Thursday. The routine took place during a break in the West Sioux — Van Meter Class 1A football championship game at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls. Sioux Central’s cheerleading coach is Alyssa Rusk...

ESTHERVILLE — The Iowa Lakes Community College men’s basketball team begins ranked at No. 6 in the 2021-22 Preseason NJCAA Men’s Basketball standings. The Lakers are one of three Iowa Community College Athletic Conference teams ranked, joining No. 1 DMACC and No. 3 Kirkwood...

SIOUX CITY — Spencer alumnus sophomore linebacker Issac Pingel was one of four Mustangs to contribute double digit tackles to assist the Mustangs in a 63-38 win over Ottawa University in a first-round NAIA Championship Series contest on Saturday. The Mustangs led 35-31at halftime. ...

Spencer’s up-tempo style of basketball this girls basketball season came quickly in a season-opening 59-37 victory over Le Mars at the field house. With the excitement of the dawn of a new season, Spencer began the campaign with three fast-break buckets, drawing an early-game timeout by the visitors in Monday. “It is something we try to push in practice, to get out in transition and run the floor,” Spencer coach Matt Stevenson said. “Our twos and threes (positions) run the floor well and that opens up layups.”

SPIRIT LAKE — Sioux Central’s girls basketball squad battled hard for 32 minutes of play in the season opener at Spirit Lake but fell short against the Indians, 51-44. “The girls were out-sized and out-matched at every position but played really hard,” Sioux Central coach Kasey Krager said. “We were up 22-19 at halftime but Spirit Lake went on a six- or eight-point run in the third quarter. They pressured the ball and we handled that well.”

TYLER, Texas — Fourth seed and host Tyler Junior College ended the Iowa Lakes men’s soccer season with a 2-1 victory in a 105-minute second round clash. The Lakers took the lead in the opening half with a Jason Dyer goal at the 36-minute mark. Tyler tied the score 10 minutes later on a shot by Luis Flores. The game remained knotted at 1-1 through halftime, the second half and one 10-minute overtime at the Pat Hartley Complex. Five minutes into the second OT, Tyler’s Tyger Smalls broke through for the game-winning goal.

Spencer outfielder Kale Dodge will continue to develop his baseball skills beyond his upcoming senior season with the Tigers as a Northwestern Red Raider. Dodge inked a letter of intent Wednesday to attend and play baseball at the Orange City school. “The decision happened pretty fast, after I took three tours there,” Dodge said. “Dodge is a good all-around baseball player,” Red Raiders baseball coach Brian Wede said. “This is a pretty normal time to recruit baseball players. We have seven commits out of 16 we will sign.”

Spencer’s girls basketball team opens the 2021-22 season against Le Mars Monday at 7 p.m. at the Spencer High School field house. The two teams had nearly identical records last season, 15-8 for the Tigers and 14-9 for the Bulldogs. The Tigers battled West Lyon in a scrimmage at Dordt University in Sioux Center Tuesday. Spencer won the hard-fought 32-29 game.

Area football fans looking for close-by playoff contests have two to choose from in NAIA Football Championship games. Kickoff for both is at noon Saturday. Second-ranked and 10-0 Morningside will host Ottawa University, 8-1, at Elwood Olsen Stadium in Sioux City. Former Tigers junior linebacker Issac Pingel and freshman defensive lineman Brady Schlaeger play for the Mustangs.

Spencer girls soccer head coach John Hansel received multiple contacts from interested college coaches after Lexi Johnson’s 50-goal, all-state tournament selection season. Johnson became the third Tiger to sign with Northwestern in two days, joining fellow class of 2022 basketball standout Allison Piercy and baseball talent Kale Dodge. “I had some tours of Northwestern, went to a match, sat on the bench with their team, and it was very welcoming,” Johnson said.

MARSHALLTOWN — Spencer qualified four events — one individual and three relays — all of which competed Friday and Saturday at Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union State Swim Meet. Despite solid efforts, the Tiger competitors failed to qualify for any of the final events. Brooke Moser, making her fourth and final appearance in the state competition, found herself edged out of a position in the medal round, finishing 20th in the 100-yard breaststroke preliminaries Friday. The top16 qualifying swimmers moved on.

A small gathering of fans and college personnel participated in the send-off for the Iowa Lakes men's soccer team Friday morning in the dorm parking lot outside the Iowa Lakes Community College Spencer campus. The Lakers departed for The NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Tyler, Texas. ...

Information is reported to the Turn in Poachers system all year long, with a noticeable increase from September to January as part of the fall and winter hunting seasons. Regardless of the time of year or day of the week, the most important factor for the public in using the TIP system is timeliness. “Our officers work odd hours and weekends so if you wait until Monday to report what happened over the weekend, the evidence can be gone or destroyed and the poacher is nowhere to be found,” said Matt Burner, district supervisor with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Bureau for north-central Iowa.

How quickly time flies, especially at my age! This week we celebrate Thanksgiving, and I think that the word thanksgiving says it all. I hope that you are able to spend meaningful time with family and friends. For generations, Thanksgiving has been a national holiday that celebrates the harvest and other blessings over the course of that year...

The first of Iowa’s two shotgun deer seasons begins Dec. 4, when an expected 55,000 to 60,000 blaze orange-clad hunters head to the timber for the annual late fall tradition. The good news is that Iowa’s deer population is similar to last year statewide, and is continuing its slow upward trend in north-central and northwest Iowa that has been the goal of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources since 2014.

There was a cover of white on the ground this morning. Having seen several decades of first snows, I didn’t need to be reminded that winter is getting closer by the day. The snow was gone by noon, but it was a wakeup call to get my stuff ready to go ice fishing. Here’s what I do to prepare for ice fishing. First, and most importantly, do all you can to verify that the ice is safe. If there’s already someone out there, that doesn’t mean that the ice is safe. If there are a bunch of people out there and some four-wheelers, you’re probably OK. If someone drove their pickup on the ice, go for it. However, if you’re not sure, you shouldn’t go out. But if you do decide to give it a shot, drill holes as you go to measure ice depth.