alex giaimo--"in iowa city with your hawkeye headquarters report, alex giaimo, abc9 sports." jok and the hawkeyes return tomorrow in happy valley to take on penn state. iowa crushed the nittany lions 73-49 earlier this month and they are early 10 and a half point favorites in this one. tip off is at 5:30 tomorrow night over on btn. coming up tonight, the cyclones head to waco to look for some revenge against baylor. the bears beat isu 94-89 in hilton five weeks ago. like we mentioned yesterday, georges niang is just four points away from passing fred hoiberg for third on the isu scoring list and just 10 away from 2000 for his career. here closer to town morningside senior jessica tietz was named gpac and naia national player of the week today. the bancroft- rosalie alum went for a career-best 32 points in wednesday's win over dakota wesleyan, which clinched the gpac outright for the mustangs. on the week, tietz averaged 24 and a half points and five and a half rebounds. she also leads the country, shooting 63 percent from the floor. chris: it's state wrestling week here in io

alex giaimo--"in iowa city with your hawkeye headquarters report, alex giaimo, abc9 sports." chris: the hawkeyes rerern to action sunday at ohio state. that game's at 3 and can be seen on cbs. chris: here locally, it's a busy night of postseason basketball in iowa and south dakota, but the biggest game of the night comes just across the river in the mini dome. the top-ranked south sioux city girls are just one win away from yet another trip to state. coach molly hornbeck's squad fourth straight tripipo lincoln, and 21st overall, on the line.the lady cards bring in a rord of 21-1 this year with the lone loss coming to norwin pennsylvania at a holiday tournament at disney. tip off between the cardinals and lincoln northeast is set for 7. we'll have highlights and reaction from this game tonight at ten. it's time now to take a look at this week's abc9 rising star. our winner today is eight year old layla schoening from sloan, iowa--looks like maybe some soccer practice there? layla will receive a t-shirt, a framed photo and two passes to king's pointe courtesy of sign pro. chris

in iowa city with your hawkeye headquarters report, alex giaimo." indiana and iowa have split their last six meetings at assembly hall and last 8 overall. south sioux alum mike gesell is just two points from 1000 for his career and will aim to get that milestone shortly after tip off at 8 oclock on thursday night. the game can be seen on espn. usd senior nicole seekamp is starting 2016 the same way she end 2015, as summit league athlete of the month. seekamp helped averaging just short of 20 points to go with six assists, 3 rebounds and 2 and a half steals per game. the coyotes have taken the lead in the conference race this month and return to action saturday when they host oral roberts. tonight's sportszone will feature a pair o games with conference championships on the line. fourth-ranked cherokee hosts number one western christian tonight for the lakes conference crown. the wolfpack routed the braves 82-56 three weeks ago. the okoboji girls also have a chance at their first siouxland title since 2006-07 when they take on sioux center. the fifth

alex giaimo--"in iowa city with your hawkeye headquarters report, alex giaimo, abc9 sports." hawkeyes have a big one tonight. they head to assembly hall to take on indiana...p off is at 8 o clock and the game can be seen on espn. chris: we're less than 100 days away from the sioux city x's opening up their season and manager steve montgomery continues to build his roster with key holdovers from last year's record-setting squad. today the team announced league era champ ryan zimmerman will be back for his second year in sioux city. zimmerman went 14-2 last year with a 1.80 era while holding opponents to a sub-mendoza line .190 batting average.he becomes the fifth explorer to resign from last year's 75-25 team. zimmerman joins infielders tommy mendonca, ryan court, and noah perio back with the team this summer. outfielder michael lang will x's uniform. the x's open up the season on may clark park basketball season is officially beginning to wind down here in is officially beginning to wind down here in siouxland as class 1a girls teams in iowa begin their regional tonaments ton

alex giaimo has more from iowa city. "(alex giaimo) the hawkeyes will take the court tomorrow night for the first time since their upset loss to penn state. it will be a full week in between games for iowa. they'll take on a red hot wisconsin team that has revived itself and is playing for their ncaa tournament lives. (giaimo) wisconsin has had iowa's number recently winning 5 consecutive games over them including a series sweep last season. (fran mccaffery) they are still doing kind of what they've always done and it's a winning formula. (nicholas baer) you know they are going to play hard, they are going to play physical, and they've got some great bigs that can stretch you. (jarrod uthoff) i think it's a different team without frank, treyvon, those guys i think it's a different team but we'll look at them today and try to get a better feeling for them. (giaimo) that team started off big ten play one and four but now the surging badgers have won 8 of their last 9 games. (fran maccaffery) you know they got some young gu

(giaimo) in iowa city with your hawkeye i'm alex giaimo jordan: meanwhile iowa state has to regroup after another game theu let slipped away. saturday the team plays at oklahoma state, who's 9th in the big 12, but is always tough at iba-gallagher... the team says it's focused on learning from what went wrong, and focusing on the big picture. "georges niang, steve prohm and monte morris look back on the wvu loss and ahead to the rest of the season..." speaking of iowa state... to you the most on the year that was. well from a work standpoint i would say two things. one the opening of the football stadium. the south endzone where we sit today. it's a project that iowa staters had talked about and dreamed about and so for it to come to fruition was pretty neat. and then secondly i would say winning the second big 12 championship in basketball because those are pretty special moments. it was a little unique for me because i got to experience it and experience it in a different way from a hospital bed." jordan: tune in tonight at 10 on local 5 to hear more of jon's interview with jamie pollard

with more on the hawkeyes we go out to alex giaimo in iowa city. "(alex giaimo) iowa athletics has taken the media world by storm this past year. jarrod uthoff is just the latest hawkeye to be featured on the cover of sports illustrated magazine. he's the first iowa basketball player to be on the cover since the 1966 season. and of course he folllows george kittle and the iowa football team who were on the cover just a few months ago marking the first time in school history that football and basketball have been featured in the magazine in the same year. (fran mccaffery) when you see them working as hard as our guys work you want to see them recognized properly so i think it's a terrific honor. (mike gesell) you know it's really cool to get national recognition like that i think it's a lot of fun for our university with the season football had and now the season that we are having you know it'ex exciting times to be a hawkeye. (anthony clemmons) holy buckets.. (giaimo) fran and the hawks are excited about the cover but what does j-u himself think a

(giaimo) in iowa city with your hawkeye headquarters report, alex giaimo, local 4 sports. " woodbury and the hawkeyes tip off at 8 pm tonight on espn. the hawkeyes are trying to stay ahead of the hoosiers in the big ten standings. iowa is currently at the top of the conference. jon: on the ice-- the iowa wild are rolling back into wells fargo weekend for a pair of games against grand rapids friday and saturday. since christmas break the wild are 9-7. and they're coming off of a five to one win in chicago last weekend. the wild have won three of their last four in large part because they've gotten healthy up the middle with their centers. it's a team that looks rejuvinated the second half of the season here. while they're still back in the standings-- head coach john torchetti says it's a lot more fun putting some tallies in the win column. he feels the program is at a point where it once was before they made the move to iowa. " before i got here before we moved from houston that's exactly how it feels. great locker room great atmosphere everyone the guys who are doing well and develo

(alex giaimo) the hoosiers trail the hawkeyes by only one game in the big ten standings. theres a lot on the line for both of these teams. it's going to be intense and going to be a huge big ten battle. with your hawkeye headquarters report in iowa city, alex giaimo, local 4 sports. " since their loss to maryland the hawkeyes have won their last three games by an average of 16 points or more-- they'll look to do the same in bloomington on thursday. meanwhile the drake bulldogs schedule doesn't get any easier. take on number the shockers are at the top of valley-- while the bulldogs are dwelling at the bottom. drake just got run over by northern iowa saturday. ray giacoletti bright spots-- especially from one of his young hopes will shine. " the other guy who has made great strides for us is ore. we're asking him to guard the team's best offensive player. tonight that was their guard. he's a two way player being able to floor for us so those two guys gave us glimpses of better things to come from both of them." drake tips off at 7 pm tonight. wichita state is 11-1 in confe

we go to alex giaimo in iowa city with more. "national signing day is an exciting day for fans, athletes and programs across the country and today was no different for the iowa hawkeyes. earlier today head coach kirk ferent addressed the media about this year's recruiting class and he said just like his coaching style it wasn't dramatic or suspenseful but he like it that way. (kirk ferentz) our stuff is really not that dramatic it's kind of like today it's really it that way it's like going into a game i like if our team is really prepared and if they've practiced well to put them in a position and recruiting is kind of the same way to me it's really an on-going process. i'm really comfortable with the guys that we signed with how they were handling the process what they were looking at. you know if i got to stand on my head to get a guy or tell a funny story we are in big trouble. ask any of our players on the team right now. we are just going to try to stick to the basics with what we have here educationally, long term footbal

with more in iowa city we go to alex giaimo. "a packed black and gold arena could not lift iowa to a win and for the 6th straight time.the hawkeyes fell to the wisconsin badgers. (adam woodbury) ah basketball is very mental. tonight we made to many mistakes and that's what cost us. (giaimo) iowa had 14 turnovers on the night many of which were unforced. (fran mccaffery) we were a little casual with the ball. 6 turnovers is too many 8 is way too many. you know against a team that's playing half court man you know we got to do better than that. (mike gesell) you know just uncharacteristic turnovers things that don't usually happen. (giaimo) multiple times iowa had a 6 point lead in the second half but just couldn't put the game away. the badgers also made an alarming 10 3 pointers. (mike gesell) we are just not getting the stops and not playing defense like we were hawkeyes scored the fewest points in a game now iowa has last 3 of their last 4 games and is entering the final week of the regular season in a serious (fran mccaffery)

in iowa city with your hawkeye headquarters report, alex giaimo, local 5 sports." valley hoops, uni hosting southern illinois at the mcleod center. first half. bennett koch drives and throws it down firing up the crowd... he had a double- double, 22 points and 11 rebounds later, uni in transition... it's klint carlson with the rim- rocker... panthers down by 3 salukis go up 10. wes washpun drives, count the basket and one... he had 16, deficit is down to 8 salukis now up 11, but uni continues to fight... karlson wide open for the easy two-handed flush... panthers trail 23-17 but they rally to win back to back games, 67-58 over southern illinois. women's scores from today. and it's sweep for the hawks. 79-64 the final. 5 players finished in double figures, led by chase coley's 19. freshman megan gustafson recorded her 2nd straight double double with 15 and 13. then in the valley, drake takes down loyola chicago, 81-65. lizzy wendell led all scorers with 25. and uni holds off bradley, 55-47. madison weekly led all scorers in that one with 18. pantiowa. caucus monday

in iowa city with your hawkeyes headquarters report im alex giaimo. next up for the hawks a trip to state college to face penn state. that game tips off wednesday at 530 on btn. drake women see their 5 game winning streak snapped. 68-53 to indiana state. and uni takes down illinois state 61-35. drake and uni face off friday, those two tied with missouri state for first in the valley. cyclone wrestling celebrating 100 years with a great video honoring past national champion teams and wrestlers... to the action at 133 pounds. #8 ranked senior earl hall pounces and gets the takedown, en route to the 10-5 decision. tanner weatherman also wrestling in his final match at hilton. and what a way to finish it. with the pin! he earns the big six points helping the cyclones clinch the match. 28-11 is the final. isu finishes up the regular season friday at #16 minnesota. jordan: it's not just players that go up and down in farm systems, but coaches as well. yesterday iowa wild head coach john torchetti was named the interim head coach of the minnesota wild after

with more from champaign, here's alex giaimo. "alex giaimo recaps iowa's win over illinois." the iowa women fell for the third time at illinois." the iowa women fell for the third time at carver this season. 74-69 the final to #17 michigan state. ally disterhoft led the way with 17. hawks back in action thursday at home versus #7 ohio state. jordan: outright first place is once again on the line for the drake women. two weeks ago the bulldogs were in the same scenario, before falling at home versus uni... but a pair of losses by the panthers leaves drake with a chance to move on up! this afternoon, they welcome in fellow conference leader missouri state... bulldogs up 70-49 going into the 4th... caitlin ingle with the great pass down low to lizzy wendell for two. then it's ingle again this time to sara rhine. rhine had 16 points! the bears try the drake lead to 14. but the bulldogs were on a different level today. ingle sends it back to wendell who pump fakes and then drains the three. she finished with a game high 23. then it's ingle again to wendell. caitlyn finished with 1

(giaimo) in iowa city, with your hawkeye headquarters report, alex giaimo, local 5 sports, we are iowa" jok and the hawkeyes are on the road tomorrow at penn state. tip off set for 5:30 on the big ten network. jon: meanwhile the iowa wild won't need too much adjusting after seeing john torchetti head to minnesota as interim haead coach. that's because former associate coach david cunniff is taking the reigns the rest of the season as head coach. in the words of scotty bowman-- and for cunniff-- he plans on keeping the wild trending upward as they sit 5 and 5 in their last ten games. "it is rewarding to be honest with you personally. my wife, my kids a lot of sacrifices in these fourteen years so it is gratifying now we have to make the best of it. we have to have a good finish. we can't just be 500 moving forward with the group i have i expect us to win. i agree yeah especially with the way we've been playing that's the way it should be and we should be winning games. you know it turns to a lot of leaders in the room. it's a very smooth transition he runs he knows how to run this team

with more from champaign, here's alex giaimo. "(alex giaimo/reporting)with the win the hawkeyes grab sole possession of first place in the big ten they trailed early this game but they did not panic and that is one of the most impressive things about this team their demeanor it never seems to get too high or too low and that is because they have a ton of experience. (fran mccaffery/iowa head coach) our senior group it is one thing to say you are a senior that is one who have started, who have played who have made mistakes who have had great games they have won on the road they have lost on the road they have come back they have lost leads there is nothing that they have not seen and so i think what happens is you are in a situation like this your in an environment like this and they make a run at you like i said at the beginning they did not panic and that is what happens when you have experienced guards. (mike gesell/ iowa guard) we do not panic and that is why we have been so good on the road this year and that is where a lot o