Tuesday March 12th Local Sports
KANSAS CITY — The Iowa State women will play 5th-ranked Texas in tonight’s Big 12 Championship in Kansas City. The Cyclones shot a blistering 58%, including 12 of 23 from three point range, to beat 17th-ranked and regular season champion Oklahoma 85-68 in Monday’s semifinal round.
That’s ISU coach Bill Fennelly. The Cyclones avenged a 14 point loss to the Sooners in Ames a month ago.
Tonight’s game against Texas will be a rematch of last year’s title game won by the Cyclones 61-51.
Freshman center Audi Crooks led the Cyclones with 25 points and added nine rebounds.
Point guard Emily Ryan had 12 points and 10 assists and talks about playing in the title game for the second straight year.
The Longhorns advanced to the title game with a 71-64 win over Kansas State.
IOWA CITY — After winning the Big Ten Tournament, the Iowa women’s basketball team is up to #2 in the latest Associated Press poll. The Hawkeyes moved from third to second after former #2 Stanford’s loss in the Pac 12 tournament. South Carolina once again received all 35 first-place votes and stays on top of the poll, followed by Iowa, Pac 12 tournament champion Southern Cal, Stanford and Texas. Ohio State drops from fourth to seventh. Looking at other Big Ten and Big 12 teams — Indiana drops three spots to 15th, Kansas State is 16th, Oklahoma is 17th, while Baylor is 19th. Nebraska is just out of the poll while Iowa State received votes.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Houston is the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament after winning the regular-season title in its first year in the league. The top-ranked Cougars earned one of four double byes into the quarterfinals on Thursday. Meanwhile, No. 16 Kansas dropped all the way to the No. 6 seed and will play a second-round game on Wednesday. The Jayhawks will be missing two of their biggest stars, Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar Jr., because of injuries. The tournament begins at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City today, when newcomer UCF plays Oklahoma State and Cincinnati plays West Virginia. Iowa State is the #2 seed and will face the winner of Wednesday’s game between 7th-seed Texas and 10th-seed Kansas State.
MASON CITY — NIACC’s Madison Hillman has been selected as the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference’s Division II women’s basketball defensive player of the year. Hillman was also a first-team all-region selection and led the conference with 73 blocked shots. The 6-2 forward from St. Ansgar led all Trojans in scoring with 13.6 points per game and rebounding with 8.4 boards per contest. It’s the second straight year that a NIACC women’s basketball player has been named the league’s top defensive player as Audrey Martinez-Stewart won last year’s award. Freshman Tori Miller also received first-team all-region honors after averaging 11.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game and also led the team with 121 assists. Sophomore Keiara Anderson was a second-team all-regional selection while freshman Alexis Scroeder was a third-team all-region pick. Late last week, sophomore Wyatt Helming was selected to the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference Division II men’s basketball all-region second team.
ATLANTA (AP) — Kirk Cousins is leaving Minnesota for Atlanta. He landed another big contract with a well-timed foray into free agency. Cousins agreed to a four-year, $180 million deal with $100 million guaranteed, according to a person with knowledge of the terms. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the deal can’t be signed until Wednesday when the new league year begins. Cousins is working his way back from a torn Achilles tendon in his right foot that sidelined him because of injury for the first time in his 12-year NFL career.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings said goodbye to quarterback Kirk Cousins and quickly began building up their depleted defense as the free agent negotiation window opened in the NFL. They agreed to contracts with edge rushers Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel and inside linebacker Blake Cashman. Greenard and Cashman left the Houston Texans. Van Ginkel departed the Miami Dolphins. Greenard had a career-best 12 1/2 sacks last season in a career-high 15 games. Van Ginkel played previously for current Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Cashman is a Minnesota native who played in college for the Gophers.