ANAMOSA— Exorcising a lot of demons on the court Tuesday, January 26, the Anamosa boys basketball team defied the odds posting their first WaMaC Conference win in almost two full years hosting Maquoketa.
“We were handled pretty good by Maquoketa the last time we played them at their place, but this time we had a bit of a different game plan,” said Raider boys basketball coach Wayne Lasack as his team snapped a 31-game conference losing streak with a very impressive 49-43 triumph over the Cardinals. “We switched up defenses against them and had them confused at times as to what we were throwing at them and were able to limit their quality looks at the basket. “We also wanted to limit them to one-and-done on the offensive end, and for the most part were able to get that done too.”
With their six-point victory in hand, Anamosa (2-13, 1-12) tallied their first WaMaC basketball win since February 12, 2008 when the Raiders, then coached by Kevin Barnes and led by first-team all-state star Colten Kelly, defeated Central DeWitt 52-50 on the road.
“I knew it had been a little while between wins in the WaMaC for us,” said Lasack. “This is my first win as a coach in the league, and it feels pretty good. What this wins says to me and what it should say to the team is that we’re headed in the right direction with this program. We can compete night-in and night-out in this league and that kind of confidence goes a long ways to winning in a league as tough as this one.”
The Raiders played their most complete game of the campaign against the Cardinals, putting four solid quarters together to produce a win against a Maquoketa team that had handed Anamosa a lopsided 54-35 loss back in December.
“I think this is the first time all year we played four full quarters without a lull,” said Lasack as his team managed double-figure scoring in every frame. “It’s been those long scoring lulls that have cost us several wins this season, but it didn’t happen against Maquoketa and hopefully we won’t see much of that the rest of the way either.”
The Raiders did have to rally after a bit of a slow start however, trailing the visitors 15-10 after one quarter of play.
“We had to limit the turnovers to stay in this game and we not only did that, but we forced quite a few ourselves,” said Lasack as his team committed just 13 turnovers overall. “Our defense, which has been getting better and better all season long, really led the way once again.”
Anamosa held the Cardinals to nine points in the second stanza and caught the visitors at 24-24 heading into the halftime break.
The third quarter saw the Raiders take over like fans haven’t seen this season, going on an 11-5 spurt to take a 35-29 lead into the final frame.
“Third quarters have been a nightmare for us this season, but in this one, it was a dream eight-minute stretch,” said Lasack as his team ran sensational offensive sets, and crashed the boards hard for rebounds.

VAN HORNE— Taking to the mat at without a doubt the toughest class 2A conference meet in the state, the Anamosa wrestling team represented themselves well scoring 58 team points to place 12th at the loaded with talent 16-team WaMaC meet.
“They just don’t make them any tougher than this,” said Raider wrestling coach Dean Miller who took nine wrestlers to compete for league titles at Benton Community in Van Horne. “For only having nine guys at a meet like this and to score 58 points and trail a good Marion team in the standings by just 5.5 points, says a lot. I was happy with what we were able to accomplish.”
Mitch Hewitt led all Raiders on the day, reaching the championship match at 152-pounds before being handed an 11-1 loss at the hands of Benton Community’s Chase Skoneczka.
“Mitch was in this match before having to take some chances in the third period,” said Miller as Hewitt trailed just 4-0 before a Skoneczka reversal, three-point nearfall and takedown ended his hopes of a title. “Mitch had a great tournament and should be very proud of the way he wrestled.”
Ryan Dolan reached the semi-final round at 135-pounds before finishing his tournament with a fourth-place finish for the Anamosa team.
“Ryan opened with a couple of nice pin wins then didn’t get the benefit of a couple of close calls and lost an overtime bout in the semi-finals,” said Miller. “Ryan is one of the best in the league at 135-pounds and he wrestled that way too battling hard all day long.”
Dolan pinned Central DeWitt’s Steven Adams in 1:23 to open his day and Independence’s Chris Johnson in 4:00 in the quarter-final before being edged in a wild 8-6 overtime final against Waterloo Columbus’ Taylor Hotek.
Dolan recorded an escape late in the third period to tie the score against Hotek in the semi-finals before being taken down in the extra frame.
Jason Bowers finished fifth at 125-pounds winning four matches on the day over Benton Community’s Chase Knock (7-2), Williamsburg’s Trevor Knepper (13-0), Vinton-Shellsburg’s Ian Storey (6-4) and in the third-fourth place bout, Waterloo Columbus’ Scott Thomas (7-1). His only loss was a quarter-final narrow 5-2 decision against Western Dubuque’s Jim Gotto.

ANAMOSA — Fighting to stay in the WaMaC Conference championship hunt, the Anamosa girls basketball team was not only handed a crushing blow to those chances Friday, January 29, but a devastating setback to the rest of their season in a 41-30 defeat hosting Mount Vernon.
“This was a loss that really, really hurt,” said Raider girls basketball coach Jack Leighty, as during a fourth quarter rally, Anamosa lost the services of star senior guard Jackie Engelbart with a broken finger that required season-ending surgery. “Jackie has been a big part of what we’ve been able to accomplish this season, and we’ll have to have some new girls step up and accept new roles as we get ready for the tournament in a couple of weeks.”
Anamosa (12-4, 10-4), who trailed all night long against a talented Mustangs team, was making a fourth quarter run, keyed by an Engelbart 3-pointer with 6:25 to play.
“Jackie was racing up the court looking to make a another play and got her finger jammed against the ball when a Mount Vernon player deflected her pass,” said Leighty as play was stopped for several minutes as help was needed for Engelbart, who’s finger was competely disjointed. “It was pretty gruesome looking. Her finger was bent the way it shouldn’t be able to be bent. The girls on the bench couldn’t watch, but Jackie just shook it off like nothing had happened. She even wanted to pop it back into place and get back into the game.”
With her parents, Engelbart was taken immediately to the hospital where it was determined surgery was needed.
“We seemed to lose focus after Jackie left and didn’t score another basket the rest of the way,” said Leighty as only two Kayla Sanborn free throws with 5:45 to play would be all the hosts would score in the final stages of the game. “It’s tough to adjust on the fly when you lose someone of Jackie’s ability.”
The Raiders struggled from the outset against a Mount Vernon team looking to exact a little revenge from a loss to Anamosa just two weeks earlier.
“They outplayed us,” said Leighty. “They wanted it more. We had beat them at their place earlier this season and they wanted to come in here and beat us. For them, it was mission accomplished.”
The Mustangs led 12-7 after one quarter and 24-13 at the half as the Raider offense struggled to find open shots against a tough Mount Vernon defense.
“We had a hard time controlling their big girls inside and that was the difference,” said Leighty. “Then in the fourth quarter they stepped out and hit some big shots from the perimeter too.”
A 12-9 run in the third quarter had the visitors holding a 36-22 lead heading into the fourth.
Sanborn led all Anamosa scorers pouring in 13 points while Lauren Buck added eight more.
“I guess if I look positively at this situation, I’ve at least got a new assistant coach joining me on the bench,” said Leighty of Engelbart’s new status with the team.