MONTICELLO — Their backs were against the wall and Anamosa wrestling coach Ron Timp knew his team needed a little extra motivation traveling to Monticello for a triangular with the host Panthers and Ed-Co Thursday, January 11.

“We’re going through a bit of a tough stretch right now and we knew these matches were ones we could win if we had the right mind-set,” said Timp as his team opened the evening with a narrow 38-36 victory over the Vikings to get things started.
“Even though we won this dual against Ed-Co, it should have never been as close as it was.

We had to get a big win late just to hang on and it should have never come down to that. As wins go, this was a frustrating one. One where we did not wrestle very well for the most part but we were fortunate enough that they gave us enough forfeits to pull it out. Not the way you want to win a dual, but I guess for right now, we’ll take it and try and move forward.”

Trailing 30-27 late in the match against the Vikings, Derek Young received a forfeit at 140 pounds giving Anamosa a 33-30 lead.

At 145 pounds, Curtis Paustian came through with a clutch 19-4 technical-fall victory for the Raiders over Ed-Co’s Calvin Aulwes that sealed the dual win for Anamosa.

“We wound up needing those extra points Curtis scored,” said Timp. “He picked up a big three-point nearfall at the very end that got the job done.”

Paustian dominated the match from the outset, taking a 5-0 lead after the first two minutes then added two reversals as well as a two-point nearfall in the second period to take an 11-4 advantage.

In the third period, knowing he needed to score as many team points as possible, Paustian keep pounding away at Auwles and scored two three-point nearfalls as well as a two-point nearfall to take the 15-point final.

ANAMOSA— Jack Leighty knows basketball.

The Anamosa girls hoop coach, who guided the program to their winningest season ever just two short years ago, also knows a thing or two about Cascade.

Leighty coached the Cougars before becoming the Raiders’ sideline boss three season ago and it was a Cascade club Leighty is still very familiar with who came to Anamosa Tuesday, January 9, looking for a win.

It wouldn’t be easy for the No. 8 ranked Cougars though.

“If it wasn’t for a five-minute stretch at the start of the game, we win,” said Leighty as his Anamosa girls fought valiantly against the talented Cougars but succummbed to a 50-44 defeat. “We played 27 minutes of very good basketball against a very good team. But falling behind 12-0 against the No.
8 ranked team in the state isn’t something you can normally bounce back from. But we almost did it.”

Anamosa (6-7, 5-4) found the going very difficult early on as the Cougars used the huge first quarter spurt to build an 18-6 advantage at the first horn.

“Cascade played a 2-3 zone and for the first five minutes, for some reason, we didn’t attack it,” said Leighty. “Only Traci looked to score against the zone but after re-grouping, the girls really picked it up the rest of the way.”

The Raiders out-scored Cascade 13-8 in the second quarter as Dirks, Kayla Sanborn and Paige Goetz began to attack the Cougar defense and get looks at the basket, even in the face of all-state star center Ashley Arlen.

“We just kept battling and kept battling the whole game,” said Leighty.

EDGEWOOD— With seven different players scoring and grabbing rebounds, the Anamosa boys basketball team used the balanced attack to pick up a key Tri-Rivers Conference victory after a 57-48 win at Ed-Co Friday, January 12.

“It seems like a long time ago since we’ve won a game,” said Raider boys basketball coach Kevin Barnes after Colten Kelly, Adam Andreesen, Andrew Peters, Drew Carrier, Mitch Kelly, Skyler Miell and Tony Lueken all played a part in Anamosa passing a road test for the first time this season. “When you don’t win coming out of the break, it just seems like a long wait, especially since we haven’t played well for an entire game. I still don’t think we played an entire game well.”

The win was the first for the Raider boys since a 47-44 triumph hosting East Buchanan December 19, the final game before the Christmas break.

“I think our seniors played really well tonight, especially in the first half,” said Barnes as Andreesen, Mitch Kelly, Peters and Carrier sparked Anamosa to an early lead scoring and rebounding the basketball as well as playing stifling defense.

WYOMING— Getting the message across loud and clear to his team, Midland boys basketball coach Matt Uthoff rallied his Eagles to a convincing 66-44 rout hosting Calamus-Wheatland Tuesday, January 9.

But it wasn’t easy.

“We built a nice lead in the first half playing good basketball, but then in the third quarter we started getting very, very sloppy and almost lost most of what was a pretty comfortable lead,” said Uthoff who was forced to call a timeout during a big Warrior run closing what had been a double-digit Eagle lead down to three points. “I think that timeout was the turning point of the game. We went on a nice run of our own from that point on and re-took control of the game.”

Midland (6-7, 1-3) led 17-9 after one quarter and 31-22 at the half, but late in the third quarter the Eagle lead had been trimmed to a mere three points as Calamus-Wheatland used a 13-7 run to close to within 38-35 at the end of the third quarter.

That was where Uthoff got his point across to his team and the Midland boys responded with a sensational run of their own.

A 21-1 run to be exact as the Eagles exploded to score 28 points over the game’s final eight minutes and seal the 22-point blowout.

“I was very happy with our start offensively and defensively,” said Uthoff. “Our intensity was there and everything was going well. Then all of a sudden it was like we just stopped playing and that got me pretty frustrated. I think the whole county probably heard me during that timeout, but it was what the guys needed at that time to get then jump-started again and I was proud of the way they responded.”

Three different Eagles scored in double figures led by Scott Willimack, who tallied 18. Riley Williams came off the Eagle bench to score 13 while Cameron Sorgenfrey tallied 10 more to go with 11 rebounds in a double-double performance.

“We needed to protect our home court and take some pride in the Midland jersey they were wearing and representing,” said Uthoff. “You have to give Calamus-Wheatland some credit for getting back into a basketball game they were out of for quite some time, but you have to give our guys a lot of credit too for responding to their challenge.”

The Eagles shot well from the field burning the nets to the tune of 45-percent shooting overall while also controlling the boards ripping down 33 against he Warriors.

WYOMING— Buried under an avalanche of points, the Central City girls basketball team didn’t know what hit them Saturday, January 13.

What hit the Wildcats was an ultra-impressive performance from the host Midland girls basketball team as the Eagles cruised to a huge 76-31 rout with 11 different Eagles putting points up on the scoreboard.

“This was a nice game for us as a program,” said Midland girls basketball coach Josh Bentley after the thorough 45-point spanking.
“We were able to get everyone a lot of playing time and the girls did a lot of nice things. I was able to see some things that we as a coaching staff have been waiting to see and tonight I think we may have finally started heading back in the right direction.”

Midland (7-6, 2-2) hounded the visiting Wildcats relentlessly holding Central City to a mere two points over the game’s first eight minutes of play. But with the hosts also struggled to put the ball through the hoop, the Eagles held just a 9-2 edge at the first quarter horn.

The second stanza saw Midland go on an unparalleled run piling up an amazing 29 points in the eight-minute span and held a commanding 38-17 advantage at the half.

“The girls played hard and didn’t let up the whole night,” said Bentley. “The reason I say that is once you get a lead, sometimes you let up and relax, but tonight our girls didn’t and that is something that I appreciated seeing.”

Katie Leonard led the awesome Eagle attack scoring a career-high 21 points drilling a perfect 8-of-8 from the field as well as 5-of-7 from the free throw line

Cassi Baker chipped in with 10 points, two steals and five rebounds while Lisa Fields added nine points and seven rebounds.

The Eagles also controlled the boards grabbing 43 rebounds overall while also swiping 24 steals from Central City ball handlers. Of the 27 Eagle field goals, 22 were from assists with Shasta Eganhouse pacing the team with six.

Midland hosted Calamus-Wheatland Tuesday, January 9, and were handed a tough 49-42 setback against the up-start Warriors.

“This was a good game for us to realize that we need to respect everyone and show up ready to play,” said Bentley as Calamus-Wheatland used a pivotal spurt in the third quarter to surprise the hosts. “We were coming off a big win and seemed to go through the motions We tried to get things turned around at the end but couldn’t get it done this time.”