Nevada Journal sports round-up: Cubs send three to girls state wrestling tournament

The Nevada girls wrestling team advanced three wrestlers to the girls state wrestling tournament from the Region 4 meet at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines Friday.

The Cub girls crowned two champions and had another wrestler place second at the meet. They placed fifth out of 25 teams with 139 points.

The Nevada boys wrestling team went 0-3 in a quadrangular dual at Story City Jan. 26. The Cubs fell to Iowa Falls-Alden (48-18), Roland-Story (54-18) and Ogden (62-12).

The Nevada boys basketball team fell at home to Gilbert in a non-conference game Jan. 23 (72-70) and at West Marshall in Heart of Iowa Conference play Jan. 24 (60-54). The Cubs snapped a three-game skid Friday with a 60-56 conference win to improve to 10-6 overall and 8-3 in the HOIC.

The Nevada girls basketball team suffered a 48-22 loss to Gilbert and gave 3A No. 4 West Marshall a good fight before falling, 57-48. The Cub girls then upset 2A No. 11 South Hamilton, 56-40, to complete a season sweep of the Hawks.

The Colo-NESCO boys basketball team ran its winning streak to six games with victories over GMG (64-39) at home Jan. 24 and BCLUW (65-48) Friday at Conrad to improve their record to 10-7 overall and 7-4 in the Iowa Star Conference South Division. The Royal girls fell to GMG (54-30) and BCLUW (52-18) in falling to 2-14 on the season and 2-10 in the ISC South.

Here is what we learned from this week's Nevada Journal high school sports action.

Mackenzie Arends and Leslie sisters headed to girls state wrestling

Mackenzie Arends and Gracie Leslie are headed back to the girls state wrestling tournament and they are bringing teammate Ashlyn Leslie with them after all three qualified for Nevada at the Region 4 girls wrestling meet Friday.

Arends, ranked fifth at 190 pounds, is headed back to state, where she placed second a year ago as a freshman. The Cub sophomore won a regional title Friday by going 3-0 to raise her season record to 33-2 heading into state.

All three of Arends wins at the regional meet came by fall. She pinned Southeast Polk's Grace Ellsbury in 1:17 during the quarterfinals, Pella's Elaine Babcock in 4:19 during the semifinals and Raccoon River-Northwest's Aleah Johnson in 2:57 during the finals.

Ashlyn Leslie also won a regional title to earn her first trip to state. The Cub freshman went 3-0 at 110 to take a 32-9 record into the state tournament.

Ashlyn pinned Pella's Isabelle Smith in 1:23, Baxter's Johnelle Gliem in 21 seconds during the semifinals and West Des Moines Valley's Avery Buhr in 25 seconds during the finals.

Gracie Leslie is heading back to state, where she wrestled a year ago for Collins-Maxwell, after placing second at 130 for Nevada at the Region 4 meet.

Gracie went 3-1 at the regional meet to take a 39-12 record into state. She pinned Urbandale's Magan Blades in 4:56 during the quarterfinals and Perry's Charity Mickles in 5:52 during the semifinals before losing by fall to Colbie Tenborg of Saydel in the championship match.

Miah Huff went 3-3 with three falls in placing sixth at 105 for Nevada. Emma Lennie was 2-2 at 115, Katie Spalding 2-2 with two pins at 120, Dakota Hastings 1-2 at 125, Mia Reichart 3-3 with three pins in placing sixth at 135, Kennedy Long 0-2 at 140, Gracie Schiller 0-2 at 145, Krystal Rickman 1-2 with a fall at 155, Haley Jones 0-2 at 170 and Grayce Coree 0-2 at 235.

The girls state wrestling tournament takes place Thursday and Friday at the Xtreme Arena in Coralville. Competition begins at 9 a.m. and ends at 9 p.m. both days.

Nevada boys get three pins during Roland-Story quad dual

The Nevada boys wrestling team finished with three victories by fall and five wins by forfeit during the Roland-Story quadrangular dual.

In the loss to IFA the Cubs' Carson Reed pinned the Cadets' Grant McElmuray in 24 seconds at 195. Nevada's Dakota Davis (220) and Tate Olsen (285) received forfeits.

Jaden Grimm picked up a fall against Roland-Story for Nevada. Grimm pinned Reece Fulton in 53 seconds at 126.

Nevada also picked up forfeit wins by Isaac Williams at 145 and Payton Mosinski at 160 against the Norsemen.

Williams earned Nevada's lone win on the mat against Ogden by scoring a fall over the Bulldogs' Lukas Schellenberg in 2:26. Reed added a win by forfeit against Ogden.

Nevada girls use fast start to upset South Hamilton

The Nevada girls basketball team jumped out to a 15-3 lead after the first quarter in its upset victory over South Hamilton.

The Cubs were never threatened after that point, leading by nine at the half and maintaining that advantage until the fourth quarter when they pulled away with a 13-6 run. Nevada held South Hamilton to 32.6% shooting and forced 18 turnovers, which helped them easily overcome a 35-30 rebounding deficit.

Bridget Cahill had her best game of the season for Nevada in the win. Cahill went for 25 points after making 4 of 10 3-pointers and all five of her free-throw attempts and she also pulled down four rebounds.

Avery Hinson added 10 points, Emma Strottman 9 points and eight rebounds and Isabelle Nelson 5 points and 13 rebounds for the Cubs.

Nevada went into the South Hamilton game with some momentum from its close loss to a powerful West Marshall team. The Cubs led the Trojans 21-19 at the half, but they couldn't overcome a 24-13 West Marshall run in the third quarter.

Hinson had 12 points, Strottman 10 points and nine rebounds and Nelson 7 points and 12 boards against the Trojans. Cahill added 7 points and six rebounds and Cinamon Hazlitt 5 points for the Cubs.

All-state forward Katy Reyerson led West Marshall with 20 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

The Nevada girls couldn't buy a basket in their non-conference loss to Gilbert. The Cubs only shot 18.2% from the field and scored just seven points in the first half to dig themselves in a hole they were unable to climb out of.

Nelson had 12 points and seven rebounds and Strottman 3 points and eight boards against the Tigers.

Cub boys halt losing streak

The Nevada boys basketball team did just enough to get past South Hamilton Friday.

The Cubs led by eight points after three quarters and held on over the final eight minutes to get back into the win column. Statistics for the game were not available at press deadline.

Nevada couldn't shake a poor second half during its loss to West Marshall. The Cubs were outscored 29-20 over the final two quarters.

Nevada was hurt by 21 turnovers in the loss to the Trojans. Easton Gray hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 points, Carson Rhodes had 11 points, seven rebounds and two blocks, Jacob Khounsourath 10 points, six rebounds and four assists and Alec Higgins 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.

The Cubs came out on fire against Gilbert and jumped out to the big early lead. But the shooting of Brody Hague, the aggressiveness of Alex Ruba and the playmaking of Billy Terrones proved too much to overcome.

But Nevada head coach Tyler Struck was pleased with how his team finished the game. Gilbert had a 61-52 lead with 6:42 left in the fourth quarter and Nevada rallied to tie the game on two Rhodes free throws with 30 seconds left before Terrones hit the winning foul shots in the final seconds.

"At the end of the day I'm happy with how we fought," Struck said. "When they pushed it to nine in the fourth quarter, I think earlier this year we would've lost by 10, 11 or 12 points. For us to find a way to come back, I'm really proud of with how our kids battled."

Gray hit six 3-pointers and led Nevada with 18 points. Higgins had 11 points and six rebounds, Rhodes 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, John Nelson 10 points and eight rebounds and Khounsourath 7 points, six assists and three steals.

Ruba led Gilbert with 20 points and seven rebounds and Hague added 17 points.

Colo-NESCO boys continue winning ways

The Colo-NESCO boys basketball team kept up its hot play with the decisive victories over GMG and BCLUW.

In the victory over GMG the Royals raced out to a 22-5 lead and coasted to victory. They overcame a poor 6 of 22 shooting display at the foul line by making a solid 47.4% of their field goals and holding the Wolverines to 24% shooting from the field.

Lucas Frohwein had 24 points and 10 rebounds, Spencer Hansen 13 points, eight rebounds and three steals and Drew Banks 10 points and five rebounds against GMG.

Colo-NESCO shot 51.1% from the field in its victory over BCLUW. The Royals led 28-20 at the half and ended the game on a 19-10 run.

Frohwein tallied 23 points, nine rebounds and five assists and Hansen 14 points and four rebounds against the Comets. Breckin Clatt added 12 assists and 7 points, Gannon Short 9 points and five rebounds and Banks 7 points.

Royal girls struggle offensively against Wolverines, Comets

The Colo-NESCO girls basketball team continued to have a tough time putting the ball in the basket during its losses to GMG and BCLUW.

The Royal girls only shot 20.4% from the field and had 26 turnovers in the loss to GMG. Jessica Duran stepped up with 14 points and six rebounds, Gemma Bower had 4 points and 10 boards and Callie Kohlwes 3 points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Royals in a losing effort.

Colo-NESCO was held to six field goals and 14.6% shooting in the loss to BCLUW. Jasmine Johannes had 5 points, Bower 4 points and three steals, Hannah Matteson 4 points, Duran 3 points and Kohlwes 2 points and three rebounds against the Comets.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Three Nevada girls qualify for the girls state wrestling tournament