Photo by Jason Brown
ALAH Knights take instruction from coaches during the Class 2A Regional Championship game last Thursday night.

•February 15, 2017•

By Jason Brown
NP Sports Editor

The Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond girls’ basketball team failed to complete a frenzied fourth-quarter comeback and lost 45-43 to Tuscola in a Class 2A Sullivan regional championship game Thursday night.

The fourth-quarter comeback started with just less than four minutes left in the game.

The Knights cut an 11-point deficit to five when Hannah Wallen hit two free throws, followed by a Liz Shipman free throw and a Marissa Herschberger 3-pointer.

Tuscola called a timeout with 2:02 left, but on the next possession the Knights stole the ball, and Shipman was fouled with 1:25 left.

Shipman’s free throw and a three pointer by Herschberger cut the lead to 39-37.

Tuscola hit four-straight free throws to push the lead back to five, 43-37.

With 10.9 seconds left, Herschberger hit another 3-pointer to cut the lead to 44-40, and with 17.8 second left the Knights forced a five-second call on the inbounds.

With eight seconds left, Shipman hit a three to cut the lead to 44-43. Read More

Photo by Jason Brown
Austin Hill puts pressure on Cerro Gordo during the Timberwolves Friday, Feb 10 LOVC victory.

•February 15, 2017•

By Jason Brown
NP Sports Editor

The Okaw Valley boys’ basketball team picked up two more wins this week.

The Timberwolves defeated St. Elmo/Brownstown in the Little Okaw Valley Conference Shootout Saturday and Cerro Gordo/Bement in a regular-season LOVC matchup Friday.

Against St. Elmo/Brownstown, the Timberwolves had to come back from a 13-point deficit to defeat the Eagles 55-53.

The Timberwolves came back with a 14-0 run that started in the second period and ended when Conner Cloyd hit s 3-pointer to take the lead with 5:03 left in the third.

Jared Bunfill hit a 3-pointer to take the permanent lead. Bunfill finished with 11 points. Read More

Photo by Jason Brown
During the regional championship game against Central A&M Feb 10 Jesse and Paige Robinson work the ball around Raiders defense.

•February 15, 2017•

By Jason Brown
NP Sports Editor

The Okaw Valley girls’ basketball team defeated Nokomis on a last second shot Wednesday to reach the Class 1A regional championship game but lost the title match to Central A&M at Bethany Friday, Feb 10.

“We played well, well enough to win, which makes it tough,” said Okaw Valley coach Brad Ackers. “We had one of our better offensive halves of the season in the first half. That’s a credit to Central A&M that they were able to withstand it and keep it a 5-point game.”

Against CAM, the Timberwolves’ offense was hitting on all cylinders in the first half.

Okaw Valley jumped out to a 5-0 lead and kept a 2-5 point lead through the first quarter.

With less than five minutes left in the second quarter, Paige Robinson scored to take a 32-24 lead.

CAM hit a shot at the buzzer to make it 39-34 at halftime.
Read More

•February 8, 2017•

The Okaw Valley girls’ basketball team dominated Argenta-Oreana to pick up another Little Okaw Valley Conference game Feb 2.

The Timberwolves rushed out to a 14-2 first-quarter lead and never looked back. The Timberwolves outscored the Bombers 17-5 in the second quarter.

Okaw Valley extended its lead in the second half for the eventual 51-33 win.

Paige Robinson collected a game-high 27 points, including four 3-pointers, six rebounds and two steals. Read More

•February 8, 2017•

By Jason Brown
NP Sports Editor

The Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond girls’ basketball team defeated Cerro Gordo-Bement to earn the Little Okaw Valley Conference regular season championship in Cerro Gordo Feb. 2.

“The girls came ready to play versus the Broncos,” said coach Craig Moffett. “It was an important game that we had to win to be conference regular season champions.”

Last year the Knights won the LOVC tournament and were regular season co-champs.

This season, ALAH won both championships outright. Read More