Peppers, Rasmussen earn All-State recognition

 DES MOINES -- Area girls basketball standouts Sophia Peppers of Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton and Kia Rasmussen of IKM-Manning were both recognized on all-state teams this week by the Iowa Newspaper Association and/or the Iowa Girls’ Coaches Association.
 The junior tandem has combined for more than 2,100 career points and helped their teams win 129 games over the last three seasons.
 Peppers, a 5-10 forward, was named first-team All-State by the INA and the IGCA after receiving second team INA and third team IGCA honors in 2016.
 Rasmussen, a 5-4 guard, was named third-team All-State by the IGCA for the second consecutive year.
 A panel of sports writers from the Iowa Newspaper Association named first, second and third teams in all five classes on Tuesday and also selected senior Elle Ruffridge of Pocahontas Area/Laurens-Marathon as the 2017 Miss Basketball. Ruffridge completed an outstanding four-year career as the state’s all-time leader in points (2,951), assists (802) and three-pointers (466).