CHURDAN (Dec. 19) -- Close losses continue to haunt the Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton boys basketball team as the season calendar flips from December to January. On Tuesday night, the Spartans led the entire game until the last 22 seconds in a frustrating 53-50 defeat at Paton-Churdan.

 CHURDAN (Dec. 19) -- Kealey Nelson pumped in a career-high 29 points while adding nine rebounds and seven steals last Tuesday night, leading the fifth-ranked Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton girls to an easy 82-40 win at Paton-Churdan. Nelson made 12-of-22 field goals and 5-of-6 free throws as the Spartans improved to 6-0 (all Rolling Valley Conference games) going into Saturday’s contest vs.

 GRISWOLD (Dec.

IKM-M Girls & Boys Results/ScheduleNovember 28    vs. Audubon - Girls won 58-19; Boys won 59-53December 1    at AHSTW - Girls won 61-41; Boys lost 58-48December 2    vs. Panorama - Girls lost 50-45; Boys won 54-51December 5    at Logan-Magnolia - Girls lost 58-48; Boys won 57-51December 8    vs. Missouri Valley - Girls won 58-35; Boys won 56-33December 12    at Riverside (Girl-Boy DH) - PostponedDecember 15    vs.

AHSTW Girls & Boys Results/ScheduleNovember 27    at CAM - Girls lost 46-27November 28    at Treynor - Girls lost 60-33; Boys lost 61-55December 1    vs. IKM-Manning - Girls lost 61-41; Boys won 58-48December 5    at Tri-Center - Girls won 58-41; Boys lost 61-43December 7    at Shenandoah - Boys won 74-27December 8    vs.

 HARLAN (Dec.

 HARLAN (Dec. 19) -- It was a special night for Harlan Community basketball coach Mitch Osborn on Tuesday.

 HARLAN (Dec. 19) -- For the second straight year, the Harlan Community girls basketball team will take a 2-4 record into the holidays. The Cyclones led for just a few brief moments against Abraham Lincoln Tuesday night, plagued by turnovers and missed shots in a 48-40 home loss to the senior-laden Lynx. Last year, Hope Riche hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to lift AL past Harlan 58-57 in a game the Cyclones led by 12 in the third quarter.

 AVOCA (Dec. 19) -- The AHSTW wrestling team entered the holiday break on a good note and gave head coach Evan McCarthy his 100th career win Tuesday night with a double dual sweep against Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln and Tri-Center. The Vikings beat AL 45-36 and topped Tri-Center 42-25.

 NEOLA (Dec. 19) -- The IKM-Manning girls used a 23-3 second quarter run to pull away early and beat Tri-Center 66-18 on Tuesday night, improving to 4-3 overall and 4-2 in the Western Iowa Conference. The Wolves hit 11-of-21 three-pointers in the game, including 5-of-9 by Kia Rasmussen and 4-of-6 by Shauna Reitan.

 NEOLA (Dec. 19) -- Tri-Center outscored IKM-Manning 13-2 in the fourth quarter to finish off the Wolves 55-39 in a Western Iowa Conference boys basketball game here Tuesday night. IKM-M led 18-10 after one quarter but was outscored 45-21 the rest of the night.

 DENISON (Dec. 14) -- Bailey Schmitz paced a balanced Cyclone score sheet last Thursday as the Harlan Community boys bowling team won a competitive dual meet at Denison-Schleswig by the final of 2,564 pins to 2,488. Denison won the girls meet, 2,286 to 1,884. Rolling the Cyclones’ only 200 of the day, Bailey Schmitz finished with a two-game series of 372 (201, 171), followed by Lucas Schmitz (368), Devin Wilson (337) and Darren Stein (336).

 WAUKEE (Dec. 16) -- The Harlan Community wrestling team finished with a 1-4 record and placed 12th out of 16 teams at the Al Garrison Dual Tournament in Waukee last Saturday (Dec. 16). The Cyclones lost to Urbandale 43-33 in the 11th place final but did split 10 contested matches against the J-Hawks. Earlier in the day, HCHS lost to Millard West 44-28 and Ballard 61-15 before defeating Sioux City North 42-33 in pool competition.

HCHS Girls & Boys Bowling ScheduleDecember 4    at Shenandoah -- Girls lost 1806-1740; Boys lost 2590-2352December 12    vs. CB AL -- Girls lost 2159-1792; Boys won 2655-2417December 14    at Denison -- Girls lost 2286-1884; Boys won 2564-2488January 6    vs. Creston -- Girls & Boys (JV/V), 1:00January 9    at Red Oak Tournament -- Girls & Boys (V), 3:30January 18    vs.

 HARLAN (Dec. 14) -- Six Harlan Community wrestlers picked up two wins each Thursday night as the Cyclones swept Clarinda and Shenandoah in a Hawkeye Ten Conference double dual. HCHS beat the Cardinals 48-20 before taking care of the Mustangs 49-18 and improving its H-10 dual record to 3-1.