GREENFIELD -- The AHSTW girls battled gamely but came out on the short end of a 41-36 score in Tuesday’s Class 2-A regional quarterfinal game at Nodaway Valley.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS -- The Harlan Community girls bowling team saved its best team score of the season for the final dual meet last Tuesday (February 7), knocking down 2,192 total pins to beat both Lewis Central (1,910) and St. Albert (1,664) at Thunderbowl. HCHS finished with a dual record of 5-6. The Cyclone boys, meanwhile, went 1-1 on the day to finish 8-3 for the season.

 DES MOINES -- Six local state qualifiers will face tough early draws when competition begins Thursday at the 2017 State Wrestling Tournament inside Wells Fargo Arena.

 HARLAN -- The Harlan Community wrestling team will be represented by three individuals at this week’s state tournament after Lucas Carter, Jacob Wingert and Nick Foss all placed second in Saturday’s Class 2-A District Tournament. Wingert, a senior 170-pounder, will return to Des Moines for the second straight year while juniors Carter (126) and Foss (182) are first-time state qualifiers.

 AVOCA -- Leading by just four points at the break on Saturday night, the AHSTW girls used a 12-0 run to take control and dominated the second half to beat Griswold, 56-32, in a Class 2-A, Region 3 first-round game. The Lady Vikes outscored Griswold 33-13 in the final two quarters, beating the Tigers for the third time this year and claiming their first regional win since 2012. AHSTW (8-14) will now travel to Greenfield Tuesday for a 7 p.m.

IKM-Manning defeated Tri-Center 63-28 in a Class 2-A girls regional game on Saturday night, setting up a showdown of ranked teams at Logan-Magnolia in Tuesday’s regional quarterfinals. Above,

 HARLAN -- The Lewis Central boys basketball team is blessed with a 6-foot-10 center in Kyle Arrington, a 6-4 all-conference guard in Chad Moran and several other solid athletes.

 MANNING -- Jon Brandt and Ben Wegner scored 22 points each and Jared Johnson added 12 here Thursday night as the IKM-Manning boys wrapped up regular-season play with a one-sided 77-34 win over Griswold. IKM-M has won 13 of 15 games since the holiday break and will take a 15-6 record into Thursday night’s Class 2-A district semifinal game vs. South Central Calhoun or ACGC (at Kuemper Catholic).

 UNDERWOOD -- Area wrestlers Gabe Pauley and Joel Becerra of AHSTW and Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton’s Cole Bruns all qualified for the state tournament on Saturday by placing first or second at the Class 1-A District Tournament in Underwood. Pauley, a sophomore 160-pounder won his four-man bracket while Becerra and Bruns, both seniors, placed second at 145 and 170, respectively. The local trio will begin state competition Thursday afternoon (1:30

 HARLAN -- All this time, perhaps the Harlan Community girls basketball team simply needed to play a game every day. Whatever the cause, the Cyclones appear to be heating up at just the right time. Winning its fifth straight game on Tuesday - all in a span of eight nights - HCHS outlasted a banged up Council Bluffs St.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS -- It only took a quarter Tuesday night for the momentum of the Harlan Community and St. Albert boys basketball teams to rotate 180 degrees. HCHS was trying to bounce back from a rough week following losses by 23 and 14 points, respectively, at Atlantic and Glenwood. St.

 LOGAN -- AHSTW’s third consecutive trip to the Class 1-A regional wrestling duals ended with mixed results on Tuesday night. The Vikings were able to outscore Panorama for a slim 39-38 victory in the semifinal round before bowing out to fifth-ranked Logan-Magnolia in the finals, 63-12. The Panthers advanced to next Wednesday’s State Dual Tournament in Des Moines along with area rival Missouri Valley, which qualified from a separate regional t

 ATLANTIC -- With an eye on Saturday’s Class 2-A District Tournament, Harlan Community’s dual season came to a close Tuesday night with a 61-13 loss to 3rd-ranked Atlantic in the semifinals of a 2-A Regional Dual meet. The Cyclones qualified for regional duals by placing second in last week’s Sectional Tournament at Adel, which also saw them advance six qualifiers to this week’s District meet in Harlan. The Trojans, who punched their ticket to

 AREA -- The IKM-Manning and AHSTW girls basketball teams will open regional play Saturday night with first round home games in Class 2-A, Region 3. IKM-M, listed 15th in last week’s 2-A state rankings, will host Tri-Center (9-12) at 7:00 p.m. in Manning. The Wolves took a 16-4 record into their regular season finale Thursday vs. Griswold. Saturday’s winner will play at Logan-Magnolia (18-3, previously ranked 11th) on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.

 RED OAK -- Bailey Schmitz, Keaton Jones and Mitchell Leinen each rolled their top series score of the year last Friday, leading the Harlan Community boys bowling team to a season-high pin total and a wide margin of victory at Red Oak, 2,910 to 2,568. The Cyclones improved their dual record to 7-2 overall, outscoring the 5-3 Tigers 1,988 to 1,714 during the individual round and 922-854 in Baker games. The HCHS girls (3-6) came up short, meanwh