HARLAN -- Bad starts have been plaguing the Harlan Community girls basketball team during its recent four-game slide. Last Friday night, Kuemper Catholic scored the first 19 points of the contest, then answered a Harlan rally with a 16-3 third-quarter run to hand the Cyclone girls a 66-50 loss. It was the second time in five nights that Kuemper jumped on HCHS early.

 CARROLL -- Harlan Community senior Brandon Trevino has battled through injuries and illness during his final prep wrestling season, making his accomplishments on Saturday all the more rewarding and impressive. Trevino picked up three wins in the Hawkeye Ten Conference Tournament at Kuemper Catholic, becoming the third Cyclone senior this month to surpass 100 career victories en route to a second-place finish in the 120-pound bracket. Already

 HARLAN -- Point guard Caleb Rasmussen is listed as a six-footer on the Harlan Community boys basketball roster.

 DENISON -- Led by Caleb Rasmussen’s 25 points and five assists, Harlan Community used a strong second half to post a 67-51 win at Denison-Schleswig Thursday night and sweep the season series. The game did not count in the Hawkeye Ten standings as HCHS won the conference meeting 76-72 in December. Rasmussen shot 8-of-13 from the field and 9-of-15 at the free throw line, helping the Cyclones outscore the Monarchs 37-24 in the second half after

 ELK HORN -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton girls raced to a 29-11 lead after one quarter and led 47-14 by halftime of last Monday’s 75-39 home win over CAM. Mara Burmeister led five Spartan players in double figures with 16 points, followed by Maggie Rasmussen and Rachel Walker with 14 points each and Kealey Nelson and Sophia Peppers both with 12. Exira-EHK forced a high number of Cougar turnovers in the game, coming up with 20 steals in impro

 ELK HORN -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton scored the last seven points of the game to defeat CAM 64-60 in boys basketball action last Monday night. The Spartans improved to 11-4 overall and 11-3 in the Rolling Valley Conference. Clinging to a one-point lead with nine seconds left, the Spartans’ Trey Nelson forced a turnover and CAM quickly fouled Josh Pettepier.

 AUDUBON -- The IKM-Manning boys outscored Audubon 24-8 in the third quarter to break open a close game and beat the Wheelers 64-41 on Thursday night. Sam Gross hit five 3-pointers in the game and led the Wolves with 15 points. Ben Wegner added 12 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks, Jared Johnson totaled 11 points, seven steals, six assists and six rebounds and Alex Lingle had 11 points off the bench.

 AVOCA -- Logan-Magnolia built a 36-21 halftime lead and finished off the AHSTW girls 68-47 last Tuesday night, improving to 15-1 behind 27 points from Kenzie Cunard. Freshman Kinsey Scheffler paced the Lady Vikes with 12 points, followed by Katie Anzalone with eight, Sarah Butcher seven, and Josie Denning, Jaycie Schueman and Morgan Eckmann all with five. Kate Wise added three points and Sidney Nelsen scored two.

 REGIONAL -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton, AHSTW and IKM-Manning will all have the opportunity to play at least one home game when girls basketball regional play begins next month. The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union announced its postseason pairings for Class 1-A, 2-A and 3-A on Monday, January 23, and will release the 4-A and 5-A pairings on Jan. 30. The unbeaten Exira-EHK girls are the highest-ranked team in Class 1-A, Region 1 at No.

 DENISON -- The Harlan Community girls were unable to take advantage of 18 steals on defense Thursday night, shooting just 23 percent from the field in a 46-36 conference loss at Denison-Schleswig. HCHS (5-8 overall, 3-5 in the Hawkeye Ten) matched the Monarchs with 14 points in the third quarter but scored eight or fewer in the remaining three periods.

 AVOCA -- There’s many reasons behind AHSTW’s 14-1 start on the basketball floor this winter, and most of them were on display during Tuesday night’s 67-50 home win over Logan-Magnolia. Avenging their only loss of the season with a closing 16-4 exclamation point in the last seven minutes, the Vikings rode a hot shooting start by R.J.

 CARROLL -- Kuemper Catholic opened Monday night’s game vs.

CRESTON -- On a night highlighted by senior Aaron Johannsen’s 100th career win, Harlan Community finished 0-2 as a team at Tuesday’s Creston/Orient-Macksburg wrestling double dual. HCHS nearly erased an 18-point deficit in its first dual against Lewis Central before falling just short, 33-31, then lost to the host Panthers 62-12. Creston (16-3 overall) also beat LC 50-19, locking up second place in the Hawkeye Ten dual standings with a 9-1 rec

January 19 • at Ida GroveVARSITY GIRLS -- OA-BCIG 2080, HCHS 1942Indv. Total: OA-BCIG 1374, HCHS 1277; Baker Games: OA-BCIG 706, HCHS 665HCHS Game & Series ScoresKenzie Jones    142-155 -- 297Jessie Phipps    124-147 -- 271Molly Wingert    113-156 -- 269Samantha McCool    151-109 -- 260Jayden Gessert    96-84 -- 180Baker GamesHCHS: 113, 125, 174, 135, 118.OA-BCIG: 129, 171, 134, 118, 154.

OMAHA, NEB. -- Harlan Community claimed four individual champions and placed second out of six teams at the Omaha Burke Wrestling Invitational last Saturday. Winning their six-man round-robin brackets for HCHS were Oscar Olmos at 138 pounds, Jacob Wingert (170), Aaron Johannsen (220) and Daniel Soll (285).