DES MOINES (March 2) -- When the Harlan Community girls basketball team played at Ballard last January, it was a night to quickly forget. The Cyclones lost 58-20, making only 7-of-31 total field goals while the Bombers hit 9-of-21 threes and had 20 steals defensively. On Tuesday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena, HCHS (17-5) will get another shot at Ballard (21-1) when the two teams meet in a Class 4A state tournament quarterfinal game at 3:0

 DES MOINES (March 3) -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton is making its fifth trip in seven years to the Girls State Basketball Tournament this week.

 ATLANTIC (Feb. 24) -- For the first 13 minutes of Wednesday’s Class 2A, Region 5 final, anything that could go wrong for the AHSTW girls basketball team... went wrong. A case of Murphy’s law began even before the opening tip when the Lady Vike bench was assessed a technical foul for an incorrect entry in the scorebook.

 LE MARS -- The Harlan Community girls bowling team ended its season with a second-place finish in the Class 1A State Qualifying Tournament held February 16 at Sweet 16 Lanes. Forest City won the meet with a total score of 2,678 pins and advanced to last week’s state tournament in Waterloo.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS -- The Harlan Community boys bowling team placed fourth out of eight teams in the Class 1A State Qualifying Tournament held February 17 at Thunderbowl. Clarinda, led by the top three individual scores in the field, posted a winning total of 3,228 pins and advanced to last week’s state tournament in Waterloo. St. Albert also topped the 3,000 mark with a 3,026 for second place.

    WINTERSET (Feb. 24) -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton girls are going back to the State Basketball Tournament as the only surviving unbeaten in Class 1A. The fourth-ranked Spartans came out on top in a wild Class 1A, Region 8 final Wednesday night in Winterset, holding off No.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS (Feb. 23) -- The rubber match was all Cardinals. Following two highly competitive Western Iowa Conference games during the regular season - each team winning on the other’s home floor - Treynor took control early vs.

    ADEL (Feb. 22) -- Trailing by eight with less than two minutes to play Monday night, the Harlan Community boys basketball team seemingly caught a break when ADM missed three straight front ends of one-and-one at the free throw line. Unfortunately for HCHS, the Tigers pulled down an offensive rebound each time and continued to melt precious seconds off the clock.

 AVOCA (Feb. 19) -- The AHSTW girls basketball team had a lot to feel good about following Friday’s 59-29, Class 2A regional semifinal win over Mount Ayr. First and foremost, the Lady Vikes took care of business in a big way on their home floor, using a hot-shooting start and smothering team defense to turn the game into a rout.

 DENISON (Feb. 23) -- The third time was most definitely a charm for this year’s Harlan Community girls basketball team. For the first time since 2016, the Cyclones are heading back to the state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena following Tuesday night’s hard-fought 52-43 Class 4A regional final victory over Denison-Schleswig. In the much-anticipated third matchup between top-10 teams, No.

 ELK HORN (Feb. 19) -- In a back and forth affair, the Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton girls basketball team kept their undefeated season alive Friday night with a hard-fought 53-43 Class 1A regional semifinal win over Stanton. The 4th-ranked Spartans trailed by four points in the third quarter before turning up the defense in the fourth and outscoring the Viqueens 16-7.

 AVOCA (Feb.

 CARROLL (Feb. 18) -- The Harlan Community boys basketball team nearly pulled off an upset at Carroll Thursday night, tying the game twice in the final minute before falling to the fourth-ranked (3A) Tigers 72-68 in the regular season finale for both teams. HCHS, which made 10-of-23 three-pointers and shot 54.3 percent overall, dropped to 9-11 going into Monday's (Feb.

     HARLAN (Feb. 20) -- For the first time since 2016, the Harlan Community girls basketball team is back in a regional final and ready for another shot at Denison-Schleswig. The 9th-ranked Cyclones withstood a tough test from Spencer in Saturday’s Class 4A regional semifinal round, overcoming 20 turnovers by shooting 65.7 percent in a 74-61 win over the Tigers. HCHS improved to 16-5 and will now travel to Denison Tuesday (Feb.

    DES MOINES (Feb.