Sports

The Kee boys basketball team played one of its busiest weeks of the season, beginning the week by continuing its undefeated start in Upper Iowa Conference play but ending the week with the first loss of its 2020-2021 campaign. The Hawks started off the week with a 42-33 win at home over Postville Tuesday, December 8 and remained unbeaten in conference play with a 58-53 victory at Turkey Valley Friday, December 11. The Kee boys played their first game of the season outside the Upper Iowa Conference at New Hampton Saturday, December 12 and also ended up with their first loss of the year, 57-32.

Following postponement of its first three games due to a football State Championship and a quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure, the Waukon girls basketball team finally got its 2020-2021 competition schedule underway this past week, splitting its first contests against the spectrum of competition in the Northeast Iowa Conference. The Lady Indians got their season underway with a 60-27 victory at home over a yet winless Crestwood team Tuesday, December 8 prior to giving Class 4A fourth-rated Waverly-Shell Rock a strong battle before surrendering a 49-40 final result at home Friday, December 11.

The Kee girls basketball team was one game shy of turning in an undefeated busy week of competition, but the games that did end up in the win column were certainly memorable. The Lady Hawks opened the past week with a 41-38 victory in overtime at West Central Monday, December 7 in a game postponed from November 24 before falling at Class 1A 13th-rated Turkey Valley Friday, December 11. The Kee girls bounced back from that lone loss of the week with a 55-37 win at Class 3A New Hampton Saturday, December 12, with that game featuring a new school record 43 points scored by Hawk junior Reagan Mudderman.

The Lady Hawks were also scheduled to host Postville Tuesday, December 8 but the Lady Pirates are under COVID-19 quarantine and did not make the trip, forcing postponement of that contest to a date yet to be decided.

The Waukon boys basketball team book-ended this past week with results on each end of the win-loss spectrum and by differing degrees, playing both games on the road. The bucket Tribe opened the week pulling out a 52-50 triumph in the final seconds at Sumner-Fredericksburg Monday, December 7 before traveling to Class 3A top-10 rated Waverly-Shell Rock Friday, December 11 and surrendering a 65-49 final result in Northeast Iowa Conference play.

The Indians were supposed to also play this past week at Crestwood Tuesday, December 8 but had that game postponed when the Cadets suspended program competition for a couple weeks due to COVID-19 exposure. That game was scheduled to be made up Monday, December 14.

The Waukon wrestling team had a full slate of competition in the latter half of this past week, competing in a dual meet Thursday, December 10 before a weekend tournament two days later. The mat Tribe first competed at Class 3A second-rated Waverly-Shell Rock in that Thursday dual, falling by a 69-10 final result. The Indians then had seven matmen take part in the South Winneshiek Invitational Saturday, December 12, with three of those wrestling Indians earning placewinnings at their respective weights to help the Indians finish ninth as a team.

The Waukon wrestling team opened its 2020-2021 season with a busy week of wrestling three dual meets and one tournament in its initial week of competition. The mat Tribe began that busy week with a road quadrangular at Postville Tuesday, December 2 in which the Indians lost to Nashua-Plainfield, 65-12, to Postville, 42-36, and to Oelwein, 43-42, on a criteria tie-breaker. The Indian matmen then wrestled at the Wapsie Valley Tournament Saturday, December 5, finishing tied for ninth place in the 13-team field behind the lead of sophomore Jakob Regan winning the 120-pound weight class at the event.

The Kee boys basketball team opened its 2020-2021 season in thrilling fashion, taking its first game of the season right down to the final seconds - literally - to pull off a 57-55 comeback victory over Central Elkader at home Friday, December 4. The Hawks and Warriors were locked in a back-and-forth battle throughout the contest until Central nearly doubled up its Kee hosts in third quarter scoring, but the Hawks rallied back to return that favor in the fourth quarter, overcoming a near double-digit deficit to come away with the two-point triumph on a tie-breaking lay-up by junior Tyson Cota as the final buzzer sounded.

The 2020-2021 Waukon girls basketball season will have a different look to it for a couple reasons, one coming from the much wider outside world and the other from within. The much more positive of the two is the internal change, as Waukon High School graduate and multi-year assistant basketball coach Ben Rausch has assumed the varsity head coaching role for the program following the retirement of Greg Criswell after his three-year stint at the top of the Lady Indian totem pole.

Rausch is a 2006 graduate of Waukon High School and brings an extensive basketball resumé to his new head coaching position. That basketball experience stems from playing the game at multiple levels, and coaching at multiple high school levels as well.

For the second consecutive season and the third time in the last four years, the Waukon boys basketball season will be getting a late start due to the success of Waukon’s football team during the previous fall season. While many would classify that situation under the old cliché of a “good problem to have,” compounding that “good problem to have” is the fact that many of this year’s basketball players factored heavily into this year’s Class 2A State Football Championship, including this winter’s five returning letterwinners from last season’s 13-9 Waukon boys basketball campaign.

“We’re getting another late start on this basketball season, but we are really excited about what our team can be,” shared Waukon boys basketball coach Jed Hemann, who, himself, helped engineer the Indians to their second State Football Championship in the past four years as the grid Tribe’s offensive coordinator. “Hopefully, our guys can get a full season to show what they are capable of doing.”

The Waukon girls and boys bowling teams opened up their 2020-2021 season hosting Tripoli Tuesday, November 24. Both teams faced consistent visiting Panther squads that each had no bowlers finish below a 250-pin individual match series total that fueled a 2424-2623 loss for the Waukon boys and a 2111-2388 loss for the Indian girls.

The Indians were next scheduled to bowl at Decorah this Friday, December 4. The bowling Tribe will then travel to North Iowa Friday, December 11 before hosting Waverly-Shell Rock Friday, December 18 prior to the holiday break.

For more complete coverage, pick up this week's print edition or subscribe to our e-edition by clicking here.