By Jason Brummond
News correspondent
WEST LIBERTY — Iowa City Regina had a chance, but the Regals couldn’t fire up another of their big 3-pointers when it mattered most.
No. 11 Mediapolis held off a flurry of Regina treys in the final minute with unusually sound free-throw shooting for a 67-62 victory last night in a Class 2A girls’ basketball regional semifinal. Mediapolis plays No. 7 Tipton on Monday night in Solon with a chance for its first state tournament berth since 1987.
Mediapolis (23-1) shot just 56 percent from the foul line during …

Dubuque Senior scored nine of the final 10 points to fight off a fourth quarter Cedar Rapids Xavier comeback attempt, and the Rams beat the Saints, 58-51, in a Mississippi Valley Conference regular season finale last night at Xavier.
Xavier (7-14, 4-12 MVC) trailed, 44-31, entering the fourth quarter, but Jon Keller hit four 3-pointers in the frame’s first five minutes to give the Saints a 50-49 lead, their first lead since midway through the first period. The Rams (5-16, 3-13) then went on a 9-0 run for a 58-50 lead …

By Jeff Linder
The Gazette
CEDAR RAPIDS — It took Springville all of 5 seconds to seize the lead. The Orioles kept the throttle open the whole way.
Top-ranked Springville dominated in just about every way imaginable and smothered Keota, 78-23, in a Class 1A regional semifinal girls’ basketball game last night at Prairie High School.
The Orioles (23-1) have allowed 65 points in three postseason games.
“We count on defense more than anything else,” said Sarah Davidson, one of 10 Springville seniors hoping to end their careers with a second consecutive state championship in …

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Don Bosco’s Bart Reiter is  attempting to become just the 18th wrestler in Iowa history to win four state titles. A Reiter win in the Class 3A 135-pound final will join him with brother, Mack, who won four titles from 2000-03 for the Dons. The top-ranked Reiter will have a familiar foe in his final traditional state tournament contest.
The top-ranked Reiter will face Belle Plaine’s second-ranked Cameron Wagner, who is making his first finals appearance since losing to Reiter in the 112 state finals as a sophomore.
…

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The performances the Don Bosco Dons and Ballard Bombers have provided are amazing. After the semifinals, Don Bosco led the Class 1A team race with 172, leading second-place Belle Plaine by 85.5 points. Ballard blew way the 2A field, tallying 196.5 to lead Clear Lake by 118.
Don Bosco posted a 26-1 record after the semifinals and needs to win just won match to break its 1A team scoring record set last year with 175.5. Ballard has already crushed its 2A scoring record (181.5) set last year. Both have …

By Jeff Johnson
The Gazette
DES MOINES – No mas, Tomas.
Stop with the last-second heroics, young man. You’re killing your dad, your other coaches and every West Liberty fan.
The 189-pounder has a wrestling style that can sometimes scare the bejeezus out of you. Let’s call it walking the proverbial tight rope with regularity.
But Lira makes it work many more times than not. Down by two points in the dying moments of his Class 2A state semifinal match last night at Wells Fargo Arena, he went to his back briefly during a scramble, …

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The Cedar Rapids/Marion Metro finish isn’t nearly as bad as people thought it would be or how Internet ramblers make it out to be.
The Metro has three finalists, including one from three different schools. It also has 12 medalists with all but Cedar Rapids Xavier bringing home hardware. Cedar Rapids Prairie leads the way with five medalists and 135-pound freshmen Zach Witte (pronounced Witt as I was informed by Coach Blake Williams) in the finals. Cedar Rapids Jefferson has two with seniors Jason McCormick (171) and Casey DeHoedt …

The Cedar Rapids/Marion Metro finish isn’t nearly as bad as people thought it would be or how Internet ramblers make it out to be.
The Metro has three finalists, including one from three different schools. It also has 12 medalists with all but Cedar Rapids Xavier bringing home hardware. Cedar Rapids Prairie leads the way with five medalists and 135-pound freshmen Zach Witte (pronounced Witt as I was informed by Coach Blake Williams) in the finals. Cedar Rapids Jefferson has two with seniors Jason McCormick (171) and Casey DeHoedt (189). McCormick, …

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Winning can’t be taught. Some people are just winners, and I think Tomas Lira of West Liberty is one of them.
His quarterfinal win over Dallas Center-Rimes’ top-ranked Trevor Voelker was exciting. He broke out to an early lead, catching Voelker on his back early and scoring two takedowns in the opening minute. After Voelker reclaimed the lead, Lira fought back with a winning takedown as time expired to win by one.
To follow that up, Lira pinned Kelan Richardson of RCL in 5:59 to make the 189-pound finals for …

Winning can’t be taught. Some people are just winners, and I think Tomas Lira of West Liberty is one of them.
His quarterfinal win over Dallas Center-Rimes’ top-ranked Trevor Voelker was exciting. He broke out to an early lead, catching Voelker on his back early and scoring two takedowns in the opening minute. After Voelker reclaimed the lead, Lira fought back with a winning takedown as time expired to win by one.
To follow that up, Lira pinned Kelan Richardson of RCL in 5:59 to make the 189-pound finals for the second …