The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union is giving teams and conferences the option to play 16-minute halves instead of eight-minute quarters for varsity girls’ basketball games this winter.
“During the 2010-11 varsity basketball season, varsity girls teams may play two 16-minute halves during non-conference games with mutual agreement by both schools.  Conferences may also agree to play two 16-minute halves in all conference games if the conference adopts the policy for the season.  Please note that this experimental rule applies only to VARSITY …

Linn-Mar senior Kiah Stokes is the leading scorer for the USA Basketball 3-on-3 team at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
Stokes scored 12 points in the Americans’ 30-8 win over Angola on Sunday, then registered 19 points in Team USA’s 34-11 romp over Singapore on Monday.
She shot 15 of 22 from the field.
On a related note, Stokes’ father Greg said she is no closer to deciding on a college.

The athletes who finished second through fifth in the voting:
KARLY COCHRANE

School: Mount Vernon High School
High school highlights: Key member of talented troop of girls who won state championships in volleyball, basketball and track in 2009-10 school year. Competed in four state track meets, three state volleyball tournaments, two state softball tournaments and one state basketball tournament. A member of 10 state-championship relays in track. The starting shortstop for five years, she was first team all-state in 2009. Softball team placed fourth in 2010.
Future: Will compete in track and field at …

-Female Finalists-

Karly Cochrane:
School: Mount Vernon High School.
High school highlights: Key member of a talented troop of girls that claimed state championships in volleyball, basketball and track in the 2009-10 school year. Competed in four state track meets, three state volleyball tournaments, two state softball tournaments and one state basketball tournament. A member of 10 state-championship relays in track. The starting shortstop for five years, she earned first-team all-state honors in 2009. Softball team placed fourth in 2010.
Future plans: Will …

Iowa High School Athletic Association Executive Director Rick Wulkow was kind enough to sit down for a short chat during last week’s state baseball tournament in Des Moines.
Wulkow has been with the IHSAA since 1980, including five years as executive director. A Lytton native, Wulkow was recently appointed president-elect of the National Federation of High School Associations.
Here’s the interview with Wulkow in its entirety.
Q: Tell me about the national appointment and how you feel about it?
A: It’s one of those things that you kind of dream …

Here are the final women’s all-sports standings in both the Mississippi and Valley Divisions of the Mississippi Valley Conference for 2009-10.
Iowa City West won the Mississippi Division by a wide margin, while Linn-Mar won the Valley title in a very close race.
This was Iowa City West’s 4th consecutive MVC Mississippi Division women’s all-sports title.  Linn-Mar dethroned Cedar Rapids Washington, who won the Valley title in 2008-09.
West captured championships in volleyball, bowling, track, golf and softball and finished no lower than a tie for second in any of the 10 sports to …

This isn’t the Upper Iowa Conference any more. Not the South Iowa Cedar League.
“The girls are stronger. The pace is stronger,” said Shantel Lehmann. “You have to be thinking and reacting all the time.”
Lehmann and Carolyn Holm are a pair of small-town girls mixing it up with the big-time players in the Game Time League this summer.
Monday night, at the North Liberty Community Center, the future teammates and roommates at Kirkwood Community College were mixing it up between themselves.
Lehmann, who led Valley Community to the Class …

The deadline for nominations for 2010 Gazette Athletes of the Year is Thursday.
E-mail resumes to jeff.linder@gazcomm.com. Only seniors are eligible. Finalists will be announced Aug. 1; the winners will be announced Aug. 8.
Here’s a list of those nominated so far, plus some that we have added to the list:
MALE
Kyle Thoreson, Alburnett
Joby Frey, Cedar Rapids Jefferson
Max Martino, Cedar Rapids Kennedy
Andre Dawson, Cedar Rapids Washington
Ryan Sander, Cedar Rapids Xavier
Justin Hoffman, East Buchanan
John Chelf, Iowa City High
A.J. Derby, Iowa City High
Nick Moore, Iowa City West
Will Roth, Linn-Mar
Dalton Combs, Marion
Tanner …

MANCHESTER — It’s official: Harold Shepherd is back on the bench.
Back in the Wamac Conference.
The West Delaware school board voted 5-0 Monday night to approve Shepherd’s hiring as the school’s varsity girls’ basketball coach.
“It’s good to be back,” said the 68-year-old Shepherd, who ranks fifth all-time in victories among girls’ basketball coaches at 722-275 in 43 years.
“I’m excited about this. I enjoyed my three years as an assistant. I learned a lot of new things. I’m excited to be a head coach again.”
Shepherd’s first conversation with West Delaware Athletics Director …

Linn-Mar’s Kiah Stokes is in Colorado Springs for tryouts for the USA Basketball 17-and-under World Championship/Youth Olympic Games teams.
Stokes is one of 36 girls trying out. Ballard’s Taylor Greenfield is another.
A 6-foot-3 senior-to-be, Stokes was on the national team that won a gold medal at the 16-and-under FIBA Americas Tournament.
The team will reassemble in Washington, D.C., for training July 5-7. The USA will play several practice games in Spain prior to arriving in Rodez, France, where it will begin playing in the FIBA 17U World …