DES MOINES -- They were right there.Down two points with 6:42 left against the No. 1 team in the state, the North Tama Redhawks were feeling good and smelling an upset.They didn't score again.Top-ranked North Mahaska put on the clamps, scored the final 10 points ...

Monday's games at the girls' state basketball tournament at Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines:CLASS 1A QUARTERFINALNorth Tama (21-4) vs. North Mahaska (25-0)Time -- 5 p.m.Coaches -- Irv Laube is 51-21 in three years as the girls coach at North Tama. He also coached boys for ...

An early illness put the Belle Plaine girls' basketball team in an early hole.Now, the Plainsmen are more than playing catch-up. They're two games from Never Never Land.Belle Plaine continues its postseason journey Friday at Huxley, when it faces Woodward-Granger in a Class 1A girls' ...

OK, so the rubber match is off.Donnie Kremer hopes his team's edge didn't depart with it."That's in the back of my head," Kremer said as eighth-ranked Monticello (23-1) prepares for its Class 2A girls' basketball regional final against Bellevue (17-6). Tipoff is 7 p.m. Monday ...

From the league:

For Valley Community, the postseason is an opportunity for escape.An escape from the long shadow of MFL MarMac. Three straight years, the Tigers have finished runners-up to MFL MarMac in the Upper Iowa Conference girls’ basketball race.“That’s the team we’ve been trying to beat,” said ...