Sports

Anyone taking a blind look at the Class 1A State Tournament first-round match-up between the Kee girls basketball team making its first-ever State Tournament appearance and the team from Burlington-Notre Dame (BND), the Class 1A 2014 State Champion making its fourth consecutive trip to that season grand finale, certainly had their eyes opened wide for at least three and a half quarters of that mid-day opening round battle Monday, February 29.

Howe, Fuhrman, Frieden to hit the mat one final time

This spirit banner has been printed to help celebrate and commemorate the Kee High School girls basketball team’s first State Tournament qualification in program history. The banner is made possible through the much appreciated support of a number of area sponsors and has been distributed throughout the community at those sponsor locations, as well as at Kee High School in Lansing. The Standard extends a thank you to those generous sponsors and encourages everyone to do the same when you stop in and patronize their place of business.
The fifth-rated and 22-2 Lady Hawks will be taking on fourth-rated and 23-1 Burlington Notre Dame in Class 1A State Tournament action Monday, February 29 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, beginning at 11:45 a.m. Good luck to the Hawks!

The Makee Manor location just north of Waukon on Highway 9 had the latest chapter of its history completed Monday, February 15 to make way for its next installment. The Makee Manor building that had first been constructed as part of the most recent facility in 1935, was expanded in 1976 and remodeled in 1997 was torn down Monday in preparation for construction of the new Allamakee County Public Safety Center. Quad County Excavating, owned and operated by Frank Mahr and Reggie Berns, took to the task of tearing down the brick structure early that President’s Day morning and had the building reduced to rubble by late afternoon. Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick said demolition of the building was anticipated to take part over two days but went smoothly enough to be completed in a day.

Never done before, and never to be forgotten.
That’s the climactic tale of the Kee girls basketball team’s historic venture through Class 1A regional tournament play this past week that was topped off by the first-ever State Tournament qualification in the history of the Lady Hawk hardcourt program. Following relatively easy victories of 52-33 over Central Elkader in the regional quarterfinals Tuesday, February 16 and 65-30 over Dunkerton in the regional semifinals Friday, February 19, the fifth-rated Kee basketball girls put the icing on their regional tournament cake Monday, February 22 with a 61-58 overtime triumph over 14th-rated Lynnville-Sully in regional championship play to punch their first-ever ticket to the season grand finale in Des Moines.

The Waukon boys basketball team took its strong inside game to Dyersville Thursday, February 18 to match up in the Class 2A District 7 semifinals with the strong guard play of a Beckman squad listed in the top 10 of the Class 2A power rankings. The host Trailblazers are the most effective squad in Class 2A at shooting the three-point shot, 40.8%, and ended up proving that effectiveness, but not until the second half when Beckman pulled away to an 88-61 final scoreboard margin that brought the Indians’ 2015-2016 campaign to a close.
The loss completes the Indians’ season at a 12-10 overall record that includes a Northeast Iowa Conference mark of 7-5 that placed the Tribe third in the final Northeast Iowa Conference standings. Beckman advanced on to a Tuesday, February 23 district semifinals match-up with MFL/MarMac played at Manchester.
 

The Kee boys basketball team had its season brought to a close by one of the top teams in this season’s Class 1A field, as the Hawks traveled to top-10 rated Jesup Thursday evening, February 18 and were dealt an 81-37 defeat. The host J-Hawks converted an average of more than half their shots in the contest, while Kee was only half that effective in being limited to just seven points in two of the game’s quarters.
The loss ends the Hawks’ season with a 7-16 overall record that included a 5-10 mark in Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) play that placed the Hawks eighth in the final UIC standings. Jesup advanced on to a Tuesday, February 23 district semifinals match-up against Edgewood-Colesburg at home.
 

The Kee girls basketball team wrapped up its regular season in fine fashion, improving to a six-game winning streak on the way to a second-place finish in the Upper Iowa Conference with a 50-40 home victory over North Fayette Valley Monday, February 8. The game had been rescheduled by winter weather from its original February 2 date. The Hawks followed the end of that regular season with a 52-33 home triumph over Central Elkader in the opening round of Class 1A regional tournament play Tuesday, February 16 to begin the Hawks' travels down this year's postseason tournament road.

Both end high school careers with victories in final matches

The Kee boys basketball team wrapped up its regular season this week with a split of two final games before opening the postseason with a victory for the second straight year to keep its 2015-2016 campaign alive. The Hawks ended their regular season with a 60-54 loss at North Fayette Valley Monday, February 8 in a game rescheduled from February 2 before edging out Coulee Christian, 53-50, at Westby, WI Friday, February 12. The Kee basketballers then got their Class 1A District Tournament schedule underway with a 59-52 win at Starmont Monday, February 15 to earn postseason advancement.