ELK HORN -- Sophia Peppers dominated in the paint to the tune of 37 points and 13 rebounds Friday night, leading the Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton girls past Boyer Valley 72-39 in a Class 1-A regional semifinal played at Elk Horn. Leading by just two points (24-22) at the midway mark of the second quarter, the third-ranked Spartans finished the first half on a 12-0 run, outscored the Bulldogs 29-11 in the third quarter and went ahead by 35 points

 AREA -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton, AHSTW and IKM-Manning all prevailed in boys basketball district action Thursday and will continue on the postseason trail Tuesday. The Spartans won 70-49 over Charter Oak-Ute in a Class 1-A district quarterfinal and will host Coon Rapids-Bayard on Tuesday night.

 HUXLEY -- The Harlan Community girls basketball team saw its season come to end here Saturday night, falling behind 26-4 in the second quarter and losing at 12th-ranked Ballard, 53-34, in a Class 4-A regional semifinal.

 DES MOINES -- Just like several other area athletes at the 2017 State Wrestling Tournament, it didn’t take long for Cole Bruns to run into a state title contender in his 170-pound, Class 1-A bracket. Making his first-ever state meet appearance, the Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton senior drew 2nd-ranked Taylan Entriken in Thursday’s first round and was pinned in 1:03.

 ADEL -- At halftime of Wednesday night’s Class 4-A regional quarterfinal, the outlook wasn’t exactly glowing for the Harlan Community girls basketball team. Struggling offensively without injured point guard Lexi Larsen, the Cyclones were turning the ball over too often, shooting 2-of-10 at the free throw line and trailing Adel-DeSoto-Minburn 24-17 on the scoreboard. But all of that was about to change in quarter number three. Sparked by the

 HARLAN -- The Harlan Community boys basketball team moved into a tie for third place in the final Hawkeye 10 standings on Tuesday night, outlasting Creston 70-66 in a wild overtime home finale. It was the second time this season that the Cyclones and Panthers needed O.T. to reach a decision. On December 13, Creston prevailed 61-60 on Kylan Smallwood’s last-second 3-pointer.

 ATLANTIC -- Parity is the name of the game this season in the Class 3-A, Substate 8 boys basketball bracket. While top seeds Atlantic and Glenwood both stood at 15-5 going into Thursday night’s final games of the regular season, four other squads - Harlan Community, A-D-M, Carroll and Creston - all had identical win totals of 11. Postseason tournament play begins Monday night as the substate is split into two district sites.

 LOGAN -- In a game that looked and felt much more like a regional final than the quarterfinal round that it was, IKM-Manning and Logan-Magnolia needed four extra minutes to decide Tuesday’s win-or-go-home rubber match between Western Iowa Conference rivals. In the end - following six ties, three lead changes and a wild finish to regulation - Lo-Ma scored first and led throughout overtime despite the lack of a made field goal, hitting 9-of-15

 ELK HORN -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton cruised into the Class 1-A regional semifinals here Tuesday night, blowing out Woodbine 73-15 in a Region 1 girls’ quarterfinal. The third-ranked Spartans led 25-11 after one quarter and allowed just four points the rest of the way. They outscored the Tigers 22-1 in the second quarter and played the entire second half with a running clock.