Stories from Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Going into Tuesday night's regional tournament matchup between fifth-ranked Okoboji and West Hancock, everyone in the gym knew they were in for a fast-paced game. While neither team disappointed on the offensive end, it was the defensive rebounding of Okoboji that proved to be the difference, as the Pioneers limited the Eagles to one shot while earning a 68-48 victory...

The Harris-Lake Park boys basketball team got out to a hot start and never looked back in a 66-39 victory over Remsen-Union in the first round of district tournament play Monday night in George. Jordan Kyle got things started with a three-pointer from the left corner before the Rockets answered with a three-pointer and an old-fashioned three-point play, giving R-U a 6-3 advantage...

After wrapping an up-and-down regular season with a victory over George-Little Rock, the Okoboji boys basketball team road a wave of momentum into Monday night's playoff contest with Emmetsburg. In their earlier matchup this season, the Pioneers picked up a 68-59 win at home. It was one of Okoboji's five wins on the season...

Okoboji School officials say 13 in-state and five out-of-state candidates applied for Okoboji's superintendent's position. The district's school board is close to making a decision -- the group is expected to meet at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23, to narrow a field of five candidates down to a pair of finalists...

Dickinson County Engineer Dan Eckert said road crews have arrived at a tough time of year. The snowbanks are tall, the ditches are full and some of the heaviest snowfalls come late in the season. "It started off real bad -- in fact in November, we had snow on Thanksgiving," Dickinson County Engineer Dan Eckert said, after an update Tuesday with the Dickinson County Board of Supervisors. ...

Need the recipe for a boat-motor clogging, dock-hugging, universally-unwanted weed? Take one late freeze, an early thaw (or both). Sprinkle in very little snowfall on top of the short ice season. Mix in some low water levels, add plenty of sunlight and you'll have a healthy, happy, curly leaf pond weed...

Its tires were surrounded by snow Tuesday morning, but the decommissioned car on West Lake Okoboji appears to have firm footing ... for now. Warmer weather forecasts have car drop ticket owners crossing their fingers. They're all waiting for the red car to fall through the ice on Smith's Bay near the Highway 71 bridge between Arnolds Park and Okoboji...

Have you ever dreamed of venturing into the real estate market in the Lakes Region? The Milford Commercial Club is offering local residents the opportunity to dabble in real estate. Lakes-opoly is a new board game being sold to raise money for the Milford Quasquicentennial in 2017...

The Lenten season began on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 10 and continues for 40 days (not counting Sundays) until Easter which falls on Sunday, March 27. There are many Christian denominations and each celebrates the season in its own way. That is true in the Iowa Great Lakes Region as well...

The "Kiss A Critter" fundraiser at Iowa Lakes Community College raised money for Relay for Life in all five counties of the Iowa Lakes Community College District. The fundraising competition ended in a tie between College President Valerie Newhouse and Delaine Hiney, Executive Director of Facilities Management. ...

The public is invited to attend the Cabin Fever Blues Bash at Heritage Landing Senior Living Apartments, 1305 Jeppeson Road in West Okoboji. Join them for a free meal and entertainment in effort to overcome Cabin Fever and beat the winter blues. The event is set for Thursday, Feb. 18, with the free meal starting at 5:30 p.m. followed by music with The Jessie James Band...

Cardboard boxes, steamer trunks, plastic totes -- attics, basements, garages and closets are full of bins in which we collect items. Whether its stamps, crystal stemware or sea shells, most of us have a variety of collections that are hoarded somewhere in our homes or storage units. These are collections that people have worked on, spent money on and put their passions toward, but often no one else sees them...

Oct. 30, 1928 -- Feb. 4, 2016 Services for Vern Buchman, 87, of Spirit Lake, were held Monday Feb. 8, 2016, at Turner Jenness Funeral Home in Spirit Lake. Interment was at Lakeview Cemetery in Spirit Lake. Vern Buchman went to be with his Lord and Savior on Thursday, Feb. 4 at Sunrise Retirement Community in Sioux City...

Oct. 31, 1926 - Feb. 9, 2016 A funeral service for Roger Swenson, 89, of Milford, was held Saturday, Feb. 13, at First Lutheran Church in West Okoboji. Burial was at Milford Cemetery. Roger Carl Swenson was born Oct. 31, 1926, in Milford to Carl and Verda (Hunter) Swenson. ...

July 28, 1945 -- Jan. 29, 2016 Loyal Robert "Butch" Jensen, the son of Lawrence and Marguerite Jensen, was born on July 28, 1945, in Blue Earth, Minnesota. He was raised on the family farm, was confirmed at Salem Lutheran Church in Pilot Grove, Minnesota and graduated from East Chain High School in 1963...

Jan. 3, 1927 -- Feb. 6, 2016 A funeral service for Milton Guthrie, 89, of Milford, was held Saturday, Feb. 13, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Milford. Burial was at Calvary Cemetery in Milford.
Milton Manuel Guthrie was born Jan. 3, 1927 in Milford to A.T. ...

Jan. 5, 1938 - Feb. 7, 2016 Frances M. Moritz, 78, of Spirit Lake, passed away Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016, at her home in Spirit Lake. She was born on Jan. 5, 1938, in Exira, to Harry and Ellen (Bartles) Hagedorn. Frances was united in marriage to Butch Moritz on Jan. 17, 1997, in Las Vegas. She worked for many years for Moritz Construction as the office manager...

Dec. 31, 1928 -- Feb. 10, 2016 A funeral service for Evelyn Glover, 87, of Milford, was held Monday, Feb. 15, 2016, at Union Memorial Church in Milford. Burial was at Fairview Cemetery in Terril. Evelyn Marie (Calvert) Glover was born on Dec. 31, 1928, in Ames to Perle and Ethel (Shay) Calvert. ...

Aug. 16, 1923 - Feb. 3, 2016 Funeral services for Clarence M. Call, 92, of Spirit Lake were held Monday, Feb. 8, at Turner Jenness Funeral Home in Spirit Lake. Interment was at Lakeview Cemetery in Spirit Lake. Clarence Martin Call was born on Aug. 16, 1923, the eldest of eight children, to Alva and Thelma (Strait) Call near Ava, Missouri. ...

Jan. 4, 1949 -- Jan. 30, 2016 Alana Sue "Loni" Bringle, 67, of Spirit Lake died Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016 at her home in Spirit Lake following a three-year battle with cancer. Loni was born Jan. 4, 1949 in Storm Lake, the daughter of Clyde "Chap" Iler and Dorothy (Littrell) Iler. Loni grew up in Estherville and was baptized as a Methodist by her grandfather, Rev. E.N. Littrell, and was confirmed at the Estherville Methodist Church...

This time of year is tough for wrestlers and wrestling coaches. While some grapplers achieve their dream of a state tournament berth, others are forced to deal with the upsetting reality of coming up a win or two short. A reality Spirit Lake Park coach Andrew Lundgren knows all too well...

While earning a third trip to the state tournament is a rare feat for any high school grappler, make no mistake about it, Okoboji's Noah Bouse isn't satisfied. The Pioneers senior has his sights set on the 170-pound podium. "It's pretty special. Not a lot of kids can say they were three-time stat qualifiers," Okoboji coach Nate Dau said. ...

Kolton Roth will make a return trip to the state wrestling tournament, as the Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire sophomore dominated his 132-pound bracket at the district tournament in Manson this past Saturday to punch his ticket to Des Moines. Roth, who won his opening round match at state last year at 126 pounds, went 2-0 at districts, picking up a pair of 9-0 major decision victories over South Central Calhoun's Chase McAlister and Alta-Aurelia's Colten Larson in the final...

With a 30-point performance against Emmetsburg on Monday, Feb. 15, Okoboji senior Alex Heller eclipsed the 1,000 career point mark. Heller leads the Siouxland Conference in scoring this season at 21.1 points per game. He also leads the conference in steals (65) and ranks fifth in assists (86), sixth in blocks (24) and eighth in rebounds (127). He averaged 4 points per game as a freshman, 13.8 points per game as a sophomore and 9.6 points per game as a junior for the Pioneers...

Boosted by a 25-point second quarter, the eighth-ranked (3A) Spirit Lake girls basketball team caught fire from deep in a 51-32 victory over Estherville Lincoln Central in Saturday's opening round of regional tournament play. "I thought we had slow start and a slow finish, but we had probably a quarter and a half where we played just really, really good basketball," Spirit Lake coach Rick Reinking said. ...

Dickinson County rivals Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire and Harris-Lake Park wrapped their regular seasons Friday, as they customarily do, squaring off in an old Cornbelt Conference showdown in Terril. This time around, the Titans emerged victorious, topping the Wolves 61-50...

The fifth-ranked (3A) Spirit Lake boys basketball team ended its regular season with a victory Friday night, as the Indians defeated Sioux City West 88-61 at home. For the second straight contest, Division 1 recruits Ryan Kriener and Billy Brown combined 70 points, as Kriener finished with 36 and Brown tallied 34 in the victory...

What a way to wrap the regular season. Despite having their fair share of struggles throughout, the Okoboji boys basketball team wrapped the regular season in style, topping George-Little Rock 60-53 Friday night on senior night. "I'm just happy for our guys," Okoboji coach Ryan Paulsen said. ...

In the first round of regional tournament play Thursday, the Harris-Lake Park girls basketball team advanced with a 59-50 home win over Dickinson County rival Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire. "It was a fast-paced game to start the first quarter," H-LP coach Ashley Fischer said "It was back-and-forth and there were a lot of points scored right away, especially for a couple of teams that don't put up huge offensive numbers regularly. ...

The Spirit Lake boys and girls basketball teams swept a road trip to Storm Lake on Tuesday, Feb. 9, as the boys won 91-69 and the girls won their half of the Lakes Conference doubleheader 59-22. In the girls' contest, the Indians jumped out to a 17-4 lead after one and led 41-6 at the break. Scoring slowed in the second half, as the Tornadoes outscored the Indians 7-6 in the third quarter before the Indians cruised to a 12-9 score in the final stanza, sealing the victory...

The Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire girls and boys basketball teams split a hoops doubleheader at Newell-Fonda on Tuesday, Feb. 9, as the boys defeated the Mustangs 83-50 and the GT/RA girls fell 64-27. In the girls' contest, the Titans fell behind 22-4 after one and trailed 37-12 at the break. The Mustangs tacked 10 more onto their lead with a 16-6 score in the third before outscoring the Titans 11-9 in the final stanza to salt away the victory...

The Harris-Lake Park boys and girls basketball teams split a War Eagle Conference home doubleheader with Remsen St. Mary's on Tuesday, Feb. 9, as the H-LP girls won 53-45 and the boys fell to the Hawks 53-41. In the girls' contest, the Wolves trailed 9-8 after a slow first quarter, but opened up a 23-20 lead at the break with a 15-11 second quarter. ...

Okoboji's offensive woes continued on Tuesday, Feb. 9, as the boys fell to Sioux Center 60-46 in a Siouxland Conference road trip. "We guarded well enough to be in the game, if not win the game, but we just didn't shoot well enough to win it," Okoboji coach Ryan Paulsen said. ...