Belle Plaine picked up its fourth girls’ basketball win of the season Friday night, as the Plainsmen stopped Montezuma, 47-28.
After getting off to a slow start and scoring just five points in the first quarter, the Plainsmen lit up the scoreboard for 19 points in the second quarter and added eight in the third before finishing with 15 in the last period.
Dani Coover again paced the Plainsmen with 19 points. She also had nine rebounds, two assists and three steals. Taylor Schafbuch had 12 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals. Macy DeMeulenaere finished with nine points and added three rebounds, three steals and three assists. Katie Croft added three points and three rebounds. Joy Cronbaugh also had three points and four rebounds. Laura Breja had one point, with eight rebounds and a block.
Belle Plaine has three games set for this week. The Plainsmen are on the road Monday at English Valleys, then will host Lynnville-Sully on Tuesday and Keota on Friday.

There has been a change in place and opponents for Tuesday’s varsity wrestling meet. The meet will be held at Lynnville-Sully and the Plainsmen will also face Colfax-Mingo and Southeast Warren.
According to activities director Greg Walton, this change was necessitated due to the low number of wrestlers at both Montezuma and North Mahaska.

Jim Ferguson, 72, Chelsea, died Friday, Dec. 11, 2009, in Cedar Rapids. Funeral services will be Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Chelsea. Burial will be in St. Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery, Chelsea. Visitation will be from 3-8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18, 2009, at the church.
Hrabak Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

George Konicek, Jr, 83, of Clutier, died Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009 in Marshalltown. Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Chelsea, with burial at the National Cemetery, Vining, with military rites. Visitation will be from 4-7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009 at the Hrabak Funeral Home with a scripture service at 6:30 p.m.

The Hrabak Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Monday was a day for a couple of check presentations in downtown Belle Plaine. Representatives of MidWestOne Bank presented a check for $500 to the Dollars for Scholars scholarship fund. A total of $800 was raised through the group’s annual drive associated with specific statistic levels achieved by high school sports teams. Additional donations were made by John Grieder Motors, Grieder Standard, Friedman Distributing, Coverall and Styling with Trish brought for the $800 total.
Members of Belle Plaine Partners for Beautification presented $100 in Belle Plaine Bucks to Don Magdefrau, who won group’s raffle conducted during the Christmas Homecoming celebration. Magdefrau then in turn made a $100 donation to the group.

Barb Garling, incoming treasurer for the Belle Plaine Dollars for Scholars, accepts a $500 donation from Carol Petersen of MidWestOne Bank for the general scholarship fund. The money was part of the annual fall sports-related drive.

Don Magdefrau, second from right, was the $100 Belle Plaine Bucks winner in the Christmas Homecoming raffle, sponsored by the Belle Plaine Partners for Beautification. Representatives of that group include, from left: Carol Petersen, Lon Weber and Dick Wells. Magdefrau then made a $100 donation to the group.

Dec. 7, 3:50 p.m. – Resident reported a fox near their residence in the 1900 block of 13th Avenue. Officers were unable to locate it.
Dec. 7, 4:33 p.m. – An opossum was reported at 1706 Ninth Avenue. It was captured and released to the wild.
Dec. 7, 10:44 p.m. – Gerrod Lurvey, 21, Belle Plaine, was arrested at 907 13th Street on an outstanding warrant for criminal mischief. He was turned over to a Benton County Deputy.
Dec. 8, 5:47 p.m. – An attempted motor vehicle theft was reported in the 1000 block of 12th Street. It was determined that the vehicle had been left running, parked parallel to the curb. It somehow slipped out of gear and traveled over a block before it stopped.
Dec. 8, 6:40 a.m. – Vehicle unlock at 627 Ninth Avenue.
Dec. 8, 1:21 p.m. – A two-vehicle accident was reported at 13th Street and Eighth Avenue. There was less than $1,000 in total damages. No report was filed and no charges were filed.
Dec. 9, 12:24 a.m. – Officers assisted a stranded motorist at 1406 Sixth Avenue.
Dec. 9, 12:30 a.m. – Officers assisted a stranded motorist at Fifth Avenue and 13th Street.
Dec. 9, 11:25 p.m. – A prowler was reported at 1603 Eighth Avenue. Officers were unable to locate anyone.
Dec. 10, 5 a.m. – Officers assisted a stranded motorist in the 2000 block of Ninth Avenue.
Dec. 11, 1:23 a.m. – Ambulance assist in the 1400 block of 12th Avenue.
Dec. 11, 5:09 a.m. – Ambulance assist at Washington Apartments.
Dec. 12, 1:45 a.m. – Alex Vernon Brown, 22, Belle Plaine, was arrested in the 800 block of 12th Street when he was allegedly observed urinating in public. A subsequent breath test indicated that his blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit. He was charged with public intoxication and turned over to a Benton County Deputy.
Dec. 12, 5:40 a.m. – Ambulance assist in the 600 block of 11th Street.
Dec. 12, 7:40 p.m. – Ambulance assist at the Belle Plaine Nursing and Rehab Center.
Dec. 14, 9:30 a.m. – A garage burglary was reported at 2001 Tenth Avenue.
A criminal charge is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Tonight’s JV wrestling meet at Vinton has been postponed to Monday, Dec. 21.

Belle Plaine’s public works department got its first major test last week, as crew members worked to clear the city’s streets of the foot of snow and accompanying drifts which hit the area at midweek.
City Administrator Bill Daily said today that city crews worked four days straight from 4 a.m. to 3 p.m. They were joined by three part-time workers who helped haul snow away from the streets. Daily said the city was expecting a new shipment of sand today (Monday) to replenish its stock. He said the city doesn’t use a lot of salt on its streets.
Just when city workers may have thought they would be able to catch up on their sleep, they were called to a water main break Friday evening at Seventh Avenue and 10th Street. Daily said the problem was a gasket on a valve.
Crews worked for three or four hours Friday night to pinpoint the location of the problem and close down valve to minimize the leak, then were back to work Saturday at 7:30 a.m. and had the problem fixed by 6 p.m. Saturday. Some residents south of the railroad tracks experienced varying degrees of water service interruption from 9 p.m. Friday until about 2 p.m. Saturday, he said.
He also said three outside companies responded quickly, even though it was a weekend, to help the city fix the problem. Schmitt Construction came to excavate the site Saturday morning and Hamilton Construction and Manatt’s Company were put on standby for the replacement street repair.

Even though three Montezuma players finished in double figure scoring for the night, Friday’s game against Belle Plaine won’t go down in the books as a strong offensive showing for either team. In the end, the Plainsmen came out on the short end of a 47-32 score, as they scored in single digits in three of the four quarters.
After the first quarter, the host Braves had a 9-5 lead. But the Plainsmen put 13 points on the board in the second quarter to go to the break down by one, 19-18. The host team opened a 31-26 lead after three quarters before they outscored the visiting Plainsmen in the fourth period, 16-6.
The Plainsmen hit 13 of 44 shots from the field, while Montezuma hit only 13 of 42. But the difference came at the free throw line, where the Panthers hit on 19 of 21 attempts, compared to five of just nine attempts for Belle Plaine. The host team also had a 34-21 lead in rebounds and the Plainsmen had a 23-9 lead in turnovers.
Chris Janss finished with 10 points, two rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block to lead the Plainsmen. Ben Ehlen added nine points, with three rebounds and three assists. Cooper Northrop had four points and three rebounds. Keegan DeMeulenaere had three points, four rebounds two assists, three steals and a block. John Long had two points, three rebounds and two steals. Jalen Schmuecker had two points and Seivon Steward had two points and five rebounds.
For Montezuma, Damon Bryan and D.J. Sutfin each had 15 and Victor Bushong added 10 points.
“Once again we did not shoot the ball very well hitting only 33 percent of our shots. Although struggling with our shooting, we still had a lead with less than 10 minutes to play. Untimely turnovers and shot selection sealed our fate and the game got away from us late.
“The boys are really putting up a great effort on the defensive end, but still struggling with some decision making on the offensive end,” Coach Justin Northrop said. “We have led every game we have played this year and three of the four we have led deep into the second half. I know the guys will break out of this soon and start playing solid basketball. We just need to start playing under control and use our athletic ability to our advantage.”
The Plainsmen will be looking to get on the winning track with three games this week, all at home. They host English Valleys tonight (Monday), Lynnville-Sully Tuesday and Keota on Wednesday.

Belle Plaine’s wrestling team got on the winning track in a big way Saturday at the North Cedar Invitational. The Plainsmen won the 11-team meet, outdistancing the field by 16 points.
The Plainsmen finished with 171 points. Second place went to Solon, 155, followed by Northeast, 148.5; New London, 139;; Durant, 130; North Linn, 128; Wilton, 113; North Cedar, 81; Midland, 59; Camanche, 52.5 and Central City, 41.
“This was a great tournament for us not only because there was some good competition but we felt we could wrestle better than last weekend,” Coach Bob Yilek said. “The first round was great, winning 10 of the 11 matches we wrestled and coming away with seven pins. These bonus points are huge in a tournament!
“Of the 10 in the semis we had six winners put themselves into the finals. We came away with three champions and the team title because we had 10 guys place in the top six. Of the 21 matches we won we had 14 pins which gave us 28 additional bonus points.
“The competition was good as there were many rated individuals and New London is highly rated team in our class with many good wrestlers. We felt we wrestled much better and each individual made progress which is what the coaching staff likes to see. We still have work to do but we are moving forward!
“Lance Hinschberger wins his first tournament with two falls and a good decision in the finals.
“Jack O’Brien wins his second tournament with a fall and two good decisions over two state place winners from last season.
“Tony Tones wins his second tournament of the year with a fall and a decision in the finals.
“Kurtis Osipchack places second with two falls. Reed Petersen places second with two falls. Zach Buch places second with one fall and losing to last year’s state champion in the finals. Cody Chekal has three falls to finish third. Austin Chekal had two decisions to finish fourth. Blake Chekal had a fall and a decision to place fifth. Chad Olson had one fall and finished sixth.
“The junior varsity wrestled at the Marion tournament and came home with 3 champions. This was a good tournament as there were 15 teams from all classes. So this was good competition for our guys. Champions were: Dakota Hamilton, Devon Parr and Scott Wheeler. Reece Kimm placed third and Brent Wheeler placed fourth.”