DIKE — The West Marshall girls basketball team won its first road test on Monday, taking down Dike-New Hartford 59-51.

Isabelle Gradwell was the leading scorer for the Trojans (3-0), going for 20 points along with seven rebounds and seven assists. Brooke Snider was efficient as well with 16 points and three steals. Kayla Cripps also reached the double digits for West Marshall, dropping in 11 points and hauling down six rebounds.

Morgan Weber led the Wolverines (0-1) with 19 points, while Ellie Foster had 13 and Baylee Petersen had nine for DNH.

West Marshall returns home on Friday to start NICL West Division play against AGWSR, starting at 6:15 p.m. in State Center.

No. 9 Spartans stave off A-P girls

GRUNDY CENTER — The Class 2A No. 9 Grundy Center girls’ basketball team overcame early adversity to defeat Aplington-Parkersburg in Monday’s season-opening contest, 50-47.

The Spartans jumped out to a 16-0 lead before leading scorer Hailey Wallis went down with an apparent ankle injury. Grundy Center’s lead dwindled to as little as one point, but the Spartans persevered.

Aplington-Parkersburg (0-1) trailed the Spartans by one at halftime, 28-27, and after three quarters, 37-36, but could never get over the hump. Grundy Center’s 1-for-10 free-throw shooting helped the Falcons stay within range, but an 8-0 surge by the Spartans to start the fourth quarter stretched the deficit to nine, 45-36.

The Falcons fought back to within three, 50-47, on a 3-pointer by Jenna Bruns with 20 seconds left, but that’s where the final margin stayed.

Brooke Flater led Grundy Center with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Maddie McMartin finished with 13 points and four boards. Reegan Zinkula came away with 11 points, including a layup to cap that eight-point Spartan spurt in the fourth quarter.

Bruns led A-P with 18 points and Gabbi Kampman came off the bench to add 12 points.

Grundy Center goes to Hudson tonight in another cross-NICL contest.

Falcons finish off Grundy Center boys

GRUNDY CENTER — Carter Cuvelier piled up 28 points and nine rebounds to lead the Aplington-Parkersburg boys’ basketball team to a 92-58 rout of Grundy Center in both teams’ season opener Monday night.

Grant Truax added 18 points and Alec Oberhauser finished with 16 points and eight boards for the Falcons, who led 46-32 at the half and opened it up from there.

Drew Rathe and Matthew Sternhagen led Grundy Center with 13 points apiece, while Sage Klar came away with 11 points and seven boards for the Spartans.

Grundy Center goes to Hudson tonight before opening up NICL West Division play Friday at Gladbrook-Reinbeck.

Wadley shares weekly Big Ten honor

IOWA CITY — University of Iowa senior running back Akrum Wadley was named the Big Ten Conference’s co-Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in Saturday’s 56-14 whitewashing of Nebraska.

Wadley carried 19 times for a season-high 159 yards and three touchdowns and added one reception for eight yards as the Hawkeyes outscored the Cornhuskers 42-0 after halftime.

Wadley ran his season rushing total to 1,081 yards to become just the fourth running back in school history to have back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns, and his 2,784 career yards and 27 rushing touchdowns rank fourth in the program annals.

Panthers’ Pickford receives MVC award

CEDAR FALLS — University of Northern Iowa freshman Tywhon Pickford has been named the Missouri Valley Conference’s men’s basketball Newcomer of the Week.

Pickford averaged 12.7 points and 12.7 rebounds as UNI placed second at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament over the weekend in Paradise Island, Bahamas.

Pickford led the Panthers with 18 points and 18 rebounds in their semifinal win against North Carolina State, and he finished with nine points and 10 boards in the championship game loss to No. 5 Villanova.

The Minneapolis native is averaging 10.9 points and 11 rebounds per game so far this season.