Girl’s tourney is underway

The girls state high school basketball tournament is underway in Des Moines. Top-ranked and defending champion Preston wasted little time in establishing itself as the team to beat in class 1A. The Trojans outscored 17th-ranked Odebolt-Arthur 20-10 in the second quarter in building an 18-point halftime lead enroute to a 72-45 victory. All-State center Beth Marvin led Preston with 22-points and 14-rebounds. Preston improves to 27-0 and will play George-Little Rock in Wednesday night’s semifinal round. In the class 1A opener, George-Little Rock held Van Meter to just 26-percent shooting for the game and forced 25-turnovers enroute to a 62-33 victory. In another class 1A game, sophomore Jennifer Goetz had 22-points and added ten rebounds as third-ranked Keokuk Cardinal Stritch downed sixth-ranked Tripoli 44-36.