Jeff Linder

Girls’ basketball: Meena Tate leads pivotal fourth-quarter surge in Iowa City West’s 42-40 win over Iowa City Liberty.

Women’s basketball: No. 16 Iowa hosts Minnesota -- and its four freshman starters -- at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Women’s basketball: After a cold first half, Caitlin Clark ended with a balanced stat line (19 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 steals) ... and some postgame one-liners (“It’s Opposite Day,” for one) in Iowa’s 70-57 win over Iowa State on Wednesday.

Girls’ basketball notes: Alburnett races away in the 4th quarter, earns first win over Maquoketa Valley in nearly 16 years.

Women’s basketball: Trailing at halftime, 16th-ranked Iowa blitzes No. 10 Iowa State in the third quarter, reclaims Cy-Hawk superiority, 70-57.

Area girls’ basketball Super Ten (Dec. 7): Iowa City West, Cedar Rapids Xavier, North Linn remain 1-2-3; Decorah jumps into the top 5; Solon and Cascade make their first appearance of the season.

Girls’ basketball: Linn-Mar clicks in all areas in a 63-42 win over Cedar Rapids Jefferson. Lions rule the glass and distribute 19 assists.

Prep football: IHSAA approves socioeconomic factor to be instituted for football classification. First developed in Minnesota, the factor is free and reduced lunches. If member schools and Iowa Board of Education pass the amendment, it will go into effect next fall.

Women’s basketball: With all of the familiar faces on both sides, much attention in this year’s Cy-Hawk battle in focused on ISU’s Stephanie Soares.

Iowa women’s basketball pursues its 26th straight win vs. Wisconsin on Sunday, and Coach Lisa Bluder wants more opportunities for Monika Czinano and more production from Gabbie Marshall.

Girls’ basketball: Aaliyah Beier’s early shooting barrage stakes 4A No. 1 Cedar Rapids Xavier to an 18-point lead, then a late (and correct) shot-clock call clinches the Saints’ 56-50 win over Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

Prep volleyball: Iowa City Liberty’s Cassidy Hartman and Allie Kelly headline The Gazette’s 2022 all-area team.

Women’s basketball: Hawkeyes ‘disappointed’ after a ‘dull’ 94-81 loss to North Carolina State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

In the Iowa high school girls’ basketball notebook: Cascade rallied from an 18-point halftime deficit to shock West Liberty, 60-56. Plus, Mount Vernon went 3-0 against MVC teams.

Women’s basketball: No. 10 Iowa hosts No. 12 North Carolina State on Thursday in the final rendition of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.