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Three Ways Iowa Can Beat Western Illinois

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Three Ways Iowa Can Beat Western Illinois


On paper, the Iowa Hawkeyes and Western Illinois Leathernecks are a combined 10-0. The Leathernecks have won their only road game of the year, but Iowa is 3-0 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

After a successful trip to Orlando for the WBCA Showcase, Iowa saw a huge jump in the AP Poll. They are now No. 11, one spot away from entering the Top 10. Wins over No. 7 Baylor and Miami certainly boosted their status in the eye of the public as they are now massive favorites against Western Illinois.

Ava Heide

Iowa center Ava Heiden (5) lays the ball up as Ashland guard Lexi Howe (10) defends Oct. 30, 2025 during an exhibition game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. / Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While Iowa shouldn’t necessarily need to score 100 to beat a team like Western Illinois, it doesn’t hurt to shoot for the stars. Head coach Jan Jensen’s team didn’t make a field goal in the final eight and a half minutes against the Hurricanes, yet somehow they managed to take them down, 64-61.

After a pair of low scoring games in Florida, Iowa returns home on Thanksgiving Eve for yet another non-conference showdown. This is one of two “tune-up” games before they open B1G play at Rutgers on December 6.

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Western Illinois has allowed 75+ points in their last two games. Sure, they’ve won both of them, but allowing that point total to Chicago State and Bradley shows the state of their defense. The Hawkeyes should have no issues scoring against them.

Taylor Stremlo

Iowa guard Taylor Stremlow (1) shoots Nov. 3, 2025 during a women’s college basketball game against the Southern Jaguars at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. / Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Once again, it’s impossible not to understate just how important Chit-Chat Wright is to this team. Jensen is closely monitoring her status, but the transfer guard will not be playing in the Hawkeyes return to Carver. That said, it’s safe to assume that Taylor Stremlow will once again get the start.

As long as Stremlow plays to the quality she was playing against the Bears and Hurricanes, Miami will be just fine. They also have Taylor McCabe, Kylie Feuerbach, and Addie Deal. With both McCabe and Feuerbach being seniors, this is the perfect game to get Deal even more minutes to showcase just how dominant she’s going to be in the coming years.

In the Leathernecks first game of the year, they dropped 116 points. They’ve scored 80+ in their last two, something that was necessary to win knowing how much their defense has given up.

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Their leading scorer, Mia Nicastro, is averaging 25.8 points per game. That’s ten more points per game than Iowa’s leader, but it’s shocking to note that Nicastro has only shot four three pointers this entire season.

As a team, Western Illinois is shooting 40% from three. That’s eight percent higher than the Hawkeyes, and is something that could absolutely make the difference. Allie Meadows is shooting 50% from three point range while fellow senior Addi Brownfield is shooting 46.2% herself. The Leathernecks don’t shoot a ton of threes, but they’re extremely efficient from three-point range.

Don’t forget to bookmark Iowa Hawkeyes on SI for the latest news. exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage and more!





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Produce Recall Issued In Parasite Outbreak Hitting IL

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Produce Recall Issued In Parasite Outbreak Hitting IL


A number of Taco Bell locations have posted signs announcing they are “currently unable to sell Lettuce, Cilantro Onion, Pico de Gallo, and Guacamole due to a nationwide recall,” according to Detroit-area news radio outlet WWJ.

Taco Bell told the Post it would keep monitoring the situation and follow authorities’ guidance.

Taco Bell Lettuce Linked To Growing MI Parasite Outbreak: FDA

“Public health officials have not confirmed a link to Taco Bell or any specific ingredient, supplier, restaurant or retailer,” the company told the Post. “While authorities continue their broader review, Taco Bell has voluntarily and temporarily removed limited ingredients at select restaurants as a precautionary measure.”

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In Michigan, where cases have been concentrated, media reports said notices were posted at some Detroit-area Taco Bell restaurants last week telling customers the chain was “currently unable to sell Lettuce, Cilantro-Onion, Pico de Gallo, and Guacamole due to a nationwide recall.”





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Illinois GOP trails badly in midterm cash

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Illinois GOP trails badly in midterm cash


The Illinois Republican Party filed its quarterly campaign finance report on the July 15 deadline. The party reported having just $223K in the bank. The next day, the party sent a letter to the Illinois State Board of Elections saying they were “reconciling” their records after a leadership change, and then noted that their actual end balance was $101K higher than it had reported the day before.

But that bit of found money was basically the end of the “good news” for the GOP last week.

Republicans no longer have a pet billionaire. Bruce Rauner and Ken Griffin have fled the state. The legions of wealthy business titans who once contributed and raised money have either retired to sunnier climes or passed away. Several prominent party members have publicly shunned labor unions and their hefty political war chests, although the state GOP legislative leaders have at least tried to rebuild ties to trade unions and even the Illinois Education Association. But the heavily gerrymandered legislative map combined with the current political climate means they’ll mostly receive scraps.

And, yes, the House Democrats are struggling this month with scandals, including a state representative who resigned under pressure and another who was indicted. I’m not trying to downplay that at all. But Democrats have the national political environment, the local infrastructure and tons of cash behind them. The Republicans have little to none of that.

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The GOP’s gubernatorial candidate, Darren Bailey, raised $1.3 million in the second quarter, which ended June 30. That sounds like a lot, but he spent almost all of that on direct mail fundraising costs. The huge expenditures do give him a prospect list for future fundraising, but he ended the quarter with a mere $128K in the bank. That was still a whole lot more than the rest of the statewide ticket.

Attorney General nominee Bob Fioretti, a perennial candidate, raised $31K, spent $39K and had $28K on hand at the end of the quarter along with almost $15K in recent debt. Secretary of State candidate Diane Harris raised $6K, spent a bit over $4K and had a paltry $1,816.42 in the bank. Treasurer candidate Max Solomon, who ran as a write-in during the primary because the party failed to recruit anyone, raised less than $3K, reported no spending and ended the quarter with less than $8K. Comptroller candidate Bryan Drew raised $30K and received $47K in in-kind contributions from a company owned, ironically, by independent gubernatorial candidate Collin Corbett, spent less than $3K, ended with $54K and had $25K in debt from earlier this year.

Man, that’s just downright pathetic.

But I suppose it doesn’t really matter anyway unless we see a massive sea-change in national opinion in the coming months or the federal government finds a way to not certify certain election results. Regardless of where individual candidates are at this moment, they’ll have the money to compete. Unlike the Republicans, the Dems do have a pet billionaire (JB Pritzker) and, I assume eventually for most of them, organized labor.

The Republican legislative leaders have tried to scrape and claw as much as they can, but they’re vastly outgunned. Senate Republican Leader John Curran raised just $75K in the second quarter. He spent $71K and reported having a bit more than $3 million in the bank. His caucus committee reported having $160K in the bank.

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Leader Curran has three Republican-held districts to defend in the Chicago media market that have all trended Democratic in the last three cycles. Depending how bad things get, he could be defending a couple, two or three more.

The Senate Democrats have a ton of money to do whatever they want. Senate President Don Harmon has about $20 million in his personal campaign account and $1.7 million in his caucus account.

Over in the House, Republican Leader Tony McCombie has at least four Democratic-trending or swingy districts to defend and just $1.3 million in her personal campaign account and another $363K in her caucus account so far.

In contrast, House Speaker Chris Welch had $11.4 million in his personal account and $1.2 million in his caucus account. Like Senate President Harmon, he has more than enough money already, but more is never enough when there’s so much out there, so those numbers will likely rise by November.

Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.

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Hillsboro grad, Springfield golfer Alex Eickhoff 2nd at state amateur

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Hillsboro grad, Springfield golfer Alex Eickhoff 2nd at state amateur


BLOOMINGTON — Springfield’s Alex Eickhoff nearly had a magical Thursday as he tied for second place in the 95th annual Illinois State Amateur Championship at Crestwicke Country Club.  

Eickhoff, a 2020 Hillsboro High School graduate and former standout on the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s men’s golf team, shot a 4-under-par 68 in Thursday’s third round and followed that with an even-par 71 to finish the three-day, four-round event 1-over 285. He tied for second with Bloomington’s Logan Stauffer.  

Eickhoff briefly took the lead through nine holes of his fourth round when he sat at 1-under par. Chicago’s Charlie Kulwin finished both of Thursday’s rounds under par and finished 2-under 282. He was the lone golfer to finish under par for the tournament.

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Eickhoff was The State Journal-Register’s Small School Boys Golfer of the year twice in his high school career: once as a freshman in 2016-17 and again as a senior in 2019-20. After high school, he golfed for the University of Minnesota for two years before transferring to SIUE.  

He began the tournament with a 3-over 74 on Tuesday and shaved off a stroke Wednesday with a 2-over 73. He closed out the event with an even-par 71 in Thursday’s final round.

Other area golfers who made the cut were Springfield’s Charles Hoogland (7-over 291, tied for 20th) and Jacksonville’s Brady Kaufmann (8-over 292, 25th). 

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The last golfer from The State Journal-Register’s coverage area to win the Illinois State Amateur was Jay Davis. Davis, a Jacksonville Routt graduate, won the 1991 and ‘92 tournaments. 

Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.





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