Midwest

Minnesota leadership faces calls from schools to protect girls’ sports as Trump’s Title IX deadline looms

Published

2 months ago

October 26, 2025

Minnesota leadership faces calls from schools to protect girls’ sports as Trump’s Title IX deadline looms

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Minnesota’s education agencies face a deadline Friday from the U.S. Department of Education to change its trans athlete policies. Now, more than 40 school board members from districts across the state have now openly supported complying with the DOE as the deadline nears.

The school board members penned a letter to state leaders in St. Paul earlier this week – Education Commissioner Willie Jett, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and executive director of the Minnesota State High School League Erich Martens – urging them to comply with President Donald Trump’s administration on the issue.

“How are we protecting all students in our district. So, whether it’s in the locker rooms or on the playing field,” wrote Lisa Atkinson, a member of the Prior Lake Savage Area Schools Board. “As school districts, we cannot risk the loss in funding. It’s really that important to us. This is an opportunity for our state to figure out a way to put in policies that really protect all students.”

The sun shines on the Minnesota State Capitol on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, in St. Paul, on the opening day of the 2024 session of the Minnesota Legislature. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

The board members also expressed anxiety over federal funding cuts “that would adversely affect educational programs, extracurricular activities and resources for over 875,000 students statewide.”

Trump’s Feb. 5 “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order states that schools who allow biological males to compete in girls’ sports will be subject to federal funding freezes.

Ellison, who has been a staunch supporter of trans athletes in girls’ sports and has even filed a lawsuit against Trump and the U.S. Department of Justice for its recent Title IX enforcement efforts, responded to the letter in a statement.

“School sports aren’t just a good way to get exercise, they help kids build friendships, make them feel like they belong, and teach them important life lessons, like how to work as a team, how to treat their competition with respect, and how to win with grace and lose with dignity. Letting the very small number of transgender students in Minnesota play on their school sports teams doesn’t harm anyone, but segregating them does. Exclusion is a violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which has protected the rights of trans kids to participate in all extracurricular activities for decades,” Ellison said, via Fox 9.

“I too am concerned about the Trump Administration’s threats to cut education funding for kids across Minnesota, but this matter is before the court right now. The federal government’s threats violate the U.S. Constitution, Minnesota law, and Title IX itself. I’m fighting to prevent these harmful cuts, stop the Administration’s bullying of transgender kids who just want to live their lives in peace, and protect the rights and freedoms of all our students in Minnesota.”

INSIDE GAVIN NEWSOM’S TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL CRISIS

Champlin Park and Eagan players shake hands following the quarterfinals round of the Minnesota Girls’ Softball State Tournament. (Amber Harding/OutKick)

Meanwhile, multiple girls’ athletes have taken action to try and push their state to change its policies as well.

Three anonymous girls’ softball players have filed a lawsuit against state agencies after having to face a trans pitcher from Champlin Park High School last season. The trans pitcher, Marissa Rothenberger, led Champlin Park to a state championship in the spring, with one of the best playoff stat lines in all of Minnesota.

“It’s really upsetting to know that [Ellison] isn’t taking rights of girls and women seriously. He is allowing boys to compete with girls, and it is not safe and completely unfair. To know that AG Ellison is in complete support of letting boys and men take advantage of females in sports is absolutely disgusting and wrong,” one anonymous player previously told Fox News Digital.

Meanwhile, former White Bear Lake High School softball player Kendall Kotzmacher has publicly spoken out against the state and Gov. Tim Walz for letting males play in girls’ sports, especially after Walz himself coached high school football decades ago, and saw the physical prowess of male athletes up-close.

“As a coach, you should see the differences and the vast difference that there are between biological males and biological females,” Kotzmacher told Fox News Digital.

The state legislature failed to pass a bill that would have banned trans athletes from girls’ sports, the “Preserving Girls’ Sports Act,” back in March. It fell one vote shy of advancing to Walz’s desk. Meanwhile, state lawmaker Rep. Liish Kozlowski, who identifies as “non-binary,” called the bill “another version of state-sanctioned bullying and genocide.”

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

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Missouri

KSR’s top takeaways from Kentucky’s 22-point win over Missouri

Published

4 minutes ago

January 4, 2026

Press Room

KSR’s top takeaways from Kentucky’s 22-point win over Missouri

Welp. The game of basketball giveth, and the game of basketball taketh, and it took away Teonni Key from us. Of course, there was some other (positive) stuff that took place as Kentucky beat Missouri handily.

So, here are KSR’s top takeaways from the 74-52 win over the Tigers.

Get better soon, Teonni Key

First and foremost, let’s extend some well wishes to Teonni Key. In what was truly a freakish play, the 6-foot-5 forward dove for a loose ball and awkwardly landed on a Missouri player and the court, resulting in a dislocated elbow, according to Kenny Brooks. We’re rooting for a speedy recovery, 7!

Kenny Brooks on Teonni Key following the Mizzou game:
“We’re just praying for her right now. She dislocated her elbow. All we can do right now is pray for her. She’s a tough kid. This is the part of the game I hate the most. It was a freak play. We’ll continue to pray.”
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— Phoenix Stevens (@PStevensKSR) January 4, 2026

I am no medical expert and I won’t even try to pretend to be, so to look at the situation differently, it’s going to be really important for players like Asia Boone and Kaelyn Carroll to step up in her place, assuming she will be out of action for an extended period of time. We’ve seen this team without Key in two games already, and they both played an important role in making sure her lost production wasn’t a killer.

Obviously, the top priority here is her health in general, but just looking at the basketball aspect, life is going to get even tougher. Her presence on the defensive end and on the glass will almost certainly be missed sorely. It’s just a matter of the next man stepping up and providing their own unique punch.

Tonie Morgan’s confidence is on another planet right now

After a 24-point, 12-assists, 0-turnover outing against the No. 5 team in the country is awesome enough. But then hitting the game-winning three to add the cherry on top? Should it really come as a surprise that Tonie Morgan‘s confidence is through the roof right now?

She nailed her first three shots against Missouri — even hitting a three from about where that game-winner was from a few nights back. Against the Tigers, Morgan went off, recording 18 points on 7-11 (2-3 3PT) shooting while dishing out 14 assists along the way. FOURTEEN! Just absolutely brilliant stuff from the Georgia Tech transfer.

If she can continue to play like that — not the same ridiculous stat lines, but just taking over games and doing anything at will — she may very well end up being the best point guard in the SEC when this season is all said and done.

All things considered, that’s a really good win

Missouri is a good team, and after the LSU game, Kentucky could have very easily slept-walked into Sunday’s contest, laid an egg and lost. Instead, they beat a very solid Tigers squad by 22 points, leading by double digits pretty much the whole way.

The Tigers have had an interesting season, but they entered Sunday’s game 12-4, and in their last game, they were within a possession or two against No. 2 Texas for the majority of that game — even leading after the first quarter.

Brooks admitted that Kentucky was a bit “sluggish” out the gate against Missouri, and when you couple that with the emotionally taxing part of Key’s injury, being able to get themselves together to get a win like they did is, at the end of the day, something that Kentucky can hang its hat on.

KSR’s Rapid Reaction

Kenny Brooks, Tonie Morgan Postgame Press Conference

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Nebraska

Challenging Week Ahead in Nebraska Men’s Basketball

Published

16 minutes ago

January 4, 2026

Press Room

Challenging Week Ahead in Nebraska Men’s Basketball

If this were a football road trip for Nebraska, yikes. The Huskers this week visit Ohio State and Indiana.

But maybe, given Nebraska’s 14-0 basketball start, it’s the Buckeyes and Hoosiers who should be concerned.

The basketball version of the Buckeyes and Hoosiers is difficult enough, as both Nebraska opponents are formidable, both are capable of making the NCAA Tournament and both are capable of pinning that first loss on the Huskers.

Nebraska has played one true road game, a victory at Illinois. The Huskers play Ohio State on Monday and Indiana on Saturday, Jan. 10. The No. 13 Huskers are flying, coming off a 58-56 victory over No. 9 Michigan State on Friday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Defeating the Spartans was the kind of tense victory over a legitimate basketball powerhouse that could define the Huskers’ season.

Back to reality for Huskers

“Everybody that played, I think, made a big contribution,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said at a postgame news conference about the victory over Michigan State.

The victory led to a wild, court-filled celebration at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

But, now, back to the harsh reality of life in the difficult Big Ten. There’s not much turnaround time for Nebraska before the Ohio State game.

“We’ve got to bounce back [Saturday, Jan. 3] with a good mental day [of] prep and get one more day,” Hoiberg said.

Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg has led his team to a 14-0 record with road games this week at Ohio State and Indiana. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

“We’ll practice a little bit, and travel day, but it was a hell of a tough turnaround to play back-to-back 8 o’clock games with two days’ prep, and now you go on the road for two.

“So, it’s a great win for us. I’m not going to discount that. Huge win for our program but we got to get past it and move on to Ohio State.”

The Huskers are tied for first place in the Big Ten with Michigan and Purdue at 3-0. One of these teams is not the like the others, at least based on preseason projections and historical precedent. Purdue and Michigan were expected to be Big Ten contenders. Nebraska was not, but has become one of the best national college basketball success stories so far this season.

‘It’s been a fun ride’

“We’ve done something that hasn’t been done in this program ever … running the table in the non-conference hasn’t been done in almost 100 years,” Hoiberg said. “So, there’s a lot of things these guys can be proud of, but at the same time, the most impressive thing to me about this group is how they’ve handled it. They haven’t gotten big-headed.

“You know, a lot of things have been written and listen, if it flips, it’s going to go the other way and they got to handle that well.

“Hopefully, it doesn’t, but it’s been a fun ride with this team and they’ve seen how much effort and time you’re putting into it to go out and execute game plans, get chewed out at halftime and handle it and respond.

“Again, I’ve talked a lot about this group. They’ve been a joy to be around and they’ve been fun because of their daily approach …

“When you go on the road, you got to be fresh physically and mentally as much as possible. Had guys play a lot. Rienk [Mast] hadn’t played this amount of minutes in awhile. So, it’s going to be important to get him back fresh and go out and hopefully play well on the road.”

Nebraska at Ohio State

When: Monday, 5:30 p.m. CT
Where: Schottenstein Center, Columbus
Records: Nebraska 14-0, 3-0 in Big Ten; Ohio State, 10-3, 2-1 in Big Ten. The Buckeyes are 7-1 at home.
TV: FS1

Rankings updated based on games through Saturday.

Ohio State rankings

* Associated Press Top 25: Not ranked
* NCAA Net Ratings: 46 (dropped two places)
* USA Today Coaches Poll: Not ranked
* Kenpom.com: 39
* ESPN Power Rankings: 36
* Top 25 and 1: Not ranked
* Team Rankings.com: 62

In Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology projections, Ohio State is an 11-seed as one of the “last four in” for the 68-team NCAA Tournament.

Nebraska rankings

* Associated Press Top 25: 13 (new poll is released Monday)
* NCAA Net Ratings: 11 (improved four places)
* USA Today Coaches Poll: 13
* Kenpom.com: 22
* ESPN Power Rankings: 26 (dropped one place)
* Top 25 and 1: 9 (improved four places)
* Team Rankings.com: 7 (improved one place)

In Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology projections, Nebraska is a 4-seed for the 68-team NCAA Tournament.

Nebraska-Ohio State analysis

Something to watch: How Nebraska bounces back from a highly emotional win over Michigan State. The Ohio State crowd will be revved up at the sight of the 14-0 Huskers. The Buckeyes can enhance their NCAA resume with a win over the Huskers. If Hoiberg has his team focused and the players are “business-like” as the coach says they are, Nebraska could be in good position to keep the winning streak going. Last season, the Huskers lost in Columbus, 116-114, in double overtime on March 4, a defeat that likely hurt their NCAA chances.

Nebraska at Indiana

When: Saturday, 11 a.m. CT
Where: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington
Records: Nebraska 14-0, 3-0 in Big Ten; Indiana, 10-3, 1-1 in Big Ten. The Hoosiers are 9-0 at home.
TV: BTN

Indiana rankings

* Associated Press Top 25: Not ranked
* NCAA Net Ratings: 33
* USA Today Coaches Poll: 39
* Kenpom.com: 28
* ESPN Power Rankings: 17 (improved by two places)
* Top 25 and 1: Not ranked
* Team Rankings.com: 68 (dropped three places)

In Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology projections, Indiana is an 11-seed as one of the “last four byes” for the 68-team NCAA Tournament.

Nebraska rankings

In Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology projections, Nebraska is a 4-seed for the 68-team NCAA Tournament.

Indiana guard Lamar Wilkerson is averaging 20.2 points in home games. Nebraska is at Indiana on Saturday. | Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

Nebraska-Indiana analysis

Indiana is 9-0 at home and has two games before Nebraska comes to Bloomington — Sunday vs. Washington (the Hoosiers’ first game since Dec. 22), and Wednesday at Maryland.

If the Hoosiers can stay focused and not be distracted by the football team’s run to the College Football Playoff semifinals, IU won’t be easy for Nebraska.

Indiana features balanced scoring. Indiana guard Lamar Wilkerson — no relation to the legendary Hoosier Bobby Wilkerson of the 1976 NCAA championship team — should be the focus of the Huskers’ defense. Wilkerson, a 6-foot-6 senior, can light it up, averaging 20.2 points in home games and 19.0 points overall.

North Dakota

Markhi Strickland has 15 as North Dakota State defeats Oral Roberts 79-77 in double OT

Published

52 minutes ago

January 4, 2026

Press Room

Markhi Strickland has 15 as North Dakota State defeats Oral Roberts 79-77 in double OT

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Markhi Strickland had 15 points in North Dakota State’s 79-77 double overtime victory over Oral Roberts on Saturday.

Strickland also contributed five rebounds for the Bison (12-5, 2-0 Summit League). Trevian Carson added 14 points while going 6 of 10 (2 for 3 from 3-point range) and eight rebounds. Damari Wheeler-Thomas finished with 14 points, while adding six rebounds.

Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams led the way for the Golden Eagles (5-12, 0-2) with 19 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Connor Dow added 15 points and two steals for Oral Roberts. Ofri Naveh also put up 14 points.

A foul sent Wheeler-Thomas to the line with seven seconds to play, where he sank one of the shots to send the game to overtime. Jack Turner tipped in a shot for Oral Roberts to send the game to a second overtime. Noah Feddersen tipped in a shot for North Dakota state with one second to play for the win for the Bison.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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