Minnesota Scene: Two MIAC unbeatens meet in women's basketball

Eight teams are unbeaten in the latest d3hoops.com women's basketball Top 25 poll. Two will meet Wednesday when MIAC co-leaders St. Thomas (18-0, 12-0 MIAC) and Gustavus Adolphus (19-0, 12-0) play in St. Peter, Minn.

The Tommies are ranked No. 3, while the Gusties are ranked No. 17. This will be their only regular-season meeting; afterward each has five regular-season games left.

Kaitlin Langer of the Tommies leads the MIAC in scoring at 19.3 points per game. Two Gusties, Mikayla Miller (17.6 ppg) and Miranda Rice (17.1), are next.

No. 2 Augsburg will wrestle No. 3 Wartburg College at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Si Melby Hall in the annual "Battle of the 'Burgs." The two teams have combined to win every NCAA Division III national title since 1995. Each has 12 national crowns.

The Knights beat the Auggies 31-9 in the NWCA D-III national duals on Jan. 6 in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Before their rematch, Scott West will meet Waverly-Shell Rock, ranked No. 5 in Class 3A in Iowa, at 5:30 p.m. Scott West is No. 2 in Class 2A in Minnesota.

Thief River Falls suspended its varsity and junior varsity boys' hockey programs for this week after an investigation into alleged inappropriate behavior.

"The suspensions are not meant to imply that all players engaged in inappropriate behavior," said Bradley D. Bergstrom, School District 564's superintendent. "The action of the district is meant to embrace that a team rises and falls together.

Burnsville native Lindsey Vonn and Michael Ankeny of Deephaven were named Tuesday to the U.S. team that will compete in the Alpine world ski championships Feb. 6-19 in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Vonn, a three-time Olympian, returned to competition last month after recovering from a serious arm injury and won a downhill race in Germany, her 77th victory on the World Cup circuit. She made the world championships team for the seventh time and has won six medals at the event. Ankeny, a slalom specialist, is a first-time member of the world championships team. His best World Cup result this season was a 23rd-place finish in Adelboden, Switzerland, last month.

After 31 years, Dick Jonckowski will retire as the PA announcer at Gophers men's baskeball games at the end of this season. He will continue to do the same job at Minnesota baseball games, however.

• The Gophers softball team is ranked No. 16 in the USA Today/NFCA Division I preseason poll. Minnesota was 43-14 last season.