The Indianola basketball squads swept North Polk Monday evening, the girls pulling out a nailbiter 56-54 and the boys blowing away the Comets 74-50 in a doubleheader heard live on 94.3 KNIA.

The girls team started slow, trailing the Comets 13-10 at the end of the first with some cold shooting, that included going just 2-8 from the free throw line. Sophomore Brynn Ortlund came off the bench to hit a pair of three-point shots to get the Indians offense going, with the team making a run for a 26-25 halftime advantage. After going back and forth throughout the third quarter, the Indians managed to break the tie with clutch shooting down the stretch to earn the win, and the poor first quarter free throw shooting would not continue in the second half, as the Indians attacked the basket to draw fouls, and shot 15 of 18 to salt the game away. Lauren Blake led the Indians with 16 points, while Kendall Clatt scored 13.

In the boys contest, a slow paced first half for the young Indianola boys squad saw the Indians gain leads of 11 and 7 points in the second quarter, but the Comets refused to lay down and brought the score to a 35-33 Indianola halftime advantage. In the third quarter however, the Indians picked up the intensity on the defensive end, holding North Polk scoreless for the majority of the quarter, and continued to force turnovers in the fourth to get the blowout win. Head coach Brett Watson tells KNIA Sports he challenged his guys to pick it up in the second half and they came through.

“We talked a lot about toughness. Toughness around the hoop both offensively and defensively, we just felt like they got too many second and third opportunities, and too many easy passes down low. They did a much better job down there, and we got the tempo back where we wanted it in our favor which helped, but toughness was a big factor that we focused on at halftime.”

The Indians had four athletes in double figure scoring led by Drew Kingery and Caden Rehmeier with 15 apiece, 14 from Cooper Nailor, and 11 from CJ Kuehl. The Indians girls improve to 1-1 on the season, the boys are now 1-0, and both teams will next play Friday on the road at Pella.