Pleasantville’s basketball team will be back in action tonight as they go up against Van Meter in a West Central Conference doubleheader.

 

The girls will be looking to get their first winning streak of the season after knocking off Woodward-Granger Tuesday night. Junior Malorie McKinney has stepped up over the last four games, putting up at least 13 points in her last four games. Coach Jeff Cook tells KNIA Sports that he has been impressed with Mckinney’s performance in recent games.

 

“That’s gotta be her job. She has to lead us most nights. There will be nights where somebody else will lead us once in a while. But she is going to have to grab the rebounds and if we are going to be effective and she has to be up there in double digits most nights. For her and Faith (Vanderhart) to both have a good night is really promising because there are a lot of times where we have both of them on the floor side by side. If people can’t just guard one of them, that makes a big difference.”

 

A win over Van Meter would put the Trojans back to .500 on the season.

 

The boys currently sit at 3-3 after losing to Woodward-Granger, 56-51 in their last game Tuesday night. Pleasantville will be going up against Van Meter, who is ranked #18 in Class 2A. Coach Tom Wilkins tells KNIA Sports that they need to play more consistently in order to win games in 2021.

 

“We came out and scored seven points in two minutes and then scored nine in the final 14. I told them in the locker room that it was ugly at the end of the first and second quarters. We played a little better going into that third but then it looked like a whole different team in that fourth quarter. That’s where we have to get to. I talked to the guys and it was a bad coaching job on my part because we should have thrown that press on them earlier than we did. I thought our guys did a good job executing; baby steps we are getting there.”

 

Pleasantville’s boys will be looking for their first win against Van Meter in the Varsity Bound Quik Stats era.

 

The doubleheader begins tonight with the girls’ game starting at 6:00 PM.