The Norwalk Warriors split a pair of games Friday night to Grinnell as the girls fell 60-43 and the boys won 57-39.

In the girls game, Grinnell would jump out to a quick 19-12 lead after the first quarter of play with the Tiger’s Meredith McKnight leading the way offensively, scoring fifteen first half points with an array of shots from behind the arc as well as inside with drives to the basket.

Norwalk would find their rhythm in the second quarter with freshmen Bailey Birmingham finding her shot early with nine first half points as the Warriors would trail by just four at halftime 32-28.

Grinnell’s fast paced offense and pressure defense would prove too much down the stretch as the Tigers would extend their lead in the third quarter to eleven at 46-35 before erupting in the fourth quarter for the seventeen point win. The loss snaps the Warriors six game win streak as the schedule doesn’t get much easier with two regular season games left, on the road Tuesday at Dallas Center-Grimes and next Friday at Indianola.

In the boys game the Warriors and Tigers would start out very slow offensively with Norwalk leading 5-2 after the first quarter. In the second quarter the pace of play would pick up with Norwalk jumping out to a 24-13 halftime lead capped off by a three pointer at the buzzer by senior Vinny Mauro.

In the second half Norwalk would put the game into cruise control, leading 40-15 after three quarters on their way to an 18 point win on senior night. Sophomore Redek Born would lead the Warriors with seventeen points. Next up for Norwalk is a battle on the road at Dallas Center-Grimes, a team they took into four overtimes in their last match up.

Norwalk Head Coach Aaron Pelzer tells KNIA Sports he expects Dallas Center-Grimes to try to speed the Warriors up and his team will have to be ready to deal with their pressures and take care of the basketball.

Norwalk stretches their current win streak to three games and is back above .500 at 9-8 overall.