The Indianola boys and girls basketball teams swept Newton at home Friday evening in a Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader, the boys winning 74-54 and the girls 55-26 in a pair of games heard live on 94.3 KNIA.

The Indians boys were efficient offensively, leading after the first quarter 25-17, then continued to play well building a 40-31 halftime advantage. After Newton came out firing to start the third quarter to cut the lead to four, the Indians dominated from then on as they put up 26 points in the frame and emptied the bench in the fourth as their lead got as high as 29. Brady Blake and Drew Kingery each scored 15, while Brayden Drea scored 14.

The Indians girls were dominant defensively, allowing only three first quarter points to the Cardinals leading 10-3, then outscored Newton 15-13 in the second quarter to lead 25-16 at halftime. Newton hit some shots to make it close to begin the third, but the Indians hit multiple outside shots to pull away and only allowed three points in the fourth quarter to win it.

Head coach Jeff Janssen tells KNIA Sports the entire team stepped up offensively and defensively and gave maximum effort.

“I think we got our hands on a lot of basketball tonight, and got a lot of deflections. Really proud of our girls for flying around and making stops, and it helped making some three’s in the second half of course. Proud of our production from everybody, but especially from a couple girls with some career highs in their short varsity career, a good way to head into the weekend.”

Zoey Belt scored 15 to lead the team, while Gillian Smith scored 14, both career highs. The Indians boys improve to 2-0, the girls to 2-1, and both teams will next play on Friday hosting Oskaloosa.