Norwalk and Lewis Central split a non-conference girl-boy basketball doubleheader Tuesday night in Norwalk. The Class 4A 9th-ranked Titan girls pulled away in the second half to beat Norwalk 57-38 while the Warrior boys posted an impressive 67-40 victory over LC.
Both games were streamed live by kniakrls.com (KNIA 3) as well as the Warrior Productions YouTube channel.
Strong man-to-man defense and excellent ball movement on the offensive end carried the Norwalk boys to a third straight win. The Warriors, now 3-1 overall, opened the game with a 10-0 run. After Lewis Central answered to cut the margin to 12-9, Norwalk scored the final six points of the first quarter and never looked back.
The Warriors’ unselfish passing set up six 3-pointers in the first half and 10 for the game. Aidan Harder hit four treys and finished with 15 points while Braeden Carlson, Dillon Ranck and Grady Sigrist all added two shots from beyond the arc. Redek Born scored a game-high 16 points, Carlson scored 10 and Cameron Thomas chipped in eight – all in the second half.
LC, which dropped to 3-2 overall, was led by Nash Paulson’s 13 points.
Norwalk boys head coach Aaron Pelzer says the Warriors have steadily improved since losing their first game to Pella, noting that the team plays much better basketball when they focus hard on the defensive game plan and then “just play” on offense.
“I’ve kind of promised them as long as they give me all they’ve got on defense then I’ll let them go a little bit on offense,” Pelzer said. “And I thought we did a really good job of just sharing the ball. That’s kind of how we looked in the preseason with our ball movement and making shots and making the next pass and just making a bunch of the right plays… It took a little while to find it again. I hope it’s here to stay, but that’s exactly the type of basketball that we want to play.”
In the girls game, Norwalk led for part of the first half and trailed just 29-28 at the break before being outscored 28-10 in the final two quarters. LC’s switch to a zone defense late in the first half had a big impact. The Warriors made six 3-pointers in the first half but added just two the rest of the way vs. the zone as their shots were taken less in rhythm.
LC junior Lucy Scott made a go-ahead three at the first-half buzzer and drained seven treys on the night en route to 29 points, unofficially. Norwalk was led by Bailey Birmingham’s 13 points, Avery Thomas with nine, Kaylee Cary eight and Braelyn Clark seven.
The Warriors dropped to 1-4 overall and the Titans improved to 4-2.
Next up for Norwalk is a girl-boy doubleheader Friday night at Indianola.