Redek Born’s career-high 35 points highlighted Norwalk’s Friday night as the Warriors and Grinnell split a girl-boy basketball doubleheader in Norwalk.
The Class 3A 13th-ranked Tigers defeated Norwalk 42-36 in the girls game before the Warriors controlled the boys game from start to finish for a 67-36 victory. Both games were broadcast live on kniakrls.com (KNIA3) and streamed on the Warrior Productions YouTube channel.
Born ignited the Norwalk boys’ quick start with a three-pointer and added five more treys in the second half, also scoring off the dribble and some nice cuts to the basket en route to his 35 points. The Warriors led 12-2 early and extended the margin to 32-12 at halftime and nearly 40 points in the fourth quarter. Braeden Carlson added eight points for Norwalk and Jack Brown hit a pair of threes.
Warriors head coach Aaron Pelzer was happy to see his team show no signs of a letdown following Thursday’s impressive 50-25 win at Ballard. He says the team has solidified toughness and good defense as their identity. Pelzer was also pleased to see Born’s breakout shooting performance from beyond the arc.
“I’m happy for Redek because I know sometimes he fights his shot a little bit, and he’s a really good shooter,” Pelzer said. “He spends countless hours doing it, he works hard, and that’s just the payoff for that. And obviously as his coach I kind of hope it keeps on rolling and he keeps playing confident on the offensive end.”
The Norwalk boys improved to 6-3 overall and 2-3 in the Little Hawkeye Conference, while Grinnell dropped to 3-5 and 0-3, respectively.
The girls game was close for much of the way, including a 19-19 tie at the half, but the visiting Tigers finished the third quarter on a run and led by 13 points in the final stanza. Norwalk mounted a nice comeback and pulled within four points down the stretch before falling short.
The Warrior girls are now 2-8 overall and 1-4 in the Little Hawkeye – all eight losses coming against quality opponents. They played another solid game defensively Friday while shooting 31 percent from the field and turning the ball over 23 times.
Bailey Birmingham made three first-half threes and led Norwalk with 13 points. Ava Carlson and Kaylee Cary added eight points each. Carlson, a freshman, also grabbed 10 rebounds in her first start of the season and helped hold Grinnell’s top scorer, Haidyn Hull, to just one field goal and seven points. The Tigers extended their winning streak to six games, improving to 7-3 overall and 4-1 in conference play.
Both Norwalk squads return to action Tuesday night at Newton.