The Norwalk basketball teams picked up a pair of road wins at Newton Tuesday night, the girls winning 56-36 and the boys holding off a late Cardinal rally to prevail 58-54. Both games were broadcast live on kniakrls.com (KNIA3).

The Warrior girls snapped a three-game losing skid since the calendar flipped to 2023, improving to 3-8 overall and 2-4 in the Little Hawkeye Conference. Norwalk led just 25-24 at halftime before opening the third quarter with a 17-1 run and never looking back. The Warriors’ run-and-jump press flustered Newton into numerous turnovers and the team was able to score in transition as well as some well-executed half-court sets on offense.

Norwalk sophomore Bailey Birmingham battled foul trouble but was still able to score a game-high 19 points, making 5-of-6 second-half free throws. Junior Anna Larson played well in all facets of the game, scoring 13 points, distributing eight assists, grabbing 12 rebounds, and notching three steals. Avery Thomas made three 3-pointers in totaling nine points and nine rebounds, Kaylee Cary scored seven points and Ava Garvey added six points and five boards off the bench.

In the boys game, Norwalk got 24 points from junior guard Redek Born and won its third straight game, improving to 7-3 overall and 3-3 in the Little Hawkeye Conference while snapping Newton’s five-game winning streak. Physical man-to-man defense set the tone for some key Warrior runs in the second and third quarters as they built leads of 32-20 and 40-27.

Newton, though, did not go away quietly. Tade Vanderlaan hit a pair of threes and also made three free throws after being fouled on another long-range attempt, helping the Cardinals put together a 15-5 run to cut the margin to 47-42. The Warriors were able to hold on with the help of a late Jack Brown trey and some clutch free throws from Born and Grady Sigrist to get back to .500 in conference play.

In addition to Born’s 24-point night, Braeden Carlson scored 11 for Norwalk, followed by Brown with nine and Aidan Harder eight. Born was also a tenacious defender on Newton point guard Jake Ingle, who scored eight of his 11 points in the first half. Cole Plowman led a balanced Cardinal attack with 13 points and Brody Bauer scored 12.

Both Norwalk squads will be back in action Friday night for a girl-boy doubleheader at Oskaloosa.