The Norwalk boys basketball team extended their winning streak to six games Tuesday night with a 67-51 home victory over Pella Christian, sweeping the Little Hawkeye Conference season series.
The Pella Christian girls, meanwhile, earned a series split by defeating the Warriors 46-38 for their first conference win of the season.
Both games aired live on 92.1 KRLS and kniakrls.com, and were also available on the Norwalk Warrior Productions YouTube channel.
The Warrior boys led just 32-28 following a competitive first half and fell behind 34-32 when Pella Christian’s Josiah Vos scored the first six points of the third quarter. It was all Warriors the rest of the way as they closed the third on a 22-7 run and cruised to victory, improving to 10-3 overall and 6-3 in the Little Hawkeye standings, maintaining their share of second place behind 9-0 Indianola.
Junior guard Redek Born scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the second half for Norwalk and senior Braeden Carlson showcased a nice mid-range shooting touch in scoring 17. The Warriors also got three first-half treys from senior Jack Brown, who scored nine points, and seven from junior Aidan Harder.
Norwalk head coach Aaron Pelzer tells KNIA-KRLS Sports that he was proud of the way the Warriors responded to adversity at the start of the second half, noting that it all started at the defensive end of the floor. Pelzer was especially impressed by Brown’s individual defensive effort in keeping Pella Christian guard Tysen De Vries out of the lane in the second half.
Dane Geetings and Vos scored 13 points apiece to lead the Eagles, who fell to 10-5 overall and 5-4 in conference play.
The Pella Christian girls, who lost to Norwalk 60-24 in early December, flipped the script on Tuesday to notch their first conference win. Sophomore Faith Kacmarynski played an excellent all-around game and led the Eagles with 17 points. Senior Joslyn Terpstra added 14.
Pella Christian built a 23-10 lead late in the first half and held off a pair of Norwalk rallies in the second half. The Warriors pulled within three points in the third quarter but could not get over the hump, making just 9-of-25 free throws on the night. Bailey Birmingham scored 20 points for Norwalk, including four three-pointers, Ava Carlson scored six and Braelyn Clark added five.
Pella Christian improved to 3-14 overall and 1-8 in the Little Hawkeye Conference. Norwalk is now 3-12 and 2-7, respectively.
Both schools will play at home Friday night in girl-boy doubleheaders. Norwalk hosts Indianola and Pella Christian will take on Grinnell.