Bailey Birmingham led the charge with 29 points as the Norwalk girls basketball team opened the season with a 67-43 home win over Urbandale Friday night, as heard live on 94.3 KNIA and the KNIA3 stream.

The Class 4A fourth-ranked Warriors took control of the game in the third quarter, outscoring the J-Hawks 25-6 to turn a five-point halftime lead into a 54-30 advantage. Norwalk fired on all cylinders in the third, opening the stanza with a 16-1 run. The Warriors forced a series of J-Hawk turnovers, shared the basketball very well and scored from inside and outside, including 3-pointers by Pearl Brown and Avery Thomas.

Bailey Birmingham hit three treys on the night and scored in waves en route to 29 points. Ava Carlson added 12 points, freshman Braylyn Birmingham tallied nine and Thomas finished with seven. Urbandale, which erased a 20-11 deficit in the second quarter, was led by 15 points from Lauren Salmon and eight by Ava Wattier.

Bailey Birmingham, who led the state with 27.4 points per game last season, tells KNIA Sports that the Warriors have been motivated the entire off-season by last year’s four-point regional final loss at Lewis Central. They are taking one game at a time, she says, but the long-term goal is to reach the state tournament and win some games in Des Moines.

“Coming into this season, we know how much potential that we have,” Birmingham said. “We know we have the team that can get there. Our coaches give us all the confidence in the world that motivates us to get there, and then ultimately we want to win it.”

Going forward, Norwalk will look to take better care of the basketball and improve their free throw percentage after missing 11 foul shots in the opener. The Warriors will play two more games prior to Thanksgiving, traveling to ADM on Monday night and hosting Bondurant-Farrar on Tuesday.