The Norwalk and Ames basketball teams split a girl-boy doubleheader in Norwalk Tuesday night, heard live on 94.3 KNIA and the KNIA3 stream. The Class 4A sixth-ranked Warrior girls got 26 points from senior Bailey Birmingham in a 60-43 victory, improving to 14-1 on the season. The Warrior boys never led in a 57-39 loss to the Little Cyclones, falling to 6-6 overall.

Bailey Birmingham drilled six 3-pointers in the first two and a half quarters to ignite the Norwalk girls, who held off multiple rallies by a scrappy Ames team. The Warriors finished the first half on a 10-0 run to take a 36-21 lead and stretched the margin to 50-27 in the third period. The Little Cyclones scored the next 16 points to pull within 60-53 in the fourth, but Norwalk countered by scoring the final 10 points of the night.

Freshman Braylyn Birmingham, who tallied 31 points in Monday’s win over Carlisle, added 14 on Tuesday. Pearl Brown made some key plays down the stretch and finished with eight points while Hannah Overholser scored seven. Anisa Percival had a strong second half in the paint and paced the Little Cyclones with 16.

In the boys contest, the athleticism and length of Ames on both ends of the floor posed problems for Norwalk throughout. The Warriors fell behind 11-1 in the first quarter and trailed 25-11 in the second before ending the first half with 10 straight points to make it a four-point game. The Little Cyclones took control in the third quarter with a 17-4 surge and improved to 12-2 overall. 

Six-foot-8 junior Marach Dau led three Ames players in double figures with 13 points, including a thunderous slam dunk late in the game. Grady Sigrist and Cameron Thomas scored 10 points each for Norwalk, followed by Kaleb Foltz with six and Tim Koerselman and Tillman Papcun four apiece.

Both Norwalk teams return to Little Hawkeye Conference play on Friday night at Pella.