On Senior Night Thursday evening, the Newton girls basketball team rolled to a 62-7 win over Des Moines North while the Cardinal boys got a last second 63-61 victory against Van Meter, and both games were heard live on the KRLS3 stream.

The Newton girls didn’t allow a point to Des Moines North in the first half of the opening game, leading 39-0 after the first 16 minutes of play. The Polar Bears first points came on two free throws with 3:33 left in the third quarter, before they added a basket and a three point shot in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals had ten players score in the win, and all five seniors had at least five points. Senior co-captain Evie Main led the team with 21 points and was Newton’s only player in double figures. Second year Cardinal head coach Jake Bennett started all five seniors, and believes they have helped change Newton basketball.

“There were a lot of things we had to change in terms of culture, and the current seniors took that in stride and ran with it. They’ve totally created a new brand of Newton girls basketball.”

The Newton girls are now 10-11 on the year and will host Boone in a first round playoff game Wednesday, February 19th.

The Cardinal boys used the last-second tip in from Caden Klein to down Class 2A Van Meter. Van Meter led the entire first half, and was up 45-44 heading into the fourth quarter. The lead changed several times over the last 8 minutes, before Newton gained possession with a one point lead with 36 seconds left to play. Van Meter fouled Landon Bozarth with 12.8 second left, and after Bozarth missed the first free throw and made the second, Van Meter only used half the remaining time to tie the game on a lay-up. With time still remaining on the clock,  the Cardinals were able to advance the ball and win the game on Klein’s tip in. Bozarth led Newton with 27 points, while Klein added 12 and Creighton Andrew contributed 10. The Newton boys are now 10-9 on the season and will host Bondurant-Farrar at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.