The winning streak of the Norwalk boys basketball team reached 10 games Friday night as the Warriors used a dominant second and third-quarter stretch to defeat Grinnell 62-34 and sweep the season series.

The host Tigers beat Norwalk 63-43 in the girls game, also completing a season sweep. Both games were broadcast live on kniakrls.com (KNIA3).

Three nights after a thrilling overtime win at Dallas Center-Grimes, the Class 4A ninth-ranked Norwalk boys built a quick 10-2 lead on Friday, but Grinnell responded with some inside scoring and finished the first quarter up 13-12.

It was all Warriors from that point on as they outscored the Tigers 17-4 in the second quarter and 22-2 in the third, relying on the scoring abilities of Redek Born, Braeden Carlson and Aidan Harder and stifling Grinnell with an active diamond-and-one press and terrific half court defense. Born, Carlson and Harder combined to score 51 of the team’s first 53 points and finished with 22, 18 and 15, respectively. Harder led the team with three 3-pointers.

Norwalk coach Aaron Pelzer was proud of his team for staying calm following Grinnell’s early 11-2 surge. When the pace of the game picked up, he felt the Warriors wore down a Tiger squad playing their fourth game in five days. Pelzer says that the common denominator during Norwalk’s 10-game win streak is defense.

“That’s something that we just decided after we lost to DC-G right after break, ‘We’re going to hang our hat on the defensive end,’” he said. “I’ve called a lot less sets and I’ve just said, ‘Guys, play your tail off on defense and I’ll let you play a little bit on offense.’ I think that we’re a really good defensive team, and when we have all five guys locked into that… if we’re playing our best on the defensive end I think we can beat anybody.”

A slow start proved costly for the Norwalk girls on Friday as the Class 3A eighth-ranked Tigers jumped out to a 29-14 advantage and led by as many as 25 points in the second half. Leah Harris led a balanced scoring attack for Grinnell, which improved to 14-5 overall and 9-3 in the Little Hawkeye Conference.

Sophomore Bailey Birmingham scored 13 of Norwalk’s 17 first-half points and finished with a game-high 18. Avery Thomas added nine points (all in the second half) and Braelyn Clark scored eight.

The Norwalk girls fell to 4-15 overall and 2-10 in conference play while the boys improved to 14-3 and 9-3. The Warrior squads will host Newton on Tuesday night.