The Pleasantville girls basketball team defeated West Central Conference opponent Madrid Tuesday night 52-47, while the boys fell 68-40. 

The Trojan girls played from behind the entire first half and went into halftime facing a 31-23 deficit against the Tigers, but made significant defensive adjustments in the second half. The Pleasantville girls outscored Madrid 19-4 in the third quarter and held on for the victory in the fourth. Junior Joelle Johnson led the Trojan girls in scoring again with 22 points on the night while Hope DeMan had 12. Johnson now has 117 points over the last four games and Coach Allyson Simpson is proud of all the work she has put in.

“She has put in a lot of work this summer, and I’m super proud of her leadership on this team. She’s had some very successful few games shooting wise and offensively. Teams are now going to know that they need to lock down on her. She’s doing a good job finding ways to get herself open and get her team open as well and be a leader anyway offensively and defensively that she can.”

The Trojan boys struggled to come up with much offense during the contest and went into the locker room at halftime down 25-17. The Tigers outscored the Trojans 26-8 in the third quarter to jump out to a huge lead and ultimately pick up the 68-40 win. Senior Ryder Thill was the leading scorer for the Trojans with 13 points on the night, while freshman Braylon Bingham had 12. 

The Pleasantville girls improve to 3-2 on the season and 1-1 in the conference, and the boys fall to 1-2 on the season and 0-2 in the conference. Both teams will be back in action on Friday on the road at Van Meter.