All things considered, Norwalk boys basketball coach Aaron Pelzer gives his squad high marks for the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule. The Warriors are 7-2 overall and lead the Little Hawkeye Conference at 4-0 following last week’s hard-fought 55-52 road win over Dallas Center-Grimes.

Norwalk also boasts quality wins against Pella, Winterset and Pella Christian while losing to Ballard and defending Class 4A champion West Des Moines Valley. Coach Pelzer says he would like to have the Ballard game back, but is pleased with the Warriors’ overall performance considering that one of their top players – senior Aidan Harder – missed the first five games while recovering from hand surgery.

“If you told me we were going to get to Christmas break 7-2, I would have been pretty happy,” Pelzer said.

Currently in the middle of a nearly three-week gap between games, Norwalk is looking to make strides before their next game on January 9 at Newton. Pelzer says the team will work on their shape and conditioning, and he hopes to see improved rebounding and second-half starts in January and February. Two months from now, Pelzer wants the Warriors to be capable of beating the top programs in Class 4A as they seek a return trip to the state tournament.

“This is when teams go from good to great is over Christmas break, so that’s my goal,” he said. “We’re going to go back and watch every film and kind of find what our weaknesses are and see how we can try to address those.”

Senior guard Redek Born, who surpassed 1,000 career points in a December 12 game at Lewis Central, leads Norwalk with averages of 17.9 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game. In four games since his return, Harder is averaging 15.8 points and a team-high 1.8 steals. Cameron Thomas, Grady Sigrist and Tim Koerselman are capable scorers as well, averaging between 8.1 and 6.8 points per contest.

The Warriors have shot the ball with percentages of 47.2 from the field, 37.2 from 3-point range and 73.6 at the free throw line.