The Norwalk basketball teams swept a home doubleheader against Ames on Saturday afternoon while the Warrior bowling squads were both defeated by Sigourney-Keota.
Playing their first home game since December 19, the Class 4A 8th-ranked Norwalk girls basketball team improved to 13-3 with a 55-38 win over Ames. The Warriors led 17-6 after one quarter and slowly pulled away during the final three stanzas, turning the ball over just nine times in the game.
Junior guard Bailey Birmingham, who surpassed 1,000 career points in Friday’s loss at Indianola, made 12-of-14 free throws and led the team with 28 points, three assists and three steals. Ava Carlson tallied nine points and eight rebounds, Ellie Dueland hit a pair of treys for six points, and Pearl Brown added six points and a team-high 11 boards.
The Norwalk boys improved to 11-2 overall with a 62-41 win over the Little Cyclones, showcasing 32 minutes of strong defense. Redek Born registered his second straight 28-point game to pace the Warriors, followed by Tim Koerselman, Grady Sigrist and Aidan Harder with nine points each.
Norwalk returns to action Tuesday night, hosting Dallas Center-Grimes in a key Little Hawkeye Conference girl-boy doubleheader.
At Air Lanes Bowling Center in Des Moines, Sigourney-Keota earned a sweep of Norwalk, winning the girls dual 2175-2106 and taking the boys dual 2760-2572.
The Warrior girls turned an eight-pin deficit into a 19-pin lead during the first four Baker games, but the Cobras won the fifth Baker game 194-106 to take the match by 69 total pins. Norwalk, now 3-7 overall, posted their second-highest pin count of the season at 2106 and were led by Ellery Racz’s two-game series of 322 and Julia Palen’s 306.
The Warrior boys lost by 188 total pins and fell to 4-6 on the season. Tanner Housley led the team with a 413 series, followed by Gavin Housley’s 368 and Andrew Winfrey’s 356. Tanner and Gavin both converted 90 percent of their strike/spare opportunities. During the Baker games, Gavin Housley and Zalen Holden both achieved an 80 percent conversion rate.
Norwalk will host Gilbert at Air Lanes on Saturday, February 3, at 9:00 a.m.