Freshman Braylyn Birmingham set new career highs with seven 3-pointers and 36 points on Tuesday night, leading the Norwalk girls basketball team to a 78-36 home win over Pella Christian and a sweep of the season series. The Norwalk boys also completed a sweep of the Eagles, using a big first half to win 53-40. Both games were heard live on 92.1 KRLS and the KNIA3 stream.
The Class 4A sixth-ranked Warrior girls had an early 12-2 lead cut to 17-13 in the second quarter as Pella Christian found success scoring inside. Norwalk, though, finished the half with a 27-5 flourish to go up 44-18 at the break, and continued to pull away in the second half. Braylyn Birmingham caught fire from beyond the arc with five first-half treys and was a force off the dribble as well, scoring 24 of her 36 before halftime.
Norwalk girls coach Joe Sigrist tells KNIA/KRLS Sports that Birmingham had all parts of her game clicking. “She’s a special player, a special talent,” he said. “Any time you can put a freshman point guard on the floor that can hit seven threes, run your offense, run the open floor, get other girls really good shots… She just had a special night.”
Sigrist was impressed with how the entire Norwalk team shared the basketball. The Warriors moved the ball inside-out, wing to wing, and consistently passed up good shots for great shots. As a team, Norwalk made 12 threes and 14-of-17 free throws. Senior Bailey Birmingham tallied 15 points, Ava Carlson scored seven and Hannah Overholser and Avery Thomas both added six.
Junior Addie Von Arendonk paced the Eagles with 10 points and Ava Breems scored eight off the bench. Pella Christian girls coach Brendan Foughty was happy with the way that his Eagles started the game, but knows that they need to be more consistent for longer stretches.
“We want to try to figure out a way to play four quarters the same way we played that first quarter and a half,” Foughty said. “We talked in the locker room about keeping our eyes up and trying to keep our focus on the fact that our season will be defined by what happens over the next stretch of weeks. We’d have loved to come into tonight with a better record and we’d love to have competed better tonight, but our season is going to be defined by the next couple of weeks and we’ll have opportunities to compete.”
The Norwalk boys also started fast and played with a double-digit lead for most of the game. Bolstered by 14 first-half points from senior guard Kaleb Foltz, the Warriors pushed the tempo and showcased excellent ball movement in building a 35-17 halftime advantage. Pella Christian hit three treys and opened the third quarter with an 11-3 run to make it 38-28, but they would draw no closer.
Tim Koerselman and Grady Sigrist joined Foltz in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively, for Norwalk, and Tillman Papcun had a solid effort off the bench with eight points. Gilbert Flagel scored 12 and Landon Fransman had 11 points to lead the Eagles.
The Norwalk girls improved to 16-1 overall and 7-1 in the Little Hawkeye Conference while the boys are now 7-7 and 5-3. The Warriors host Indianola on Friday night.
The Pella Christian girls are 6-11 overall and 0-8 in the LHC. They are off until a conference doubleheader at home next Tuesday against Newton. The Eagle boys are 6-10 overall and 1-7 in the Little Hawkeye. They are in action Thursday at Van Meter.