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The Indianola girls and boys basketball teams started Little Hawkeye Conference play with a Warren County rivalry game at Norwalk Friday evening, with the girls coming away with a 59-43 victory and the boys falling 90-69. The Indians girls got off to a fast start leading from start to finish in the contest, building a double digit first half lead that only got cut down to single digits once in the second half. Three Indians scorers were in double figures led by Kendall Clatt with 18, Mara Bishop with 16, and Lauren Blake with 12, but head coach Jeff Janssen tells KNIA Sports what was most impressive was his team’s ability to close out the contest.

“Inexperienced teams, young teams, don’t go 16 of 18 from the free throw line in the second half, and I am so proud of my girls for stepping up. We didn’t do that at this time last year, adn that just shows our maturity. Was it a slugfest, wasn’t it as pretty as we wanted, but we made plays when we needed to make plays, made free throws when we needed to make free throws. It wasn’t perfect, and we’re of course not satisfied with the results but we are satisfied with the victory.”

The Indians boys faced one of the top class 3A teams and one of the top players in the state in Bowen Born, but stuck with the Warriors throughout the first half despite the lopsided score at the end. The Indians answered every run the Warriors had, forcing just a five point halftime deficit despite multiple double-digit leads by Norwalk in the first. Indianola tied the score at 44 early in the third quarter, but Norwalk took over the game from there and pulled away for the win. Tyce Johnson scored 27 in his season debut, and Caden Rehmeier scored 16. The Indians girls are now 1-1, the boys are 0-2, and both squads will next play Monday hosting Carlisle.