Offense was at a premium Friday night as the Indianola Indians girls and boys basketball teams split a Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader against rival Norwalk on their home court, with the girls winning 47-36 and the boys dropping 70-60 in a pair of games heard live on 94.3 KNIA. The Indians girls got off to a slow start, winning just 6-4 after the first quarter, with Norwalk possessions taking up to a minute and the Indians having an off shooting night. The Indians built a 10 point advantage at the half of 20-10, but Norwalk stuck around keeping the game close until the fourth quarter when the Indians offense woke up to score 22 points. Head coach Jeff Janssen tells KNIA Sports it wasn’t the prettiest win, but it shows up as a “w” on the scoreboard.

“We’re not gonna complain about this, win number eight on the season. If we can go out and get a win against Mount Pleasant tomorrow (Saturday) we can get to win number nine which matches our total from last year. And to hit that this early in the season we’ll take it.”

Lauren Blake led the Indians with 17 points, while Mara Bishop scored 13. The Indians boys matched blows against the Warriors early, with the teams explosive to start out with a combined six three-point shots made in the opening minutes, only to see the game slow down after that. Norwalk held a slim 18-16 advantage after the first quarter, but it was a slow second quarter that doomed the Indians for the rest of the game. Norwalk outscored Indianola 19-7 in the frame, with Indianola only hitting one shot from the field to trail by 14 at halftime. The Indians crawled back to get the lead down to 8 at several points in the second half, but it was too little too late against the Warriors. AJ Toigo score 28 points in the losing effort, but was outmatched by Norwalk star Bowen Born who dropped 42. The girls are now 8-4 and 6-1 in conference play, while the boys are 10-3 and 5-2. Both teams play today hosting Mount Pleasant.