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The Indianola boys and girls basketball teams swept Norwalk in a Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader Friday evening, the girls winning 53-42 and the boys holding on for a 68-65 win in a doubleheader heard live on 94.3 KNIA.

The Indians girls limited Norwalk to just Bailey Birmingham scoring in the first quarter as she hit three shots from beyond the arc, and the Indians finished shots at the rim to lead 15-9 at the break then held the Warriors again to just six points in the second leading 26-15 at halftime. Neither team found much offensive traction in the third quarter, however the Warriors exploded late as they found the range outside to cut the lead to just four going into the fourth, but the Indians allowed only two field goals in the fourth to earn the win. Norwalk head coach Jill Martin said after the game her team has been improving all season long, and even did so during the game when they realized they were getting outrebounded.

“That was a big talk at halftime, just being a little tougher on the defensive boards and pushing back. Pursuing the ball, maybe your youth was showing a little bit as we were swatting at the ball instead of going after it. But you could definitely tell with the score in the second half compared to the first, we did a much better job adjusting, and that’s encouraging for a young team.”

Birmingham led all scorers with 26 points, while Naughton led the Indians with 20.

The Norwalk boys came out firing in the first quarter led by Redek Born scoring 10 points and the Indians suffering a slow start on offense as the Warriors led 15-13 after the first, and after a brief Indians lead in the second the Warriors held on for a halftime lead 28-27. The game picked up in pace however, as the Indians began to enforce their defensive gameplan, limiting the Warriors in the second half and took the lead 43-42 after the third. Indianola built a lead as high as 10 in the second half as they continued to make shots at the rim, but Norwalk would not go away quietly and played the foul game for the last several minutes to get the game within striking distance late, but the Indians made their free throws to get the win. Indians head coach Jeff Ebling tells KNIA Sports his team knew they didn’t play their best in the first half, but buckled down in the second half to pick up the win.

“We had to regroup at halftime. We told the guys, get stops here, and go down and go for a bucket. If you get it great, if not go back, regroup, and work hard on defense. We knew we needed to go out and win the third and fourth quarters, we were able to do that.”

Redek Born led all scorers with 31 and Aidan Harder scored 16, while Brayden Drea and Brady Blake each scored 15 for the Indians. Indianola will next play Monday at Carlisle, while Norwalk visits Des Moines Lincoln on Tuesday.