The Norwalk Warrior basketball teams closed out conference play with a Senior Night sweep of Oskaloosa on Friday, heard live on the KNIA3 stream. The Class 4A fifth-ranked Warrior girls won 62-46, finishing the regular season at 20-1 overall and 11-1 in the Little Hawkeye, sharing the conference championship with Dallas Center-Grimes. The Warrior boys won by nearly the same score, 62-47, improving to 10-9 overall and finishing 8-4 in the LHC.
Senior Night festivities included 13 Norwalk basketball players recognized with their parents between games. The Warrior boys’ seniors include Cameron Thomas, Gavin Smith, Mason Johnson, Kaleb Foltz, Tim Koerselman, Grady Sigrist and Jack Larson. The girls’ seniors are Ellie Dueland, Avery Thomas, Grace Linder, Bailey Birmingham, Braelyn Clark and Addi Stillman. In a special moment at the start of the girls game, both teams traded uncontested layups. This allowed Clark, who has missed the entire season while recovering from two hip surgeries, to score a basket on Senior Night.
Norwalk girls coach Joe Sigrist tells KNIA Sports that the entire night was about celebrating the team’s senior group and one of the best regular seasons in program history. “What I told them in the locker room afterwards is we just had the best regular season since they were born,” Sigrist said. “I think 2007 was the last 20-win season. They’ve just done everything we’ve asked of them. They’ve got grit, they’ve got fire, they hit big shots when we need them… A six-senior class is a big senior class. They all have different roles, but I’m just super proud of each and every one of them.”
The Norwalk girls led 27-18 at halftime, then started clicking both defensively and offensively in a 20-9 third quarter. The Warriors made eight 3-pointers in the second half – four by Bailey Birmingham and three by freshman Braylyn Birmingham. Braylyn tallied a game-high 30 points and Bailey scored 18 on six treys. Dasia Foster led Oskaloosa with 19.
The Norwalk boys scored the first eight points of the game but were outscored 34-28 over the next two and a half quarters. With the score knotted at 36-all early in the fourth, Warrior senior Grady Sigrist took over the game with a series of aggressive drives to the basket. Sigrist, who threw down two impressive dunks on the night, scored 24 of his game-high 28 points in the second half, making all seven of his free throws. Thomas and Foltz both added 13. Norwalk outscored the Indians 26-13 in the final period.
The Warrior boys are scheduled to play at Dowling Catholic today at noon. The Warrior girls are idle until Saturday, February 22, when they will host a 4A regional tournament semifinal.
BOWLING:
The Norwalk girls bowlers placed fifth at Friday’s Two Rivers Conference Tournament at Statesmen Lanes in Oskaloosa. The Warriors finished with a team score of 1,947 total pins.
The boys conference meet scheduled for today has been postponed to Friday, February 21, in Oskaloosa.
WRESTLING:
The Norwalk boys wrestling team is in Marshalltown for today’s Class 3A District Tournament at 10:00 a.m. The field also includes Ankeny, Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Cedar Rapids Washington, Indianola, Marshalltown, Cedar Rapids Prairie and Waterloo West. The top three place-winners from each weight class will advance to next week’s State Wrestling Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena.