The Aplington-Parkersburg basketball teams each defeated Sumner-Fredericksburg at home Monday. The girls won 69-44 and the boys won 62-39.
On another strong shooting night, the Falcon girls scored 26 points in the first quarter on their way to a wire-to-wire victory. The lead steadily increased throughout the night, with four players scoring in double figures. Eva Walker and Lorna Bernard each scored 17, and Kolbie Wangsness and Kiara Morris each scored 12. They’ll take on an 0-1 AGWSR team on the road Tuesday. The Cougars fell 76-14 to Madrid in their season opener.
The Falcon boys had strong starts to each half in their win in which they never trailed. They outscored the opponent by nine in the first quarter and 12 in the third quarter, while maintaining that separation in the second and fourth quarters. Tyler Wedeking led with 24 points and Trevan Thomas added 12. Head Coach Aaron Thomas on a busy opening week, which also includes a Tuesday trip to AGWSR and road game against Columbus Catholic on Friday.
“The guys love it, as coaches we will worry that we don’t have enough practice,” Thomas says. “we go over to AGWSR, who we’ve not played in quite a while. And that’s one on a back-to-back, we’ve got to make sure we’re focused and ready to go. And we want to keep getting better every game out. And then Columbus has got to be one of the teams probably picked to win our league. So that’s going to be a tough road test when we go over there. They’ve got some new pieces with some guys who transferred into an already very talented group, and that’s going to be a really good test. We’ll know a lot more about ourselves after our first three games.”
Starting their season, AGWSR will look to bounce back from last year’s 4-19 record. Head Coach Ryley Schipper anticipates an improved season with several returning rotation players.
“Defensively, I think we’re really sound,” Schipper says. “I think guys really understand where they need to be. We’re getting better every day about being in that help side and getting off and being able to, even if it’s not their guy, being able to help and then other guys rotating to spots. I think that’s gonna be a positive for us. At practice, we’ve made more shots. I think guys are more comfortable in making jump shots, and have really put in time to get comfortable in that. And we need guys to be able to step up and make shots. We haven’t shot it real well in the last couple of years, especially the open ones. We got to knock down shots when we get those opportunities. And I think at practice, it’s starting to show.”
Tuesday’s doubleheader will air on 99 The Wave and RadioOnTheGo’s YouTube channel. Pregame coverage will start at 6:00 p.m., followed by the tipoff at 6:15.
