Aplington-Parkersburg and Dike-New Hartford split a North Iowa Cedar League basketball doubleheader Friday, as aired on 99 The Wave and RadioOnTheGo’s YouTube channel. DNH won the girls game 50-48 and AP won the boys game 68-46.
The Wolverines led for nearly the entire girls game, jumping out to a hot start. They had the Falcons doubled up with a 16-8 first quarter advantage then led 30-20 at halftime. Payton Foster made four three-pointers, helping DNH lead by as many as 12.
The Falcons fought back, and a layup by Kiara Morris gave them a 46-45 lead with just over two minutes left. Mallory Petersen answered with a three-pointer to give DNH the lead back. After trading turnovers, AP got the ball with 5.2 seconds left, but missed two tying attempts. DNH Coach Matt Dove says they were finally able to sustain momentum after a strong start.
“We’ve typically been starting off pretty well,” Dove says. “I think Grundy we got behind pretty early there. Hudson we got off to a good start and just can’t sustain it. So again, we got off to a good start here. So very pleased with that. But then, to just keep grinding away, had some girls step up and make shots. Mallory Petersen, Kailyn Meester, girls that are capable of making shots. We see them make them in practice all the time. They do it the right way. Just haven’t been able to get them to fall in a game. I’m just so dang proud of Kaylyn Meester tonight for just keeping her head, keeping her confidence, and she made some big shots there down the stretch for us and just defensively too, just to hang in there was good to see.”
Foster scored 19 points and Kailyn Meester added 13. Morris led the Falcons with 18 points, Ava Eddy scored 11 and Kolbie Wangsness added 10.
The boys game features back-and-forth action throughout the first several minutes. Building a 38-28 lead at halftime, the Falcons gave the Wolverines a window to come back with a slower third. DNH got to within eight, but AP outscored their opponent 18-5 in the final stanza to pull away.
“It was a hard-fought battle, which we know both teams are a little banged up,” Head Coach Aaron Thomas says. “DNH has some guys, hopefully they can get healthy and get back and they’re not too serious. And obviously with us not having Benny right now. But the effort, no matter what, is always going to be good with both teams. And just proud of our guys. First quarter was pretty tight. Able to pull away a little bit second and then really proud of the way we finished the fourth quarter. We got stops, rebounds, thought we executed on the offensive end very well.”
Junior Wes Shirk says it was a strong performance overall.
“It was honestly just a good team win, trusting our teammates, finding the open guy, playing good solid team defense down the stretch, which I feel like would really help us,” Shirk says. “They went on a run a little bit in the third quarter, kind of were just hanging around, 10 point lead, 15, and we just kind of pulled away at the end.”
Sully Janssen led with 16 points, Tyler Wedeking scored 14 and Cole Brouwer added 12. Corbin McCarter led the Wolverines with 11 points and Peyton Pokorny scored 10.
DNH will be at AGWSR Saturday at 4:30 p.m. AP will close December Monday at Waverly-Shell Rock on 99 The Wave and RadioOnTheGo’s YouTube channel.
