The West Fork basketball teams each overcame deficits to sweep Iowa Falls-Alden Saturday, as aired on 104.9 KLMJ and RadioOnTheGo’s YouTube channel. The girls won 47-41 in overtime and the boys won 58-51. The games were played at Casey’s Center as part of the Iowa Wolves High School Hoops Series.
In the girls game, the Cadets built a 21-14 halftime lead, using strong shooting to start the game. However, the West Fork defense forced many misses throughout the second half, and they clawed back offensively while holding the Cadets to 18 points in the third and fourth quarters. Evelyn Hitzhuzen hit a jumper to give the Warhawks a 36-34 lead midway through the fourth, but IFA’s Elody England hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to tie the game at 39 at the end of regulation. The Warhawks had consecutive three-pointers by Brylee Dickman and Zada Huff, taking control in the overtime. Huff says it was a great bounce-back.
“We really came together as a team and everything really clicked in overtime,” Huff says. “We were struggling a little bit in the first half, just down on ourselves, confidence wasn’t really there, and then we really just fought through it and really wanted it and we knew we could do it. We didn’t let that tie game three that she made let us down, and we’re like, let’s pull back and do it.”
Dickman led with 18 points and Huff added 12. England led the Cadets with 22 points.
The Cadets had control for most of the way in the boys game. But in the closing seconds of the third quarter, Zander Hansen hit a short-range shot to put the Warhawks up 46-44 to close the period. Midway through the fourth quarter with Iowa Falls-Alden leading 51-50, the Cadets were called for a technical foul. Hansen made two free throws to take the lead. Moments later, Connor Swenson helped put the game away with his only bucket of the afternoon.
Hansen says they took care of business after a slow first half.
“At the start of the game, we were not having fun, we were more there to not lose the game when we wanted to win,” Hansen says. “And we came out that second half and we said, let’s win this and have some fun.”
Hansen led with 20 points, with 10 added by Ayden Bonner. Karsen Kalous led the Cadets with 14 points.
Returning to action Monday, Iowa Falls-Alden will be at Roland-Story, and West Fork will travel to Osage.
