Iowa Falls-Alden and Hampton-Dumont-CAL split a basketball doubleheader on Tuesday night as the Cadet girls defeated the Bulldogs 46-38, while the Bulldog boys earned a 65-30 win over the Cadets, which aired on 99 The Wave.
In the girls game, Hampton-Dumont-CAL got off to a slow start and trailed by 12 after the first quarter. The Bulldogs responded in the second and third quarters, outscoring Iowa Falls-Alden 27-22 to pull within seven heading into the fourth.
Hampton-Dumont-CAL cut the deficit to two midway through the final quarter, but Iowa Falls-Alden closed the game on an 8-2 run. Elody England hit two 3-pointers and a jumper during the stretch to seal the Cadets’ victory.
England led all scorers with 26 points, while Madison Heilskov paced the Bulldogs with 14.
In the boys game, Hampton-Dumont-CAL took control early behind perimeter shooting. The Bulldogs carried a 21-point lead into halftime.
The Bulldogs maintained the pace in the second half, finishing with nine 3-pointers as a team. Hunter Rieken connected on five from long range, while Tramaine Horton added three and Carter Arends hit one.
Horton led all scorers with 22 points. Brody McNeal led Iowa Falls-Alden with 10.
Head Coach Matt Lokenvitz says the Bulldogs’ ability to pair their scoring with improved defense made the difference.
“We are able to score 60 to 65 points a night,” says Lokenvitz. “We’ve proven we can do that time and time again. It’s always been our defense that has let us down there for about three to four minutes in stretches in games. And we didn’t let that happen tonight. We had to switch there a little bit in the first quarter. I thought we were just letting too many drives kind of go by us. And then that was putting our big men into trouble, having to help and rotate. So I didn’t like where we were at there. So we switched to a 2-3 zone, which we’ve been playing really, really well in our 2-3 zone. It’s kind of stifled some of the teams we’ve been playing lately.”
Both teams return to action Friday as Hampton-Dumont-CAL travels to Algona, while Iowa Falls-Alden visits Humboldt.
