Keota boys’ basketball won a big-time battle of unbeaten teams Friday night, defeating Lynnville-Sully 59-56. The Eagles started the night strong with a 17-7 lead in the first quarter, and while the Hawks clawed closer as the game progressed, the Eagles would be able to hold on down the stretch.

Cole Kindred had team highs of 17 points and seven assists to lead the Eagles, while fellow senior Evan Vittetoe had 16 points and five rebounds. Senior Sawyer Stout poured in 10 points, while junior Billie Kindred had a double-double of 10 points and 10 boards off the bench to keep Keota perfect at 8-0.

The Eagle girls would not have the same luck, falling to Lynnville-Sully 59-29. A 17-6 deficit in the opening period would double to 35-14 by halftime and be too much to overcome for Keota, which falls to 1-4 in the South Iowa Cedar League and 1-7 overall.

The Sigourney girls were also beaten by a team from the West division of the SICL Friday, losing 57-41 at Montezuma. Down 36-26 at the half, the Savages could not rally. Senior Carly Goodwin scored a team-high 11 points for Sigourney, while junior Josephine Moore had nine points and 14 rebounds, but it was not enough to keep the Savages from dropping to 3-2 in conference action and 6-2 in total.

The Sigourney boys came up just short against Montezuma, dropping a 61-58 thriller. The Savages had a one-point lead after a quarter of play and kept the game tied at 33 at the break. Despite being on the wrong end of a 15-8 run in the third period, Sigourney had a one-point lead in the final minute, but it would be the Braves who claimed the edge in the final moments.

Junior Isaac Bruns was everywhere for the Savages with team highs of 16 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. John Berg had 12 points and eight rebounds, while fellow sophomore Brayden Wood added 11 points, six boards and three assists. Freshman Ike Molyneux also had eight points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for Sigourney.

The loss drops the Savages to 3-2 in league play and 4-3 overall. While both Sigourney squads will size up Lynnville-Sully in their next games Tuesday, both Keota teams will next meet Montezuma.