Tuesday’s KCII Area Game of the Week served up southeast Iowa hoops rivalry-style as the Keota Eagles hosted the Sigourney Savages in a South Iowa Cedar League boy/girl doubleheader. In the end, each school left with a win. Heard live on the KCII3 stream exclusively at KCIIradio.com, it was the Sigourney girls that scored the victory in the opener 60-41. The Savages used a quick 7-0 run in the first quarter to build an early cushion and hold a 15-7 lead at the end of one and a 25-19 advantage at the break. The offenses turned it up out of the locker room, with Sigourney using a 13-0 run in the third to lead 48-34 after three. The Savages continued to hold off Keota down the stretch, winning the final frame by five to put the game away. Unofficially, the Savages forced 33 Eagle turnovers, won the glass by 11 and knocked down eight threes as a team. Individually, freshman Brynn Clarahan led the way with a phenomenal night including 22 points, McKinley Chittick followed her with 16. Clarahan joined the KCII postgame show live to talk about the night for her and the win for the team.
Clarahan said, “We moved the ball a lot better in this game than we did in our last. We’re improving every minute. (Tonight) they looked for me and I knocked down the shots, thankfully. Our defense leads to offense. My teammates are very aggressive, and I love playing with them. We know that if we can get the defensive stop, we have an offense that can score and it’s really fun. I trust my teammates. Everyone was scoring, I like the way we took care of the ball. We worked on that and we really improved. I like the way we moved the ball. There’s not one selfish person on this team and it’s a lot of fun to play with these girls!”
Keota’s top performances came from Cameron Haifley with 17 points and Emily Conger with 14. The Savages are now 1-1 on the year, winning their 21st,-in-a-row over the Eagles, as Keota falls to 1-3.
In the nightcap, Sigourney stayed close, but it was too much Keota for the Savages to overcome as the Eagles took a 63-55 win on their home floor. Keota built an early seven point lead in the first frame, but after eight minutes the Savages had closed the gap back to 14-12. Sigourney took their lone lead of the night in the second quarter, a brief 21-20 advantage, which was met by a swift Keota run, and the Eagles would lead 26-21 into half. Out of the break, the margin stayed between four and eight points, most of the way, in favor of Keota, as the Eagles continued to turn away Sigourney charges. Keota led 43-38 after three and closed the door on the Savages in the fourth with free throws and timely defense. Unofficially, the Eagles won the glass by five and turnovers 12-10. The duo of Billie Kindred and Chase Haifley led the high powered Keota attack with 21 points each, two of four Eagles to hit double figures, joined by teammates Jackson Vittetoe with 11 and Jace Chalupa at 10. Kindred joined the KCII postgame show live to talk about the individual performance, the team win and his takeaways.
Kindred said, “Getting offensive and defensive rebounds really helped us. I also think we did well at the free throw line at the end of the game. I like the physical play (inside) but I think shooting the ball is more fun, so I like playing on the outside. I did well tonight because my teammates got me open and made plays to give me looks to shoot the ball. I had a couple open threes early, but had a lot of my points tonight inside and at the line. I think it was pretty even. (We had four guys in double figures) and you’re not going to win with one guy so, having a lot of guys that can go out there and score, rebound, do everything, is important.”
Sigourney also put a quartet in double figures led John Berg posting a monstrous 15 point, 16 rebound double double. Isaac Bruns finished with 13 points, Brayden Wood 12 and Ike Molyneux 11. Keota is now 2-0 on the year, making it 17 wins in their last 19 tries against the Savages, as Sigourney drops to 0-1.