Both the Keota girls and boys get a win over BGM on Monday, the 13th. It was the KCII Area game of the week as the Eagles took down the Bears of BGM in a class IA Double Header. 

 

The Keota girls were fresh off a win over Hillcrest on Saturday and wanted to keep the good times rolling. The Eagles were playing a Bears team who had just lost to Signoury on Friday 71-55. Keota has now won three straight after starting the season 1-5. They are now 5-8 on the season. In the win vs BGM, Cameron Haifley led the way with 17 unofficial points, which 7 came from the free throw line. She was 7 of 9 from the charity strike, which was a big reason for their win over BGM. It was close all game as Keota never led by more than 10 points. In the first quarter, Keota went on a 8-0 run to end the period. In the second it took the Bears 3 minutes to score. When they did score, they went on a run of their own to end the quarter, but still trailed 26-17 at the break. BGM won the third quarter, 13-11, but could not stop fouling and sending the Eagles to the free throw line. Both teams did turn the ball over a lot, but the difference was the fouling and the best free throw shooting from the Eagles. Along with Haifley, Kimbely Clarahan and Grace Conger also had 6 unofficial points as well. With the win, Keota finds themselves in third in the South Iowa Cedar East conference just three and half games behind English Valley. In the loss, BGM was led by Averee Krebil, who scored 10 unofficial  points in the loss. Ryanne VanDee also chimed in with 7 unofficial points. With the loss, the Bears drop to 4-8 on the season and are tied for 5th in the South Iowa Cedar West Conference. 

 

After the win Keota Head girls coach Jeff Sprouse joined KCII Sports to talk about how they were able to get to the free throw line so much and if was their gameplan heading into the matchup with BGM. “Yea it really has been for us. Because at times we struggle to score the ball. One of the best ways especially with the new rule, with the 5 fouls, if you can get to the free line, you get two of them. We have talked about that. Friday night we got to the line 22 times and Saturday we got there about 35. I haven’t looked totally to see where we are at, But if Cameron got there 11 times, I am pretty sure we were over 20, 25 free throws again tonight. It’s not easy to make them, I hope we do. We shoot really well in practice, but we struggle in games sometimes. Haifley tonight was really huge. It’s a nice pickup for us to get some easy baskets, clocks not running and it also gets some in foul trouble”, Sprouse said.   

For the boys, the Eagles get their 10th win of the season by winning 66-50. Led by Billie Kindred, who had 35 unofficial points. Keota is now 10-2 overall and 8-1 in the conference. They are now in first and have a 3 and half game lead on Sigourney for top spot in the South Iowa Cedar East conference. For the most part, Keota controlled the game and led by 17 at one point. However, BGM did not quit as they trimmed the lead to 9 at half. At one point, Keota`s lead was down to 7 points. But the Eagles continued to grab boards and hit tough shots. Along with Kindred, Chase Haifley had 9 points unofficial and dished out a few assists. Kindred and Haifley were joined by Jace Chalupa, who dropped 6 points in the win. For rebounding, it was somewhat close, as the Eagles had the edge as well 39-27. In the turnover department, Keota had 12 unofficial turnovers, while BGM had 16 unofficial turnovers. In the loss, the Bears were led by Aiden Krebill, who dropped 18 unofficial points in the loss. Ben Cadden held his own with 9 unofficial points. In the fourth quarter, the game was within reach as it was an 11 point lead for Keota. But with the help of Billie Kindred, who was the player of the game, made the game out of reach for the Bears. In the fourth quarter alone, he dropped unofficially 10 points to go along with 4 for 5 at the charity strike. He made 3 shots behind the arc. Most of his points came down low, where he was normally met by 3 to 4 white jerseys and he was still able to score for his team, while forcing the foul. With the loss, BGM dropped to 3-10 on the year and 5th in the South Iowa Cedar West conference. 

 

Dan Stout came to the broadcast booth to speak with KCII Sports after their win to talk about their incredible rebounding vs BGM. “Yea thats what we liked to do and we brought in Aiden Galindo tonight and got a little more athletic in the rebounding side of things. I thought for stretches every board that came off there, we were snatching them whether it was an offensive or defensive rebound. I think between Ayden, Jace Chalupa and Billie they did a great job down inside. Trying to limit them to one shot. Kind of hard to do when playing a zone defense, making sure where you know you’re at, but I thought our athleticism really helped us with that, with those three guys”, Stout said.  

 

After the win, Billie Kindred who dropped 35 points in the win joined KCII Sports to talk about the win over BGM. “ Yeah, they played really well on the perimeter. My teammates did a really good job getting the ball inside to me and Jace and Ayden Galindo. We found most of our points inside and that’s what got us going. Our gameplan was really just get out and run and get some fast quick points inside and get some good open looks on the 3 point shot. We didn’t shoot the 3 ball well tonight, so we had to get a lot of our points inside”, Kindred said.

For Keota they will now go home to take on North Mahaska on Tuesday. For BGM, they will also have a home game as they take on Iowa Valley on Tuesday. The next Area Game of the Week is on Tuesday as Winfield Mount-Union hosts Lone Tree in a Super Conference North double header.