On Tuesday, both the Sigourney girls and boys basketball team got wins over their rival Keota. In the girls game, the Savages and Eagles were close in the first quarter as Signoury held to a 20-14 lead. The Savages took over in the second as they outscored the Eagles 17-5 before half. They lead 37-21 at the break. In the third, Keota went on a run and made a comeback to trim the lead to five. However, late in the third quarter, Signoury had a run of their own as they had their biggest lead at the time and went up by 13 going into the fourth. In the final quarter, the Savages closed out the Eagles 19-12 to win 68-44. The Savages forced 22 turnovers and only gave the ball away nine times. Sigourney edged out Keota in rebounding 24-20. Josephine Moore had a career night scoring 41 points. Brynn Clarahan also had a great night as she finished with 16 points and had multiple steals in the win. Despite scoring 68 points, only four players scored for the Savages. Josephine Moore and Byrnn Clarahan combined for 57, which was 90% of their points.
During the boys’ halftime, Josephine Moore joined KCII Sports after scoring 41 points. “I really want to thank my guards tonight. They found me when I was open. I was finishing very well tonight and hitting my free throws is what worked tonight. I work on free throws a lot. When we were younger, me and my Dad always worked on free throws. Free throws are very important and that showed in tonight’s game.”
Keota was swept by Sigourney this year as they lost back in early December 60-41. With the loss, Keota drops to 7-10 on the year and 3-8 in the South Iowa Cedar East conference. Keota had six players that registered a point. Cameron Haifley lead the way for the Eagles with 10 points.
On the boys side, Sigourney got a big win 62-55 to split the series. The first meeting was won by Keota 63-55. With the win, the Savages go to 10-4 and 7-4 in the conference. The game was close for the entire contest. In the first quarter, the Savages had the edge 14-10. In the second, the Eagles tied the game at half. In the third, the Savages won the frame 15-14 to take back the lead going to the final quarter. In the fourth, Isaac Bruns would score his 1,000th career point and get a huge three point shot to widen the lead. Bruns struggled early and did not register a point until the fourth quarter. However, he would score 11 points in the fourth quarter and have the game sealing steal that would result in a layup. Keota would trim the game to three, but Signourney would get a huge basket from Solon Yates to seal the win for the Savages. Signourney was led by John Berg who led in scoring with 19 points. Solon Yates was second on the team with 17 points. Sigourney won the rebounding battle 34-26. They also only had 10 turnovers compared to Keota, who had 12.
Isaac Bruns came on the KCII Postgame show to discuss the win and the rivalry with Keota. “I knew I was having a slow game, but it was just one of those nights that you just got to keep shooting. That fourth quarter, I knew I wasn’t getting much going, so I just kept my head in it and to finally get the 1,000th point was a relief. They’re your best friends in football and that’s a great bond. But when it comes to basketball they are your friends, so you just want to beat them on the court. This was a great win to have.”
The Eagle boys suffer their third loss of the season. They are now 13-3 and 9-2 in the conference. They did not shoot much at the free throw line, but they shot 67%.
They were led by Billie Kindred who scored 23 points. Despite being in foul trouble most of the game, Jace Chalupa was second on the team with 13 points. Keota takes on Iowa Valley next on Friday, the 24th.