The Keota boys and girls got the sweep over Iowa Valley on homecoming Friday night. The Lady Eagles got past the Lady Tigers 44-35. With the win, the Eagles are now 8-10 and 4-8 in the South Iowa Cedar East conference. After falling to Sigourney on Tuesday, they came back with vengeance on Friday. The Eagles jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the first quarter. In the second, Keota enlarged their lead 23-15 going into the break. In the third, both teams would score 11 in the frame to keep the Eagles lead at nine, 36-27. Keota would finish off Iowa Valley in the fourth with 12 points. Keota would force 19 turnovers with 12 of them coming in the first half. The Tigers struggled on Friday night, but did win the rebounding battle 30-22. The Eagles were also great at the foul line as they shot 80%. The sophomore Emily Conger had a career high with 17 points. Cameron Haifley also had a great game as she had 16 points off the bench.
Emily Conger joined KCII Sports after their win over Iowa Valley. “It felt good to come back after a big loss. We came back and played pretty well together, especially during homecoming and to get a win was great. Coach (Jeff Sprouse) was telling us during halftime to talk and communicate. We just learned a new defense, so we were making sure we were working on that and our offense. Our gameplan was to make sure we kept on our defense, ran our offense, didn’t rush anything, and make sure we got a good shot. We wanted to get a lot of steals and have them turn the ball over a lot.”
In the next game, the boys kept the good times rolling for Keota as they took down Iowa Valley 66-51. Keota now goes to 14-3 and 10-2 in the conference. The Eagles led the most of the game and the only time they trailed was early in the first quarter. In the first half, Keota jumped out to a 37-23 lead at half. Keota scored 22 in the second quarter alone. In the third, Iowa Valley tried to make a comeback and scored 13. However, Keota matched that and scored 15 to take a 52-40 lead in the fourth. In the final quarter, the Eagles would seal the win with 15 points. Iowa Valley turned the ball over 12 times in the first half and ended up with 19 turnovers for the contest. The Eagles only turned it over 10 times, with 4 of them coming late in the fourth. Iowa Valley did win in the rebounding department 30-22. The Eagles had a total of seven players in the state sheet. Billie Kindred led the team in scoring and was the player of the game with 24 points. The other senior, Jace Chalupa had 15 points.
Billie Kindred had this to say after his team’s big win over Iowa Valley. “We played really well as a team, everybody contributed and did a great job whether they came off the bench or started. Everyone did a great job tonight. It was a big win for us tonight. We just have to continue to win out and play good to win the east. We wanted to put pressure on them early on by pressing them in the front court. It didn’t matter if we dropped in a zone or man, we put a lot of pressure on them and forced them to turn the ball over.”
After Friday night, the Eagles are now 14-3 and 10-2 in the conference. Keota plays English Valley next on Tuesday night. This is now the sixth straight time Keota has defeated Iowa Valley dating all the way back to 2022.