The Greene County boys and North Polk girls were Heart of Iowa Activities Conference high school basketball winners on Friday night in Alleman. Both games were broadcast on KG98 and www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.

The Comets easily won the girls’ game by a 58-12 score to improve to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the conference. The Rams fell to 0-4 and 0-3. NP liberally played 15 players and still made nearly half their shot attempts, going 23 of 49. They were six of 12 shooting free throws and turned the ball over just 10 times. Greene County had 26 turnovers, 20 of them in the first 14 minutes of the game against the Comets’ full court pressure defense. The Rams made six of 35 field goal attempts and missed all four of its foul shots.

Twelve NP girls scored two or more points led by reserves Katryn Halterman and Becca Ley with eight each. Samantha Hardaway scored six points to lead Greene County. The Rams played without leading scorer Laurin Lyons due to concussion protocol after hitting her head on the court late in the game at Baxter vs. CMB on Nov. 29.

After two high scoring victories earlier in the week to start the season the Greene County boys won a low scoring affair Friday night in Alleman, topping NP 47-43. Coach Chris Nelson’s team improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the conference while the Comets fell to 0-3, 0-2. The Rams had rolled up 77 and 94 points in victories over Ogden and CMB, but the Comets slowed the pace, and the Rams had trouble handling the ball and making free throws.

Greene County led 17-11 before NP scored eight points in a row to take a 19-17 lead with 5:18 to go in the first half. The Rams and Comets were tied 22-22 with 3:08 left in the second quarter before Greene County went on a 7-0 run. Coach Nelson’s team was ahead 29-24 at intermission. The lead grew to as many as 11 points in the third and fourth quarters and wasn’t less than five points until the last basket of the game, which came with five seconds to play. NP sophomore Colten Parkins scored on a layup to make it 47-43, but the Comets were out of timeouts and the Rams didn’t inbound the ball, letting the time run out.

The “Two Treys” led the Rams in scoring with senior Trey Tucker scoring 19 points and sophomore Trey Hinote putting up 18. Only five Rams scored and no one else had more than four points. The Rams made 18 of 44 shots from the field and had 22 turnovers. Greene County went six of 11 from the foul line including two of seven in the fourth quarter. They missed the front end of all three one-and-one opportunities in the closing minutes, but still won. After making five of nine three-point shots in the opening half, the Rams went zero for five from long range in the second half.

Parkins led the Comets with 18 points while no other NP player had more than six. NP played their third straight game at home and will be at home six times in a row before going on the road.

Greene County returns home for a Tuesday, Dec. 6 girl/boy doubleheader vs. Roland-Story (Story City) in the middle school gym in Jefferson on KG98 and www.raccoonvalleyradio.com. Coverage starts at 5:45 p.m. with the girls playing at 6 o’clock and the boys to follow.