After five straight on the road the Greene County basketball teams finally played at home in the middle school gym in Jefferson on Friday night, but the result was the same; two more losses. Saydel (Des Moines) won 43-30 in the girls’ game and 73-63 in the boys’ contest to sweep the two-games season series from the Rams.

The Eagles are 17-3 overall and 14-3 in Heart of Iowa Activities Conference girls’ basketball while the Rams have lost five straight and are 7-12 and 7-10. Saydel started the game with a 13-0 run and the final margin was 13. Cassie Chubb and Jordan Johnson each had 11 points for the Eagles while Kayla Mobley had 15 for the Rams. Greene County was not able to get closer than seven points all night after falling down by 13 at the start. It took 6:31 of playing time for the Rams to get on the scoreboard.

The boys’ game saw Greene County take nearly 2-1/2 minutes of the first quarter to get its first points, but the Rams led 17-15 after one quarter. Saydel was up 31-29 at intermission and grew the lead to eight points in the third quarter. The Rams came back to tie the game at 59-59 with 2:51 to go in the fourth, but the Eagles scored 14 of the last 18 points to sweep Greene County and improve to 9-9 overall and 8-8 in the HOIAC. Greene County lost its sixth game in a row and is now 6-12 and 6-10. Senior Zach McBride had 30 points with Clayton Sommers adding 15 for the Eagles, and senior Brandon Hill added 12. Sophomore Trey Tucker had 22 for the Rams with 16 by senior Rian Nelsen, who was eight for eight from the field. Junior Ried Lamoureux came off the bench to score a dozen. The Eagles entered the game shooting 39% from the field and 59% from the foul line. They shot 60% from the floor and 78% from the line against the Rams. Greene County made just two of seven foul shots and was 28 of 64 from the floor.

Greene County plays a JV/varsity girls twin bill in Rippey on Monday, Feb. 9 vs. Panorama (Panora). The Panthers are ranked seventh in Class 2A.