West Central Valley basketball swept a girl/boy doubleheader with Southeast Warren Thursday night.
The girls kicked off the festivities with a wire-to-wire 43-32 victory. Madi Jaeger led the way with 19 points. Bella Munoz chipped in 16 for the Lady Wildcats. Rounding out the scoring were Presley Pivanka and Kinzie Alt with four apiece. Defensively, the girls dominated the first quarter to pull away with a 13-4 lead.
Head coach Dan Druivenga credited the girls’ improvement on defense for their fifth straight home victory.
“Defense is our number one thing, and the girls are starting to understand where they’re supposed to be, how to get in the passing lanes. You always have to play defense first to win basketball games. Then, the offense can come from that when we make steals.”
Boys Basketball
West Central Valley 76, Southeast Warren 75, 2 OT
In terms of the boys’ game, head coach Dave Brumley sums it up nicely in five words.
“Hunter bailed me out tonight.”
After the ball appeared to be kicked out of bounds by Southeast Warren in the final moments of second overtime, the ball was awarded to the Warhawks and coach Brumley’s reaction prompted a technical foul. Mason Merfeld sunk one of the two free throws to put the Wildcats down by one.
Following a foul on Merfeld and one more free throw, Keller turned and fired a 24-foot 3-pointer through the net to give the Wildcats the advantage and their second double overtime win this season.
“I didn’t know what the time was. Something said shoot it, so I shot it. I was scared when I shot it, but it went in and it felt good. That’s the second one, and I don’t know. It’s just a win.”
Grant Caltrider led the Wildcats with 23 points on the night, including two-straight three-pointers to open the 4th-quarter rally. Keller scored 19, Nate Gerling chipped in 18 and Carson Powell scored 15 to give the Wildcats four double-digit scorers. Freshman Landon Osberg had a key bucket as well in the second overtime period.
The unsung defensive hero for West Central Valley was Mason Clauson. The six-foot-six sophomore came off the bench late in the third quarter to help lockdown Southeast Warren’s Jack Williams, who had put up 12 points in the frame.
Both teams will be back in action tonight against Des Moines Christian.