The Iowa Mennonite School boys and girls basketball teams posted a pair of Southeast Iowa Superconference wins Friday night taking down Louisa-Muscatine in Kalona. The IMS girls opened the night with a 50-45 victory. IMS controlled most of the first half, building their lead to seven at one point before taking a 24-18 lead into the half. IMS would again push their lead to seven in the third quarter but this time L-M countered with a 12-0 run to take a five point lead. Undeterred, IMS responded with 11 straight to wrestle back the advantage. Down the stretch, the Falcons would pull within one possession but Yani Gutierrez hit four free throws in the games final minute to seal the win. After the contest, IMS head girls basketball coach Kari Huisinkveld talked about the win for her team. “We work on situations quite a bit in practice, we are a team that’s played a lot of close games going back to the playoffs last year. I like to think that we are pretty comfortable in that situation and understanding how to close it out. I thought we executed well down the stretch. We got stops, we made buckets and took care of the basketball. It was great to see Yani go to the line and knock down four tonight.”
Suzanna Yoder led IMS with 29 points including seven made threes. With the win, IMS is now 7-6 on the year.
In the boys contest, IMS coasted to a 66-38 victory. IMS got out to a hot start, opening the game on a 14-4 run, and they would maintain that lead the rest of the first half, up 34-23 at the break. IMS opened things up in the third quarter, outscoring L-M 20-9 in the frame and putting the game out of reach. After the contest, IMS head coach Dwight Gingerich talked about what he liked in his team’s effort. “The communication was much better tonight. We were able to pull away in the second half. I think the guys made some individual adjustments. It was good to see us pull away.”
Eli Ours led the way with 19 points, Trevor Leyden scored 14 including four three point goals and Jeremy Niemeyer added 10. With the win, IMS is now 8-3 on the year.