On Friday night, Sigourney boys and girls got the win over rival English Valleys on the KCII Area Game of the Week. The girls won their 12th straight. The Savages are 15-4 and 9-3 in conference play. In the first quarter, it was a quick start for the Savages. They jumped out to a 15-5 lead at the end of the first. In the second, English Valleys tightened the lead to 13 trailing 28-15 going into the break. In the third, the Bears outscored the Savages, to go into the fourth quarter only trailing 43-35. At one time, the Bears were only down by four. However, in the fourth, the Savages clamped up and held on to win 54-41, only allowing 6 points in the final period. Sigourney continued playing stellar defense by forcing 24 turnovers. They also won the rebounding battle, 35-27. English Valleys did not have a single foul until the third quarter. They would go on to have 10 fouls all in the second half. None of the Bears fouled out, but sophomore Ava Gerhking almost did with four. Sigourney would go on to having 13 fouls for the game. The Savages were led by senior Jospehine Moore who dropped 16 points. Ava Fisch also had a great night as she had 12 points, all from the three point line.
Head girls coach Kaylee Weber came on the KCII postgame show after their 12th straight win. “We hit some big three point shots. We fouled a lot, but thankfully our shots were falling. We focus on boxing out and not allowing any boards. We try to limit other teams from getting rebounds. I am glad we won that battle (rebounds) because the last time we played them we lost the rebounding battle. I am proud of them for adapting to that and putting it away. I told them at halftime you have to have your best quarter being in the third to put them away and in the third quarter, they did the opposite. They came out in the fourth quarter and played well. I am proud of them for that. You go to win quarter by quarter. We took three out of four and that’s what it takes to win”.
The Sigourney boys kept the good times rolling 83-45. They got their 13th win and 8th win in league play. In the first quarter, they jumped out to a huge lead 26-8. In the second, English Valleys trimmed the lead a bit and trailed 47-26 at half. In the third, the Savage boys dominated, scoring 27 and only allowing 4 points. Going into the fourth, the Savages lead the Bears 74-30. In the fourth, the Savages finished off the Bears. Sigourney played super clean and only had eight turnovers. On the other side, English Valleys turned it over 18 times, with 8 of them coming in the first quarter. The Savages out rebounded the Bears as well 39-15. The junior, John Berg had a career night with 27 points to lead the way for Sigourney.
John Berg joined KCII Sports to talk about his career night. “My teammates did a very good job of dishing the ball to me, when I was open and when they were driving in. The first time we played them we came out slow and we really wanted to put them out early. That’s what I really like about this group. They will step up if they need to and get the job done. If we’re going to win big games, we have to limit the turnovers and play clean”.
Next for the Sigourney Savages, is the Iowa Valley Tigers on Tuesday. After Iowa Valley, they have two games left in the regular season, which is against Moravia and Centerville.