South-slaying Wolves stay unbeaten

It was an exciting weekend for the area's small school girls basketball teams. Friday saw the Winfield-Mt. Union girls move to 6-0. It also saw the WACO girls pick up a win over Cardinal in a Union area coverage game, as well as a pair of losses from Pekin and Keota.

WINFIELD - Winfield-Mt. Union had to work for its sixth win in a row, but when the dust settled the Wolves were still undefeated.

Winfield-Mt. Union held off the Central Lee Hawks 47-43 in a SEI Super Conference crossover game. The Wolves have now won five games over South Division foes this season compared to one game against the North. Nobody else in the SEISC, including teams in the South Division, has beaten more than four.

Winfield-Mt. Union led 12-8 after the first quarter and 28-24 at halftime. The two teams split the third quarter 9-9 and the fourth quarter 10-10, as the Wolves hung on in one of their toughest games yet.

Bradie Buffington scored 16 points off the bench to lead Winfield-Mt. Union. Jobey Malone and Melina Oepping put up nine points apiece. Kyndal Townsley had six. Keetyn Townsley had four points and four steals. Farrah Nelson scored two points and Jami Wilkerson one.

The Wolves found a way to win despite going 0-for-7 from 3-point land. Kyndal Townsley, Wlkerson and Malone each finished with four assists. Nelson and Malone pulled down six rebounds each.

Winfield-Mt. Union moved to 6-0 with the win. Central Lee is 3-3.

WACO defense clamps down Comets

WAYLAND - A gritty performance on the defensive end led the Warriors past visiting Cardinal, 54-30. The Warriors held home court with a 45-30 South Division win.

WACO led 10-8 after the first period and dominated the second quarter 14-2 to take a 24-10 lead into halftime.

Cardinal played WACO within one point in the final two quarters, but the damage had been done, and the Warriors secured a victory.

Ellah Kissell had 16 points and Warriors teammate Tesla McCoy scored 10 points. Aubri Garnsey had six, Morgan Graber five, Molly McLaughlin four, and both Grace Coble and Lindsey Roth finished with two.

Kinsey Hissem led the Comets with 11 points. Kolbie Bass and Shaelyn Rupe had six points apiece. Emma Becker had four points, and Alexia McClure scored three.

Both WACO and Cardinal will enter the week with 2-3 records.

Big games for Pope, Coleman, Sanders

LETTS - The visiting Panthers spent the second quarter of the North Division game making up a 17-3 first-quarter deficit and trailed 20-18 at the half then led 31-28 to start the fourth. But the Falcons (3-1) won the game 43-38 behind 34 points from Kylee Sanders, who was 14-of-26 from the field.

Pekin's Erika Coleman and Kerrigan Pope combined to match Sanders points and were even better on field-goal percentage at 9-of-13 for Pope's 18 points and 6-for-9 with Coleman, going 4-of-5 on 3-pointers for her 16 points. Pope had nine rebounds, Coleman five and Sophie Wittrock had five steals for Pekin (2-4).

Eagles crash in 2nd half

MARENGO - The visiting Eagles took a 9-7 first-quarter lead in the South Iowa Cedar League game but trailed 28-21 at halftime and lost the third quarter 13-2 for a 56-13 defeat to Iowa Valley.

Taylor Kindred finished with 10 points for Keota and Bailey Sieren had five points and three assists. Sky Weber scored four points and had five rebounds. Taylor Garman notched four points, Macie McDonald grabbed five rebounds and a steal while passing out three assists. Nicole Clarahan had three assists, three rebounds and two steals. McDonald and Clarahan had three points each. Madison Scott had two points and two rebounds.

Keota falls to 1-2 while Iowa Valley is 3-1. Keota hosts Sigourney Tuesday.