Cherokee, Iowa — The Western Christian Wolfpack and Cherokee Braves split a Lakes Conference doubleheader Friday night in Cherokee. The girls game went to Cherokee 80-56, while the boys game went to Western Christian 65-50.
In the girls game, the #4 Braves showed why they were state ranked with their run and gun offense, and smothering press defense. After one, Cherokee had a 17-10 lead and heading into the break, extended their lead to 36-24. After three it was 67-39, and Cherokee went on to win 80-56.
The Braves had four players in double figures. Payton Slaughter had a game high twenty-one, while Kassidy Pingel added seventeen. JaMae Nichol had twelve, and Teagan Slaughter put in eleven. Western Christian had two players in double figures. Abby Postma had a team high fifteen, while Olivia Granstra added twelve.
Cherokee improves to 11-0 on the year and 6-0 in the conference. Western falls to 4-5 on the season, and 2-3 in the Lakes.
Western and Cherokee battled back in forth in the boys game. Western jumped out to a big lead early and after one had a 17-6 lead, but in the second quarter Cherokee stormed back and at the break had a 29-27 lead. Western was able to regroup in the second half and had a 45-42 lead after three, and went on to win 65-50 after an eleven point outburst by Dawson Feenstra helped push the team to victory.
Western had three players in double figures. Feenstra had a game high nineteen, Carter Broek put in eighteen, while Clay VanTol put in thirteen. Cole Pitts had a game high twelve for the Braves.
Western improves to 5-2 on the year and 5-0 in the conference. Cherokee falls to 5-6 on the season and 2-4 in the Lakes.
Coach Keizer had this to say about Friday night’s game, “We got off to a great start which was nice to see in our first game back after the Christmas break. Unfortunately, we gave up the ground we made in the first quarter with some sloppy play and some concentration errors and gave up the lead going into the half.
I was pleased with the effort in the second half. Carter Broek took over on both ends of the floor and really made a difference for us.Dawson Feenstra really gave us a spark with his shooting in the second half. He continues to gain confidence in his play but he should be confident, he’s in the gym every morning working on his game.
Tomorrow will be a challenge for us against a tough Worthington team. They have two tremendous guards that have the capability of scoring a lot of points in a little time. Our team is looking forward to the challenge.
Up next for the Wolfpack is a home contest on Saturday against Worthington.
