Hull, Iowa — The Western Christian Wolfpack split a girl/boy varsity basketball double-header with the Cherokee Braves Friday night at the Western Christian gym.
The Cherokee girls led Western at all the breaks, 15-13 at the end of one, 33-27 at intermission, and 56-41 at the end of three, on the way to a 79-51 win over the Western Chtristian Wolfpack.
Cherokee’s Kassidy Pingel led all scorers with 36 points. Other Cherokee girls in double-figures were JeMae Nichols with 18, and Payton Slaughter with 12.
Leading scorer for the Wolfpack was Olivia Granstra with 18. In fact, Granstra was the only Wolfpack player in double figures.
With the win, Cherokee extends their season record to 19-1, while Western drops to 10-9.
In the nightcap, the Western Christian boys led at all the breaks, 17-10 at the end of one, 32-20 at intermission, and 50-33 at the end of three quarters of play. Hot 3-point shooting in the 4th quarter brought the Braves back to within 10 at the final buzzer, losing to Western 72-62. The Braves drained six 3-point buckets in the 4th quarter, including three from 6’6″ junior Ryan Hurd.
Hurd led all scorers with 23 points on the night, 12 of those coming on 3-point baskets. Three other Braves were in double figures, with Brayden Farver adding 13, while Alex Paulsrud and Cole Pitts each added 11 for Cherokee.
The Wolfpack had four players in double-figures in the contest. Ty Van Essen came off the bench to lead all Wolfpack scorers with 12 points, Clay Van Tol added 11, while Dawson Feenstra and Carter Broek each chipped in 10 points on the night.
With the win, Western extends their season record to 11-6, while Cherokee falls to 8-11 on the year.
The next outing for the Western Christian boys will be a non-conference affair Saturday afternoon against Dakota Valley, South Dakota. That game will be played at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls. Justin Hellings will bring you the call on KIWA-FM 105.3, with pregame scheduled for 3:20 Saturday afternoon, and opening tip at 3:30. The Western Girls will be back in action Monday night at Tea, South Dakota in a non-conference game that was postponed due to inclement weather last week. Monday night’s game begins at 7:20 for the pregame, for a 7:30 start time, on the home and away voice of Wolfpack Basketball, KIWA-FM 105.3. The next girl/boy double-header for Western will be Tuesday night when they entertain Le Mars in Lakes Conference action.
Next games for Cherokee will be Tuesday night when they play host to Lakes Conference rival Spirit Lake in girl/boy double-header action.
