The South Hamilton Hawks basketball teams returned to action on Thursday night, as they made the trip up I-35 and east on Highway 20, to take on the Iowa Falls-Alden Cadets in non-conference action at Iowa Falls-Alden High School. The South Hamilton girls entered at 1-1, while the boys entered at 1-0.
Defenses would be the story through much of the night for the girls game, but South Hamilton held a 12-6 lead after the first quarter, a lead that ballooned to 23-10 in favor of the Hawks at the halftime break. The Cadets offense woke up in the 2nd half, but the production of the Hawks offense didn’t slow as South Hamilton held on for a 44-36 win. Ashlyn Erickson led the Hawks with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, while Tanna Thompson had 14 points with 4 3-pointers, and Makena Galetich stuffed the statsheet with 9 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists.
South Hamilton’s boys followed in, what would be, a wildly-entertaining game with Iowa Falls-Alden. The Hawks offense got off to a fast start, putting up 21 in the first quarter and leading 21-17 after one. Iowa Falls-Alden’s offense then took charge in the 2nd quarter, putting up 23 in the 2nd to lead 40-38 at halftime. Scoring slowed a little in the 3rd quarter, with the Cadets leading by 3 going into the 4th, but South Hamilton put together a late rally in the 4th, capped off by a Ryland Ubben tap-in with 4.3 seconds left to put the Hawks up 67-66. Jaden Damiano’s game-deciding shot as time expired was blocked by Ubben to seal the win for South Hamilton. Ubben had a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, with 4 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks, while Ty Koehnk led the Hawks with 18 points. Carter Weaver was the game-high scorer for IF-A with 21 points.
South Hamilton returns to action on Friday night, as they travel to Saydel for their Heart of Iowa Conference opener.