The Roland-Story Norsemen basketball teams made the southern journey to the Des Moines metro on Monday night, as they took on the Van Meter Bulldogs in non-conference action at Van Meter High School. The Norsemen girls entered at 18-1, while the Norsemen boys entered at 15-3.
Roland-Story’s girls would be locked in a dogfight throughout most of the night, only leading the Bulldogs 12-9 after the first quarter, a lead that was extended to 25-17 at halftime. The Norsemen appeared to be poised to pull away in the 3rd quarter, leading 46-27 after the 3rd quarter, but Van Meter put up a furious rally that would fall short in the 4th quarter, as the Norsemen locked up a 54-44 win. Alyssa Jones had 14 points to lead the Norsemen, while Claire Truesdell had 10.
The boys game followed with the Norsemen looking to bounce back from their gut-wrenching loss to Nevada, and got off to a great start, leading 17-6 after the first quarter. The Bulldogs would battle back, cutting the deficit to 31-25 at halftime, before dwindling it to 4 by the end of the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter would see both sides go back-and-forth, but it was Roland-Story that came out on top by a final of 54-51. Jonovan Wilkinson had a monster night of 27 points and 20 rebounds to lead the Norsemen.
Roland-Story basketball wraps up the regular season on Tuesday night, when they travel to Jewell to take on long-time rival South Hamilton in Heart of Iowa Conference action.