(Greenfield, IA) — It was an early battle of Pride of Iowa teams to start the basketball season on Monday night but in the end Mount Ayr walked away with two victories at Nodaway Valley — the girls won 58-48 while the Raider boys won 69-44.
The defending Iowa scoring champ Izzy Eisbach for Nodaway Valley struggled with her shooting, missing her first 10 shots and had just 5 total baskets on the night. Mount Ayr’s Izzy Gilbertson scored 13 points in the first half to lead the Raiders to a 30-21 halftime lead.
Gilbertson picked up her third foul in the third quarter and the Raiders could not find their rhythm on offense. Eisbach would finally get going, scoring 12 points in the quarter and the Wolverines rallied to cut the lead to 45-39 going to the 4th quarter.
The Wolverines would get as close as 50-46 with just over 2 minutes left but the Raiders Dannie Stewart got a layup and a foul, converting a three point play. After a NV turnover, Gilbertson converted a layup and then added a free throw for a 6-0 Mount Ayr run to push the lead back to 10.
Gilbertson had 21 points, Makel Jones with 10 and Stewart added 8. Eisbach led Nodaway Valley with 22 and Emma Boswell finished with 9. Unofficially, the Wolverines shot just 26 percent from the field and were 1-22 from three point land.
In the boys game, Jackson Ruggles needed just 4 points to reach the 1,000 career milestone and he did it in the first quarter and finished with a game high 21 points to lead the Raiders who led the whole way. Hayes Stogdill who averaged 2.2 ppg last year had 16 and Tate Dugan finished with 15.
Nodaway Valley was led by Jack Berg with 9; Titus Hamer and Cassius Burnside each had 8 points.
