STATE CENTER, Ia. — The South Hamilton Hawks basketball teams returned to action on Friday night, as they made the drive into Marshall County to take on the West Marshall Trojans in Heart of Iowa Conference action at West Marshall High School.
Friday’s first quarter for the girls would be tight, as West Marshall led 12-11 after one, as the Trojans would extend that lead by halftime at 25-17. The Hawks offense picked up more in the 3rd quarter to trail 38-27 going into the 4th, but the Trojans pulled away in the 4th to hand the Hawks a 50-35 loss.
Tessa Skartvedt led the Hawks with 11 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals, while Izzy Swenson finished with 10 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals. Halle Jones led West Marshall with 21 points and 9 rebounds.
The Hawk boys followed and started off strong, leading 18-16 at the end of the first quarter, as the game remained tight through halftime with South Hamilton up 32-31. West Marshall battled back to take the lead at the end of the 3rd quarter at 43-42, as the contest went down to the wire. Senior Sam Koehnk delivered the deciding blow with just under a minute to go to put South Hamilton ahead for good in a 56-53 win and snapping the Hawks 39-game losing streak.
Jackson Olmstead and Ben Swenson led the Hawks with 17 points each, as Olmstead added 4 rebounds and 5 assists and Swenson added 4 rebounds and a steal.
South Hamilton basketball returns to action on Tuesday, when they travel to Monroe to take on the PCM Mustangs in Heart of Iowa Conference action with tipoff at 6 PM.