Last Friday, both the Varsity Boys and Varsity Girls team faced off against the Liberty Bolts. The Girls tried to continue their winning streak against Liberty, as they won both of the contests the previous year. The Varsity Girls came into the game with a record of 2-3, with big wins over Muscatine and Cedar Rapids Jefferson. The Girls are led by Sophomore, Auggie Palmer, who is averaging 25.2 points per game through the first 5 games. 

The Boys came into the game with a record of 1-2 and looked to improve to .500. The Boys are led by Senior, Shamar Benton, who would not play this game due to an ankle injury. Last year the boys split the games with Liberty winning the first and losing the second.

The Girls tipped off first at 6:00 PM. The girls quickly jumped out to a 11-3 lead due to 3’s from both Auggie Palmer ‘25 and Tessa Driscoll ‘26. Liberty fought back to reclaim the lead by the end of the first quarter. From then on, it was a back and forth game between the cross town rivals. The Little Hawks fell just short losing 40-48. Tessa Driscoll and Auggie Palmer both finished with a team high of 15 points, with Emmy McComas ‘25 snagging 10 rebounds and Mia Driscoll ‘23 dishing 6 assists. The girls now have a record of 2-4 and face off against the Prairie Hawks on Tuesday.

“It was a physical battle, but I think the team learned a lot and is ready to move forward and more towards Prairie,” Senior Mia Driscoll elaborated after the game.

The Boys’ game immediately followed the girls game, tipping off around 7:30 PM. The game started off back and forth with Liberty grabbing a narrow lead at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter saw Liberty begin to pull away a little bit, but not before the Little Hawks went on a 7-0 run to end the half. The Bolts came out strong in the third quarter jumping out to a near 20 point lead. The Little Hawks were able to weather the storm with key buckets from Samuel Mbingazo ‘26 and Evan Lampe ‘23. The Little Hawks ran out of time and fell just short of the Bolts losing 42-50. 

“We fought well, we just ran out of time in the end,” commented AJ Wright, a junior guard on the varsity team.

The Varsity Boys will be back in action on Tuesday against the Prairie Hawks.