Five Takeaways from Indianola vs. Norwalk
Norwalk and Indianola met on Friday night with both teams looking for their first win. Indianola came out quickly in the first half as they switched up their defense from zone to press regularly. They faceguarded Norwalk’s top player for…
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Continue ReadingNorwalk and Indianola met on Friday night with both teams looking for their first win. Indianola came out quickly in the first half as they switched up their defense from zone to press regularly. They faceguarded Norwalk’s top player for the entirety of the night and shut her down. At the half, it was 28-17 in favor of Indianola and they stretched that lead out in the second half. Indianola got the game to a 39-17 lead before Norwalk scored 10 in a row to make a game of it. At the 6:40 mark in the fourth quarter, Indianola led 39-27 and then staved off a run by hitting consecutive 3-pointers to make it a 18-point game. Norwalk continued to battle and at one point got it to a single-digit game. Indianola was able to salt the game away at the line and held on for a 59-43 win.
Indianola has multiple weapons on offense
Indianola has a few different scoring threats on the offensive side of the ball. Between junior Kendall Clatt, and sophomores Lauren Blake and Mara Bishop, they have a ton of different scoring options. Clatt is able to hit with range while showing the ability to get to the line and the rim. Blake was all over the floor tonight scoring both at the rim and from behind the arc. Bishop hit two 3-pointers in the game and finished 8-for-8 at the line. This is a solid shooting team as Alley May and Bailey Blake are also contributors from the starting lineup.
The improvement of sophomore Lauren Blake is noticeable
A sophomore wing from Indianola, Blake showed spurts of being really solid this past summer running with Lady Pure Prep. I thought that she was fairly raw, but had the athleticism and IQ to develop over the next few years and turn into a really nice prospect. Now seeing her in the high school season I think that her improvement track has accelerated and she looked really solid tonight. She was tough on defense and was really able to score the ball well on offense. She went out after a collision in the 3rd quarter but returned in the 4th quarter.
Indianola’s defense was suffocating
Indianola’s defense produced 13 steals and forced many more turnovers. They are able to play both man and zone effectively with their length and athleticism. They threw a couple players at Norwalk’s Jocelyn Bice and held her to just five points in the game. Indianola’s press was very effective all game long creating pressure on the Norwalk guards to make plays.
Norwalk will need to find additional scorers this season
It was evident that once Bice was taken out, they struggled to score early in the game. Sophomore Olivia Johnson was able to score the ball at a good rate finishing with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Bren Moritz was also able to score effectively as she finished with 12 points to lead the team. For Norwalk to be successful, they will need all three of these players to play at a high level.
Norwalk’s success will come next year
Norwalk is a young team by most standards as they only have three seniors on the team and only one of those players played big minutes. They can use this year as a year to prepare their sophomores and juniors for a big season next year. With just one senior in the starting lineup, a year of experience for all of these players might show big dividends next year. However, they do have talent so they could outperform expectations even this year.