The Exira-EHK Spartans found themselves in an unfamiliar spot on their home floor on Friday night, they trailed heading into the fourth quarter. The CAM Cougars lead 46-44 heading into that final period. The Spartans rose to the challenge and outscored the Cougars 19-7 in the fourth quarter to pull out a 63-53 win. The lead changed 4 times in the second half as the two teams traded blows. The key stretch that made the difference for the Spartans was with a little over 4 minutes left in the game. The Spartans got a three from Ellie Schultes to take a 51-48 lead followed by two missed free throws from the Cougars with 4:39 left. The Spartans then connected on another three from freshman Tatum Grubbs with 4:10 left in the game to push the lead to 6 at 54-48. The Cougars would only get as close as 4 after that to close the game.

It was a back and forth battle throughout. The Spartans lead 20-17 at the end of the first and maintained a three point lead at 33-30 at half.

Exira-EHK got a big night from their interior players. Kealey Nelson finished with 23 points to lead all scorers and Sophia Peppers dropped in 18 points to go along with 6 rebounds for the Spartans. The Spartans won their 62nd straight conference game and improve to 5-0 on the season. They next travel to Paton-Churdan on Tuesday.

The Cougars strong effort was led by a double-double from Madison Gettler with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Macy Ticknor added 13 points for CAM as they fall to 5-2 on the year. The Cougars will host East Mills on Monday.

GIRLS

Hawkeye Ten Conference

Shenandoah 40, Atlantic 34
Denison-Schleswig 54, Glenwood 43
Kuemper Catholic 63, Creston 51
Lewis Central 60, Harlan 34
Red Oak 72, Clarinda 36

Western Iowa Conference

AHSTW 61, Missouri Valley 49
Logan-Magnolia 55, Riverside 16
Treynor 62, IKM-Manning 46
Tri-Center 42, Audubon 37
Underwood 62, Griswold 38

Rolling Valley Conference

Boyer Valley 57 Glidden-Ralston 37
Coon Rapids-Bayard 52 Woodbine 43
Exira/EHK 63 CAM, Anita 53
Paton-Churdan 56 West Harrison 38

Corner Conference

East Mills 55, Heartland Christian 40
Essex 53, South Page 42 OT
Fremont-Mills 42, Stanton 25

Pride of Iowa Conference

Central Decatur 68 Bedford 18
Martensdale-St. Marys 48 Mount Ayr 47
Nodaway Valley 40 Wayne 35
Pleasantville 48 East Union 24
Southwest Valley 67 Interstate 35 33
Southeast Warren 51 Lenox 38

Missouri River Conference

Bishop Heelan 60 Thomas Jefferson 55

Bluegrass Conference

Moravia 64 Orient-Macksburg 43
Murray 54 Melcher-Dallas 32

BOYS

Hawkeye Ten Conference

Atlantic 64, Shenandoah 26
Bishop Neumann 71, St. Albert 60
Clarinda 61, Red Oak 56
Glenwood 72, Denison-Schleswig 45
Harlan 52, Lewis Central 49
Kuemper Catholic 66, Creston 49

Western Iowa Conference

AHSTW 83, Missouri Valley 41
Audubon 59, Tri-Center 54
Logan-Magnolia 72, Riverside 22
Treynor 57, IKM-Manning 50
Underwood 56, Griswold 32

Rolling Valley Conference

Boyer Valley 73, Glidden-Ralston 48
CAM 57, Exira-EHK 53
Coon Rapids-Bayard 55, Woodbine 48

Corner Conference

East Mills 63, Heartland Christian 40
Sidney 68, Clarinda Academy 40
Stanton 71, Fremont-Mills 54

Pride of Iowa Conference

Bedford 69, Central Decatur 64
Interstate 35 76, Southwest Valley 71
Martensdale-St. Marys 69, Mount Ayr 67
Southeast Warren 30, Lenox 29
Wayne 74, Nodaway Valley 62

Missouri River Conference

Bishop Heelan 62, Thomas Jefferson 37

Bluegrass Conference

Lamoni 76, Mormon Trail 64
Melcher-Dallas 67, Murray 65
Moravia 70, Orient-Macksburg 15
Moulton-Udell 55, Seymour 51
Twin Cedars 33, Ankeny Christian 90

The Exira-EHK Spartans will welcome in the CAM Cougars for a varsity basketball doubleheader tonight in Elk Horn and we’ll have coverage on KJAN. Both games shape up to be interesting ones on paper.

On the girls side the Spartans enter the game 4-0 and are currently ranked #5 in Class 1A. The Cougars are 5-1 on the season with their lone loss on the road to a tough Boyer Valley squad. Kealey Nelson has led the Spartans with 17 points per game and fellow senior Sophia Peppers has averaged 14 points per game. CAM has been led by Madison Gettler’s 15 points per outing, while Paige McAfee has been a big factor with 13 points per game so far.

In the boys game the 3-2 Cougars will take on a 2-2 Spartan squad. CAM runs behind senior guard Thomas Hensley who has averaged 23 points per game and is already over 25 steals on the year. Nic Holste has averaged 17 points for CAM. For the Spartans Trey Nelson has stepped up this season averaging 15 points per contest while point guard Cole Burmeister has dropped down 14 per outing.

You can catch all the action tonight on KJAN with Chris Parks and Mike Smith on the call. Pregame starts at 5:50pm for the girls game. Listen on-air, online, or on the app. Live video is also planned on KJANTV.