On February 5, it was Senior’s Night and the North Tama gym was awash with red, white and black (since both teams wore them) as the Redhawks took on the Dunkerton Raiders. The girls’ and boys’ games were very close, but the Redhawks prevailed in both games.

In the first play of the girls’ game, the four seniors on the team, Kelsey Upah, Cassie Peterson, Morgan Halupnick, and Nora Seda, got to play. Later in the half, Seda sunk a free throw and a long two point shot. Throughout the half North Tama showed great skill in scoring against the Raiders. Amanda Howard got a rebound at one point and was able to run it down the court for a layup. Halupnick then maneuvered past several defenders to earn two points. Sydney Fehr ended the half with two free throws, and then took part in a play that ended with Kailey Kladivo hitting a two point shot. The score was 29 to 9 at half.

The second half saw the North Tama girls continuing their point-earning spree. Peterson passed the ball into Upah, who put the ball up for two points. Erin Herink continued the Redhawk’s success when she sunk a long two point shot. Allison Zobel finished off the game when she hit a free throw. The winning score was 63 to 25.

During the time between the two games, the seniors from the girls’ and boys’ teams and the cheerleading squad were honored. The girls included Kelsey Upah, Cassie Peterson, Morgan Halupnick, and Nora Seda. The boys included Sean Dengler, Brady Pearson, Jeremy Wrage and Oleksi Panchuk. The cheerleaders included Kameron Green, Kelsey Green, Aerial Hess and Steph Baker. All of these seniors were accompanied by their parents and were very much thanked and honored.

Lucas Hefty began the boys’ game by winning the tip off. The ball went to Cade Isenhower and then was passed to Brendon Boerm, who was able to take it up for two points. Brendon Boerm continued the Redhawk’s success by hitting a three point shot. Later in the half, Mitchell Boerm took the ball up for two points. Many of the points scored after this moment came in the form of free throws. Hefty hit one free throw, Jeremy Wrage hit two free throws, Dengler hit one free throw and Tyler Cizek hit one free throw. The score at halftime was 29 to 27.

In the second half, the boys’ teams competed very hard to win the game. The score stayed rather close, so the excitement at every scored point was intense. Isenhower started off the half by hitting a long two point shot. In one of the next plays, Isenhower passed the ball into Hefty, who took the ball up for two points. Later in the half, Brendon and Mitchell showed off some evasion tactics by moving through several defenders to get two points apiece. Jacob Wrage got the crowd going when he hit a three point shot. Cizek was then able to pass the ball into Hefty, who sunk the ball for two points. With all these scored points, the Redhawks’ score began to pull away from the Raiders’. Wrage helped to clinch victory for the Redhawks when he hit not only a smooth layup but two free throws as well. The final score was 67 to 61.

Overall, the night went very well for the Redhawks. The seniors were honored, and both girls’ and boys’ teams came away with a victory. The Redhawks will be playing again at home on Friday, February 12 against North East Hamilton.