Thunderbirds drop season opener

By Holly Neumann

The Iola-Scandinavia Thunderbirds lost 53-60 in their season opener against the Westfield Pioneers Tuesday, Nov. 29, in Iola.

Levi Holly of Westfield scored 10 of his 19 points in the first half of the game, helping the Pioneers gain a 19-15 advantage at the half.

Iola-Scandinavia was able to get within 2 points of the Pioneers during the second period of play, led by Kenny Holz who scored 20 points.

“Considering we played a lot of young guys tonight, I thought our effort over-all was pretty darn good,” said Iola-Scandinavia Coach Sam Bertsch. “We will build off the positives that we established tonight.”

Leading the scoring for Westfield was Holly with 19, followed by Nick Brakebush with 17 and Parker Peschel with 10.

Top scorers for Iola-Scandinavia were Holz with 26, followed by Charlie Stockwell and Bryce Huettner with 10 each.

The Thunderbirds will be back in action on Monday, Dec. 25, when they travel to Antigo.