By Sam Parsons
The Oskaloosa Indians visited the Ottumwa Bulldogs on Tuesday night for a non-conference girls and boys basketball doubleheader and had another split result.
Girls Game
Oskaloosa’s girls were shorthanded entering Tuesday night’s game, missing 2 of their 5 starters and only being able to dress 8 players for the game. That, combined with a good Ottumwa Bulldogs team waiting for them, made their assignment very difficult.
The Bulldogs took control of the game early on and didn’t let up. They started the game on an 8-0 run and led 31-9 by halftime.
Oskaloosa’s depleted roster situation was made worse when sophomore starting guard Dassah Cole got into foul trouble early, picking up two personal fouls early in the 1st quarter and then a third foul in the first minute of the second quarter. Suddenly, the Indians were short on ball handlers, despite being a team loaded with them when all of their players are available. That resulted in turnovers being a problem area for Oskaloosa in the game.
“Ottumwa’s a really good team,” said Oskaloosa head coach TC Cunningham after the game. “They apply a lot of pressure, they shoot the three, they move well…they’re just a complete team.”
Ottumwa was led by the freshman trio of Hayden Keith, Blake Goldsmith, and Emma Ryder, who combined to produce 45 points, 20 rebounds, 8 assists, and 9 steals between them. Keith was their top scorer with 19 points in the game.
Oskaloosa, meanwhile, was led by sophomore Porah Cole, who played the vast majority of the minutes and scored 15 points. The rest of the team combined for 6 points.
Ottumwa was able to force a running clock in the 4th quarter and won the game easily, 58-21, improving their record to 8-2 while setting Oskaloosa back to 3-8.
“The girls who played tonight have to be comfortable being uncomfortable,” Cunningham said. “You have to be able to handle the pressure…for a lot of them, this was the first time they had varsity pressure put on them.”
Boys Game
Coming into the game off the heels of back-to-back conference wins in their first week back from winter break, Oskaloosa’s boys were a confident group going into their matchup with Ottumwa and they backed that confidence up with another good showing.
Throughout the game, Oskaloosa was able to share the ball well, creating open shots in the paint and excelling in the rebounding department. The Indians outscored the Bulldogs by 10 points in each of the first two quarters to take a 37-17 lead into halftime.
“I think it was the ball movement we had,” explained junior Tyler Edgar following the game when asked about what the Indians were able to do well. “We were just passing the ball, getting it to teammates that were open.”
Edgar tied the team lead in points scored in the game with 14, all of which were scored in the paint, while also producing 6 rebounds and 2 steals. He shared the lead with fellow junior Tommy North, who put up 14 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 6 steals.
Overall paint dominance led to Oskaloosa never putting the outcome of the game in question. On top of pounding the paint for easy shot attempts, they also out-rebounded Ottumwa 40 to 19.
The Bulldogs sat in zone defense for most of the game, and Osky head coach Erik McGee said that this wasn’t something the Indians had seen much of this year.
“We have to get better in the half-court,” he said. “We haven’t seen a lot of zone. I thought we were almost too unselfish at times…it can be tough making all those passes under the rim.”
Still, the Indians were able to find consistent results on the offensive end of the floor while their defense held the Bulldogs to 10 points or less in each of the first 3 quarters. A running clock was put into effect midway through the 4th quarter, sealing the victory for the Indians.
“It’s really about staying level,” McGee said. “Things are never as good, or as bad, as they seem. We were kind of on top of the world after the Pella game. It was kind of uncharted territory for us. But I was actually kind of disappointed Friday, and we won. But that’s the battle…we have to fight complacency.”
At the end of the game, the score was 69-45 in favor of Oskaloosa. The win for the 9th ranked Indians improved their record to 8-2.
Oskaloosa will travel to Norwalk on Friday in a return to conference play. The girls and boys basketball doubleheader will be broadcast on KBOE 104.9 FM and kboeradio.com starting at approximately 5:45pm.
