By Sam Parsons
The Oskaloosa Indians traveled to Pella Christian for another girls and boys basketball doubleheader and, for the 2nd time in the week, split the bill.
The girls game to open the night was a riveting back-and-forth affair. Neither team could establish a firm advantage in the early going, with the Indians leading after the first quarter 11-10, and at halftime 23-19. The key storyline in the first half was Osky’s usage of 6’3 sophomore center Dasia Foster, who accounted for 15 out of the Indians’ 23 points, as Presley Blommers, Lydia Van Veldhuizen, Hannah Nelson, and company were able to lob precision passes into the post to Foster and she used her substantial size advantage to put bucket after bucket down.
The Eagles would adjust to this approach in the second half. Joslyn Terpstra, Karlie Anderson, and others began making a concentrated effort to lock Foster down in the post and get a jump on passes down low. This worked well for the Eagles, who took the lead 35-33 after the third quarter and limited Foster to just 2 points in the second half; however, it opened up opportunities for Blommers to come alive, as she scored 10 second half points including some clutch free throws in the final minute to clinch the win for Osky, 43-41 to improve their record to 2-0.
The boys game began as a physical, low-scoring contest between the Indians and Eagles. The Eagles were able to establish superiority around the rim all night, outrebounding the Indians 39 to 20, and they bounced back from a poor shooting night in their opener against Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont in which they shot just 27.3% from the floor, to the tune of a 48.1% night against the Indians. After falling behind 25-15 at half, the Indians had a couple of scoring runs in the second half to bring the deficit within single digits, but ultimately, the Eagles remained at least one step ahead throughout the night and wound up with a 62-46 win to set the Indians back to 0-2 to begin the year.
