By Sam Parsons
The Oskaloosa Indians hosted the Newton Cardinals for a Little Hawkeye Conference girls and boys basketball doubleheader on Friday night and came away with a split.
Girls Game
The lady Indians struggled to get going offensively against the Cardinals in Friday night’s opener. In the first quarter, they scored only 2 points; and in the third, they came away with a single point. On the night, Oskaloosa shot just 6/37 from the field (16.2%) and failed to make a three-pointer, going 0/14 from beyond the arc. The team also went 3/9 (33.3%) from the free throw line.
The Indians’ anemic night of offense was somewhat offset by a good defensive performance in which they limited the Cardinals to a field goal percentage of just 30.3%. This defensive effort, which was highlighted by 3 steals by junior guard Naomi Cole, kept the Indians alive in the game for the first three quarters, but by the fourth quarter, their offense was unable to get started.
At the conclusion of the game, the score was 32-15 in favor of the Cardinals, setting the Indians back to 3-7 on the season and 0-5 in conference play.
Boys Game
Oskaloosa’s boys entered Friday night’s game fresh off their thrilling 81-79 overtime win over #5 Pella on Tuesday, and they didn’t let the emotional high of that game get in the way of their performance against the Cardinals.
The Indians played solid defense against the Cardinals for much of the contest. Senior forward Landon Romas attributed their defensive play to a quality group effort.
“I think we were really good with our defensive keys,” Romas said. “Shots weren’t necessarily falling for us tonight, but we stayed true to our defensive keys…and overall, we were good defensively.”
And when it came to mentally moving on from Tuesday night’s huge win and getting focused for Friday night, Romas said that the Indians were ready to meet the challenge.
“We kind of knew going into it that we were going to have a target on our backs, taking down the #1 [team] in the conference” he said. “We just focused on, ‘If we didn’t win tonight, none of that would matter.’ So we tried to keep that mindset, stay solid, do what we do, and not try to do too much.”
The Indians found their groove in the second quarter, which was when the defensive performance peaked. The Cardinals managed to score only 3 points in the entire quarter, getting stymied again and again by Oskaloosa in the half court.
On the other end of the floor, it wasn’t the prettiest night for Oskaloosa’s offense, but they managed to do plenty to complement their defense. Junior guard Tommy North again delivered a good game for the Indians, tallying 22 points on 7/14 FGs (2/6 3PT) and 6/8 FTs with 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and only 2 turnovers. Romas scored 10 points on the night, and sophomore Andrew Hersom notched 9.
As a team, the Indians shot 43.2% (19/44) from the floor and 4/10 from long distance.
Oskaloosa’s combined effort resulted in a 52-40 victory over Newton, giving them a 7-2 record overall and a 3-2 record in Little Hawkeye Conference play.
Oskaloosa will travel to Ottumwa on Tuesday night (1/13) for a non-conference doubleheader. Coverage will air on KBOE 104.9 FM and kboeradio.com starting at around 5:45pm.
