The Oskaloosa basketball teams were in action on Tuesday night at home against Grinnell, and although both games ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard for the Indians, there were plenty of positives to go around.
The girls’ game featured some of the best basketball played all season long by Osky. With minimal turnovers through long stretches of play and some good shooting, the Indians were able to battle back to make it an interesting contest. Grinnell eventually got the win, 55-47.
You don’t have to look far to see the silver linings, however. Grinnell is currently ranked 4th in the IGHSAU Girls’ Basketball Poll and has been on a tear despite being without star forward Sienna Durr. The Tigers nearly knocked off Class 5A #1 Indianola last week before dismantling Class 4A #1 Pella by 14 points. Oskaloosa outperformed expectations, especially considering Grinnell won the first meeting by 40 points earlier this year.
Oskaloosa was led by senior Alexis Westercamp, who poured in 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. The last bucket of the game was the one that got Westercamp over 1,000 career points in her career, an outstanding achievement for the four-year starter.
Grinnell was led by Kyra Hungerford, who scored 19 points, 17 of which came in a red-hot first half.
On the boys’ side, Oskaloosa played Grinnell neck-and-neck throughout most of the game, but in the later stages of the 3rd quarter, the Tigers got some breathing room, getting the lead up into double figures.
Oskaloosa would close the game strong, however, riding an 8-0 run to get within two, 50-48, with just over three minutes to go.
Unfortunately, the Indians were out of gas and Grinnell iced the game with a couple of Sam Allen free throws to get a 55-51 win to sweep the season series.
Oskaloosa still played a great defensive game, containing the entire Grinnell team outside of senior studs Cade McKnight and Sam Allen to just 11 points. Unfortunately McKnight and Allen would each score 22 points to lead the Tigers to the win.
Jarad Kruse was the high man for the Indians with 22 points and 6 rebounds. Xavier Foster had 11 off the bench, which Jack Moore had 8. Cole Henry scored 6 points to go along with a game-high 8 rebounds.
Oskaloosa will look to right the ship and get more positive momentum as the season hits the home stretch. The next matchup is a doubleheader with Dallas Center-Grimes on the road. That double-dip can be watched with a live HD video stream on radiokmzn.com or kboeradio.com, and will be available on MCG Channel 7. The game can also be heard on 99.5 FM/740 AM KMZN. Pregame coverage begins at 6 PM for the 6:15 tip-off.
