Basketball Teams Play Decatur County
The high school basketball teams traveled to Oberlin on Friday evening, December 18th, to compete against the Decatur County Red Devils. The varsity teams split their games; the boys won a close contest, while the girls lost.
The Lady Red Devils jumped out to an 8-14 lead at the first quarter break. They extended their lead to 8-21 after a couple of St. Francis turnovers early in the second quarter. The first half was punctuated by numerous free throw attempts (28) as many fouls were called during the half. The halftime score stood at 16-29 in favor of the Lady Devils.
In the third quarter, the Lady Devils extended their lead to 19-35, but the Lady Indians kept scraping and cut the lead to 12 points later in the period. The Lady Indians committed several more turnovers which allowed the 3rd quarter to close with the Lady Devils leading 28-44.
In the fourth quarter, turnovers continued to plague the Lady Indians. The team fell behind by 20 (28-48) with 6:56 remaining in the game. The Lady Indians hit several shots down the stretch, and cut the lead to 44-54 with a minute remaining in the game. Kaitlin Figgins made several nice plays during the Lady Indians run late in the game. Kaitlin scored 12 points in the period. The game ended with the Lady Indians losing by a 47-58 score.
Jodie Hilt and Kaitlin Figgins paced the Lady Indians with 12 points each. Sarah Trembly added nine. Decatur County was led by Olson (20), Blau (12), and Dreher (10).
The boys game was a game of runs by both teams. St. Francis jumped out to a quick 14-2 lead with 5:30 left in the first quarter. St. Francis lead 19-5 at one point, but only by ten (19-9) after one quarter.
The Red Devils cranked up the defensive pressure in the second period applying a full court zone press. The Indians responded by turning the ball over several times in the period. Oberlin cut the lead to 19-15 early in the quarter. The Indians led 24-19 with 3:24 left in the half, but the Red Devils pressure eventually cut the lead to 26-24 at the halftime break.
The Red Devils were the first team to score in the second half, trying the score at 26. The Indians then began to execute very well scoring easy baskets off good offensive execution to regain the lead 38-26. The Indians led by 14 (42-28) after three quarters of play.
In the fourth quarter, turnovers proved costly to the Indians. The Red Devils scored several baskets after Indian turnovers to cut the Indian advantage to 47-36 at 5:32. The Devils cut the lead to single digits (47-38) with 4:20 on the clock and to 8 points (49-41) about a minute later. The Indians led by ten (51-41) with 2:33 remaining. The Red Devils would not quit. After the Indians gave up a couple of offensive rebounds and committed two more turnovers, the lead had shrunk to 51-48 with 29 seconds to go. The Indians held on to win 53-48.
Trent Raile scored 18 to lead the Indians. Garrett Figgins added 10. Jones (17) and Soderland (13) paced the Red Devils.
The JV boys team lost to the Red Devils by a 30-39 score. Brueggeman scored 20 for Decatur County in the JV game. Dylan Peter and Brooks Hobrock each scored seven points to lead the Indians in scoring.
Next action for the basketball teams will be on January 5th with they host the teams from Golden Plains High School.
