Basketball Teams Split With Decatur Community
On Friday evening, December 17th, the high school basketball teams traveled to Oberlin to compete with the Decatur Community teams. The varsity girls lost a close contest 54-56. The boys varsity team defeated the Red Devils 57-46.
The varsity girls game was a close contest throughout the evening. St. Francis led 15-14 after one period but trailed 32-34 at halftime. The Lady Indians were within a point (42-43) after three, but could not seal the win. The Lady Indians lost a hard-fought contest to the Lady Devils 54-56.
Kaitlin Figgins scored 28 points to lead the Lady Indians. Jenna Hill scored 8, while Clarice Neitzel and Kyla Bandel each added seven. Aly Schlepp led the team in rebounding with seven caroms. The Lady Indians shot 32% (21-65) from the floor and 46% (11-24) from the line. Kaitlin Figgins recorded four blocked shots.
Coach Susan Dinkel made the following comments on the game, "We played hard throughout the game. We had some girls who were sick throughout the week, and not that I'm using that as an excuse, but when you miss a few practices and don't have much lung capacity with that cold, it makes it difficult to play well."
"I was pleased with our offensive effort, but we need to improve on our rebounding. That's something we must do better if we are going to win. I say that, knowing that we had 2 offensive boards that could have tied the game, but unfortunately, we just couldn't get them to fall in. I did see something tonight that I haven't seen yet this year - and that was passion. They left everything on the court. I certainly couldn't have asked for any more than that."
The junior varsity girls won their contest over Decatur Community 41-38. Coach David Morrow made the following comments about the game, "Thanks to the contributions from some of the younger kids who play on varsity, we were able to play a full game against Oberlin. This was a very spirited contest between two scrappy teams. In the first half we had some difficulty following our game plan. As the game went on, we were able to get into some rhythm offensively, which certainly helped us on defense."
"In the second half, these ladies closed the gap with Oberlin and ended up taking the lead with a few minutes left. Justice Wiley and Kyla Bandel had very productive efforts in the final quarter. Combined with the great defensive efforts of their teammates, their scoring kept us in front of the Red Devils in the last few moments. McKayla Taylor had a very solid night in scoring and on defense despite recovering from the sickness that has been going around."
"It was great to see our ladies fight like they did. Many of them have either been sick or currently are sick, but they kept fighting for the victory and never let on how tired they were. That is a very good sign for the future."
"Some of our youngest players are still in the learning stages of the game, but they all did some great things. Aby Fernandez began both halves of the game by going to the free-throw line and scoring on the first throw both times. Val Wurm and Aubrey Mills handled the ball a lot for us and did so very capably. Mariah Beikman worked very hard on defense and rebounded well throughout the game."
Leading scorers in the junior varsity girls contest were: Justice Wiley 12, McKayla Taylor 11, and Kyla Bandel 9.
The Indians won the boys varsity contest 57-46. The Indians led 9-6 after one quarter of play and 27-18 at halftime. By the time the third period expired, the Indians had earned a 41-26 lead. The Indian cruised to a 57-46 victory over the Red Devils.
The Indians shot 50% from the floor (21-42) and were 5 of 8 from the line. Seven Indians scored 5 for more points in the contest. Mason Schiltz led the Indians with 11 points, Dylan Peter scored 10. Matt Tygart added 9, and Steven Nelson and Wyatt Landenberger each chipped in 8. Isaac Schiltz did not play due to health issues. Peter and Tygart each collected 10 rebounds.
The Indians will play Rawlins County in Atwood on Monday, December 19 at 4:30 PM.
