Red Oak beats Griswold, loses to St. Albert, Denison

RED OAK—The Red Oak Tigers have lost two straight, after winning their first two games this season.

Red Oak lost Friday night to Denison-Schleswig, 57-31.

Thursday night, they lost to St. Albert in Council Bluffs, 50-32.

Gabi French finished the game with a double-double as she scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Grace Blomstedt came close to also finishing with a double-double.

Blomstedt scored 10 points and had nine rebounds. Kate Walker finished with six points.

The Tigers picked up their second straight win of the season when they defeated the Griswold Tigers, 60-31, in their home opener last Tuesday.

“I thought the girls played together very unselfishly tonight,” Tigers Head Coach Shelley Becker said. “We were working to get good shots and running our offense, and taking the shots as they developed.”

The difference in the game was the third quarter when Red Oak outscored Griswold, 14-1.

“That’s what we’ve really been working on is trying to make sure we’re putting pressure on the ball and any time it gets into the middle of the court, we want to be jumping towards it, swiping at it,” Becker said.

Griswold was unable to score a point until the halfway point of the third quarter.

Meanwhile, Blomstedt and Walker tacked on points to increase Red Oak’s lead. At one point during the quarter, Walker scored six straight points for Red Oak.

The Tigers led 46-20 by the end of the quarter. Red Oak maintained their lead in the fourth quarter, as they had the opportunity to rotate more players into the game.

French and Blomstedt both stepped up early for the Tigers, combining for 12 of Red Oak’s 16 first quarter points.

“I think we had nine different girls score tonight,” Becker said. “Unselfish play, once again, is what I’m most proud of tonight.

The Tigers continued to build their lead in the second quarter when Brittany Carlson hit a two-pointer with more than six minutes left until halftime to give Red Oak a 20-8 lead.

Blomstedt and Elin Skorpen helped keep Red Oak ahead in scoring.

“I thought it was probably a lot better then my last game,” Blomstedt said.

Griswold picked up their scoring, but trailed 32-19 at halftime.
French finished the game as the leading scorer for Red Oak with 17 points.

Blomstedt added 15 points for the Tigers.

“Grace has really come along a lot in a short period of time,” Becker said. “When she first came in to the season as a freshman, she didn’t really like anybody touching her, but now she’s fighting for position and posting up hard and it’s showing.”

Blomstedt fouled out in the first game of the season against Fremont-Mills on Nov. 22.

Fouls weren’t an issue for Blomstedt as she was able to play the entire game against Griswold.

“I’m usually not a person who fouls, so it was kind of important to just not foul out,” Blomstedt said.

Skorpen had eight points, while Walker recorded six in the win.

Red Oak is now 2-2 to start the season. The Tigers have three games this week against conference opponents with two of them on the road.

Tuesday night, they’re heading north to Atlantic to take on the Trojanns.

They’ll be home Friday night to face Clarinda, but are back on the road Saturday for a game in Shenandoah.