RO girls hoops next stop: state tourney

The Red Oak Tigers girls hoops are heading to state for the third time in six seasons after two regional wins last week.
Shenandoah
The Tigers hosted Shenandoah Wednesday in a quarterfinal thriller ending in a Tiger victory 60-47.
Shenandoah started on a 5-0 run before Red Oak settled into consistent shooting and took a 16-11 lead at the end of the first frame.
The Tigers continued to roll in the second quarter, adding six points before allowing a Filly scoring drive with under four minutes left until the half.
Filly Logan Hughes hit a bucket as the buzzer sounded, and scored six of the nine points for Shenandoah in the second frame, but still trailed the Tigers 29-20.
The Tigers defense held Shenandoah to seven points in the third period, while banking 14 points for themselves.
The Tigers hit seven of eight free throws down the stretch to  advance to the final.
Sophie Walker paced the Tigers with 26 points, three assists, and six steals.
Hannah Vial had 11 points off of three three-pointers; Sierra Athen nine points, nine boards; Ellie Rengstorf six points; Kam Buntrock four; and Allie West and Kyndal Kells two each.
“I would like to highlight Syd Streicher, Allie West, and Kam Buntrock,” assistant coach Maddie Gelber said. “We asked them to come off the bench, and they didn’t play a ton of minutes yet they were unselfish and okay with that. They gave us everything they had when they were out there and you can’t ask more than that.”
Cherokee
The Tigers snatched an upset win over number three Cherokee 79-69 Saturday for the Class 3A regional basketball final in Harlan.
The Tigers overcame a 22-16 first quarter deficit to within two at the halftime, 38-36.
The Tigers’ full court press led to 15 Cherokee turnovers in the first half.
Cherokee started the third period with a 6-0 run, then only scored one point from the charity stripe in the last three minutes of quarter play, while Red Oak gained its first lead of the game on a 13-1 run to head into the final frame 58-54.
The Braves lost three of their top four scorers in the final minutes of the game to fouls, and Red Oak’s Athen and Kells fouled out with less than a minute to play.
 The Tigers never gave up the lead, outscoring the Braves 21-15 in the final frame.
“We knew with this tempo you can get down and come back,” Red Oak head coach Dan Martinez said. “Our attitude about how we were going to play, and the girls sticking to the game plan was big.”
Walker again set the pace for the Tigers with 22 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and two steals.
“The Hawkeye Ten prepares us,” Walker said. “Every night we go out and battle. I felt we were prepared with our competition through the season.”
Senior Athen recorded a double-double with 15 points and 16 rebounds, while Vial and Rengstorf posted double-digit scoring of 13 and 11, respectively. Vial had seven boards and Rengstorf led with four steals.
Kells and Buntrock each had eight points, and Buntrock added seven boards; and West chipped in two points.
Red Oak will play in a state quarterfinal as the number 7 seed in the Class 3A bracket against number 2 seed Sioux Center next Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Des Moines.