Pioneers dramatic rally falls just short

Okoboji showed plenty of moxie after rallying all the way back from a 14-point deficit, but Sheldon executed a couple of late baskets on the way to taking down the Pioneers 38-37 Tuesday night in Siouxland Conference girls basketball play.

The Pioneers fell into a gigantic 16-2 hole seven minutes into the contest, but they never quit and outpaced the Orabs by a 35-22 margin the rest of the way. Okoboji would grab a couple of one-point leads in the second half, but Sheldon had an answer each time with three huge 3-pointers in the third and some heady passing from Crystal Rodgers in the final period.

"I thought they would start slow because they left it all on the floor last night. It was a tremendous win over West Lyon," said Okoboji coach Abby Goodlaxson. "They battled hard after a horrendous first quarter. Olivia Albright did a really nice job of getting in the passing lanes tonight."

The Orabs (5-11, 4-10 Siouxland Conference) raced out to a 16-2 edge after capitalizing on 10 early Okoboji (5-12, 4-10) turnovers, but the Pioneers started to find some seams in Kris Groff's patented 1-2-2 zone defense when Abby Taylor and Mikkinzie Peschong traded long jumpers in the final minute of the first quarter.

Taylor jump-started the Pioneers with a couple of nice dishes to start the second, feeding Olivia Albright and Skylar Hansen for a pair of transition baskets. Albright then closed the gap down to 21-20 with a couple of crowd-awakening layups off steals in the final 80 seconds of the half, capping off an 18-5 scoring spurt for the maroon and white.

Hansen put Okoboji ahead for the first time at 22-21 with two foul shots a minute and a half into the third stanza, however, Rodgers quickly answered for Sheldon with three 3-pointers in succession.

Trailing 30-24, the Pioneers fought back ahead once again with an 11-4 run over the next nine minutes. Peschong pushed the lead up to 35-34 with a free throw after Hansen scored two straight baskets.

Rodgers put the Orabs back ahead after splitting a triple team and feeding Abbie Provost in the paint for the go-ahead basket.

Sheldon used some more textbook passing to move ahead 38-35 after back-to-back bounce passes opened up Michelle Fischer for a hoop.

Okoboji misfired on a late jumper, but still got one final opportunity when Rodgers had a free throw go in and out.

With eight seconds remaining, Hansen turned down a 3-pointer and instead fed Peschong for a layup at the buzzer to cut the final deficit down to 38-37.

The Pioneers forced 31 turnovers and finished with 19 steals, getting six from Albright and five from Taylor. Albright scored all eight of her points in the first half. Peschong led way with 11 points and six rebounds, while Hansen added 10 points and Taylor collected six points and eight boards.

Okoboji committed just three of their 26 turnovers in the fourth quarter, but didn't make enough plays down the stretch. Sheldon also had five more 3-pointers, getting three from Provost and two from Rodgers.

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Okoboji lets win slip away

Okoboji had every opportunity to tally a mark in the win column but couldn't overcome a 11-0 drought in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter in a 56-51 setback to Sheldon Tuesday in Siouxland Conference boys basketball action.

"We let one get away," said Okoboji coach Ryan Paulsen. "The guys really played hard for 32 minutes on the defensive side of the ball. We did some nice things execution-wise offensively, but we only had one basket in 13 possessions. It went from a 33-30 game to a 46-35 game and it was hard to come back from that."

The Pioneers came out firing on all cylinders behind a motivated effort from senior leader Keith Oskvig, who sprayed in 10 of his game-high 26 points in the first quarter. Oskvig put Okoboji ahead 10-6 early with his second trey and then made two free throws to push the Pioneer lead back to 12-11 after eight minutes.

"Keith's real aggressive and he doesn't care if he takes it in against a guy that's 6-7. He was very good offensively tonight," said Paulsen. "He knocked down a couple 3s and has a quick first step that gives him the ability to score inside. We just need some help. Keith's been very consistent the past 10 or 11 games, we just need some other guys to give us some more consistency offensively."

After Wes Burgeson drilled a 3 to start the second, Sheldon's Trevor Johnson started an 8-0 run with back-to-back 3-pointers that put the Orabs ahead 19-15.

Okoboji rallied back to knot the score at 23 at the half and charged back ahead by a 33-30 margin when Dalton Syverson rocked the gym with a slam dunk.

Sheldon, however, chipped back ahead 35-33 on a 3-point play from Joe Kuiper. Johnson capped off an eventual 11-0 run with a 3-ball from the corner.

The Pioneers still fought back despite battling foul trouble, getting late 3-pointers from Syverson and Burgeson to close the final deficit down to 56-51. The Orabs drilled 9-of-12 free throws to ice the game away in the final three minutes.

The Orabs nailed six 3-pointers, getting five key daggers from Johnson. Hunter McDonald and Johnson topped Sheldon with 17 points each.

"We defended inside out," said Paulsen. "They're big inside and Dalton and Mark (Nielsen) did a nice job of taking that away for a lot of the game. We hung right there. Keith Oskvig had his best game as a Pioneer. He was all over the place tonight. Every game and every practice is an opportunity to learn and hopefully we can learn from this one."

Oskvig finished with four 3-pointers and was a perfect 4-of-4 at the foul line. Syverson also chipped in 13 points.

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Indians wake up, race past Braves

With both teams deadlocked at 15-15 at the halftime break, Spirit Lake used a 38-21 spurt to surge past Cherokee 53-36 Tuesday in Lakes Conference boys basketball play. The Indians are now 10-5 overall and third in the league with a 6-3 mark.

"I'm proud of these guys. They're just a fun group to be around. They want to win, they want to compete and they want to get better. We did a lot of good things tonight and the shots are going to fall. The shots just didn't fall tonight," said Spirit Lake coach Nate Loenser. "Even Tiger Woods goes through slumps and there are shooting slumps too. Even though we gave away some possessions we held them to 15 points in the first half on their home court. We switched to a 1-2-2 and it kept them off-balance. It was able to loosen some things up and we made some plays down the stretch."

The Indians spurted ahead to stay with a 10-2 run late in the third quarter.

Sawyer Harms and Paul Brown played big roles throughout. Brown scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and Harms led all scorers with 21.

"Sawyer's very talented and the guys did a good job of getting him the ball in good scoring areas and he was very aggressive," said Loenser. "And it was good that we were able to pull away."

Wes Bergquist added 11 points and equaled Brown with a 7-of-8 effort at the charity stripe. SL made 23 free throws in 32 attempts, while Cherokee attempted just seven total foul shots. The Indians finished with just 11 turnovers.

Class 3A No. 14 Spirit Lake also pulled out the girls game over Cherokee, 58-57. The Indians are currently third in the Lakes with a 7-2 record and 13-3 on the season.