Okoboji had their five-game winning streak halted at Spirit Lake on Monday night in a hard-fought 50-42 game. It was a defensive battle from the start with Spirit Lake taking a 5-4 lead at the halfway point of the first quarter, the Indians would build that lead to 10-7 at the end of the frame. Okoboji would trim the lead to 14-13 with 3:00 left in the second quarter but Spirit Lake would end the quarter on a 10-5 run to build a 24-18 halftime advantage. The Pioneers started the third quarter on an 8-2 run to knot the game at 26-26 on a lay-up by Carly Carstens but Spirit Lake would answer with a 12-4 run to end the quarter with a 38-30 lead. Okoboji could get no closer than six in the final frame as the Indians held on for the win. Makenna Helmers led Okoboji with 12 points to go along with 4 steals, Carly Carstens added 11 points and 5 rebounds. Claire Turner led Spirt Lake with 17 points, Taylor Schneider had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Fran Travis added 10 points and 15 rebounds. Okoboji falls to 5-7 on the season while Spirit Lake improves to 6-5.
Quotes from Okoboji Coach John Adams
“We just didn’t have it on the offensive end of the court tonight, missed some shots we normally hit and really struggled from the free throw line. I felt like we guarded well enough to win, turning them over 30 times, but we just got crushed on the glass; when you get outrebounded by 20 you aren’t going to win very many games against quality teams. It’s great to see Makenna continue to play well back from her injury; Carly also played a very good game on both ends of the court. We’ll learn from this, make some tweaks with our zone offense to get some better looks and stay together as a team. I loved our effort that we played with and know that we’ll bounce back.”
