Red Oak advances to semis

RED OAK — It’s on to the Class 3A regional semifinals for the Red Oak girls basketball team.

The Tigers took care of business on the defensive end on their way to a 54-32 quarterfinals victory against Clarinda Saturday night in the Red Oak High School gymnasium.

Red Oak’s defense stepped up all-around as they were able to rebound, steal and block shots, holding Clarinda’s offense to 15 points in the first half and 17 during the second.

“Our team defense was good,” Red Oak girls basketball coach Dan Martinez said. “We were not going to give them any open looks or any easy shots.”

Red Oak was able to take a 16-9 first quarter lead, thanks to points by Kate Walker, as well as a couple of three-pointers by Blake Bergren.

Martinez said Bergren’s shooting from the outside forced Clarinda to play everybody.

“Blake shot enough from the outside that they couldn’t just collapse on Grace [Blomstedt],” Martinez said.

The scoring slowed for the early part of the second quarter as Clarinda remained within 10 points of the lead. Red Oak picked it up though and took an 11 point lead with 3:20 left, thanks to a steal by Sabrina Guerra, which led to a breakaway lay-up.

The Cardinals kept trying to get within 10 points, but Red Oak pulled away late in the quarter to take a 30-15 halftime lead.

“We knew we’d have to come out and play defense,” Bergren said. “We knew it would be a defensive game and defense would control our offense.”

The defense continued to keep Clarinda in check as they allowed six points during the third quarter.

“We’ve been wanting to play man-to-man this whole year and I think we did it the whole game,” Bergren said. “I think we played an all-around good game.”

Red Oak’s offense was able to pull away during the third thanks in part to Bailey Hankins five points. Hankins finished with nine points in the win.

Red Oak continued to pull away in the fourth quarter and was able to utilize the remainder of the bench late inthe game.

“It was good that it never got too close,” Blomstedt said after the game.

Red Oak had production off the bench from Maranda Gowdy, Madison Gilbert and Nikki Graber.

“I thought we got a lot of help tonight from the bench,” Martinez said.

Blomstedt was the leading scorer for the game as she recorded 16 points and had 14 rebounds, as well as six blocks.

Kate Walker had 11 points, while Bergren scored nine and Guerra scored six.

Walker also had 11 rebounds and nine assists.

The Tigers now have their sights set on a Wednesday night game in Shenandoah against the Fillies.

Shenandoah defeated Atlantic Saturday night 31-27 to advance to the semifinals.

Red Oak will put much of their focus on the rest of the Shenandoah team, knowing Serena Parker will play a big role for the Fillies offense.

“Our theory was have the other girls beat us,” Bergren said. “We want to stop her as much as we can, but we also want to make other people beat us.”

If Red Oak wins, they could travel to Creston Saturday with a shot at state, possibly playing seventh-ranked in the state North Polk.

“I think if we just play how we did today and how our potential is, we will win Wednesday’s game,” Blomstedt said.

Red Oak 48, Audubon 35

Red Oak closed out the regular season with a 48-35 win on the road against Audubon.

The Tigers took an 11-7 lead at the end of the first quarter and maintained the lead for the rest of the game.

Bergren had a big night as she scored 20 points, including 8-for-9 at the free throw line, with eight rebounds and four assists.

Blomstedt had nine points, seven rebounds, as well as four blocks. Guerra had seven points, while Hankins scored six in the win.