Tigers bounce back with three straight wins

With a rematch against Shenandoah in sight, the Red Oak girls’ basketball team goes into Tuesday night’s match-up with a little bit of momentum.

Red Oak won three straight games last week.

The first of the three straight came last Monday in Corning when they won 64-21 over Southwest Valley.

The win was important for the Tigers (14-4 overall, 6-4 conference) as it snapped a three-game losing skid.

“To have something positive, we needed to get something positive. It’s easy for the negatives to build up like they did there for a while,” Red Oak girls’ basketball coach Dan Martinez said. “Hopefully now, we can get back on track.”

The Tigers took control early on, outscoring the Timberwolves 23-4 in the first quarter.

Marie Palmer and Lexi Bronner had the lone buckets in the quarter as Southwest Valley was held scoreless in the final four minutes.

Red Oak continued to score early and often during the second quarter as they went into halftime with a 40-12 lead.

The scoring slowed down in the second half, but Red Oak was able to maintain a strong lead and went to its bench for much of that time.

“We did a good job of getting everybody involved and even the bench helped us out,” Martinez said.

Defensively, Red Oak held Southwest Valley to nine points in the second half, including four in the fourth quarter.

Leading the way for Red Oak was Kate Walker, who had 18 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double.

Grace Blomstedt also had a double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

Hannah Vial stepped up off the bench as she scored 12 points on 6-for-9 shooting.

Angela Mahoney had nine points, while Madison Gilbert and Sierra Athen each scored four.

Palmer led Southwest Valley with six points and nine rebounds. Bronner had four points, while Danica Sunderman, Jade Petersen and Jonnie Weeks each had three.

Red Oak 59, St. Albert 51

The Tigers scored their second win of the week last Tuesday in Council Bluffs when they defeated St. Albert.

The game was close, but Red Oak was able to pull away late to complete the regular season sweep of the Saintes.

Blomstedt, who was the hero in the first meeting, led the way for the Tigers with a 22-point night, including 8-for-10 at the free throw line. Her 13 rebounds gave the senior a double-double. Blomstedt had the game-winning bucket in the Dec. 12, 57-55 win against St. Albert.

Walker came close to triple-double numbers, scoring 16 points with nine assists and eight rebounds.

Madison Gilbert and Micayla Taylor each scored eight points.

Red Oak 63, Atlantic 40

The Tigers completed its regular season sweep of Atlantic with their win Friday night in Red Oak.

Red Oak pulled away in the second quarter, outscoring Atlantic 20-5.

The night belonged to Walker, who scored 27 points on 10-for-18 from the field. She also had eight assists in the win.

Blomstedt scored 10 points and was a rebound shy of a double-double.

Mahoney had eight points, while Taylor scored seven. Athen scored six points off the bench for the Tigers.

The big game of the week for Red Oak will be Tuesday night when they play Shenandoah for the second time this season.

Red Oak won the first meeting 42-29 Jan. 9 in Shenandoah.

Regardless of this game’s outcome, it’s very possible both Red Oak and Shenandoah will meet once more in regionals.

The next potential meeting could be Feb. 18 in Shenandoah.

The girls game will tip-off at 6 p.m.

The other game for the week will be Friday when they face Creston. The varsity doubleheader starts at 6 p.m.