Tigers fight back, but fall short to Clarinda

RED OAK—The Red Oak Tigers game against Tri-Center Saturday night was canceled due to a snow storm that hit the Southwest part of the state.

Friday night, Red Oak lost to Glenwood, 68-21.

Last Tuesday, after fighting to get within eight points of the lead in the second half, Red Oak lost to Clarinda 47-32.

“I thought it was a lot better effort than what we’ve been putting out in past ball games,” Red Oak Head Coach Shelley Becker said. “We played with a lot more heart. We were in this ball game.”

Offense was an issue for the Tigers in the first quarter as Josie Snyder and  Bergren picked up the Tigers four points, with Clarinda leading 16-4 at the end of one.

With the defense stepping up in the second quarter, Red Oak closed the gap thanks to Bergren and her five second quarter points. Clarinda still led 26-11 at halftime, though.

“We also got to remember that many times during that ball game, we had at least two freshmen and a sophomore out there at a time with two juniors,” Becker said. “We’re still a young club and we’re working to get better, but we got a ways to go.”

Red Oak continued to chop away at the deficit to start the third quarter, scoring six of the first eight points.

At one point in the quarter, French scored five consecutive points.

Red Oak  got to within eight points of tying the game and possibly taking the lead, but free throws late kept Clarinda ahead of the Tigers 36-24.

“When our bench can come on and be as aggressive defensively as they were, good things are going to happen,” Becker said. “We just got to learn to be able to put the ball in the hoop.”

French and fellow forward Adrienne Mahoney attacked the post, scoring 11 of Red Oak's 13 points during the quarter.

“We were trying to realize, that before the end of the game, they had three girls with four fouls and tried to recognize getting the ball to the post as much as we could,” Bccker said. “We just got to finish those shots.”

Red Oak got to within 10 points several times during the fourth quarter, but Clarinda maintained their double-digit advantage.

Bergren was the high scorer for Red Oak with 12 points. French finished with nine points and Mahonney had seven.

Monday night, Red Oak was home to take on Kuemper Catholic, which is who they will face Friday night in Carroll.