Tigers open season with strong win against FM

RED OAK — The Red Oak Tigers girls’ basketball team was able to get off on the right foot by putting together a strong second half and defeating the Fremont-Mills Knights 49-34 in their home opener last Tuesday.

Red Oak (1-0 overall, 0-0 conference) outscored Fremont-Mills in the second half 26-16, including 14-4 in the third quarter, as they scored their first win against the Knights since 2010.

“What a relief. Getting the goose egg off the win column is always good,” Red Oak Head Girls Basketball Coach Dan Martinez said.

The Tigers had gone into halftime with a 23-18 lead. Fremont-Mills was able to make a free throw early in the quarter, but Red Oak scored eight straight points to take a 31-19 lead three minutes into the quarter. Fremont-Mills scored three more points in the last four-plus minutes of the quarter.

The Knights attempted shots and even had second chance opportunities, but were held in check by Red Oak’s defense, which also forced Fremont-Mills to turn over the ball.

The third quarter was a big quarter for both Kate Walker and Grace Blomstedt, who combined to score 10 of Red Oak’s 14 points during that time. Red Oak’s lead at the end of the third was 37-22.

“We upped the defensive intensity a little bit and were able to get some turnovers and lay-ups,”Martinez said.

Fremont-Mills didn’t go away quietly as they chipped away at the Tigers lead. The Knights were able to get Red Oak’s lead down to six points. Red Oak kept the Knights at bay and made free throws down the stretch to maintain the lead.

The first quarter had been close as both teams exchanged the lead several times. Blake Bergren got Red Oak running as she scored a lay-up on the tip-off to give the Tigers the 2-0 lead. Bergren however ran into foul trouble and had to sit for most of the second and third quarters.

Bergren finished with five points and four rebounds as she fouled out.

“I felt for her, because she has worked so hard for so long for that game,” Martinez said about Bergren. “Just some bad luck.”

Bergren missed most of last season recovering from surgery she had done during the 2011 volleyball season.
Red Oak began to pull away in the second quarter thanks to the efforts of Walker, who scored five of her nine first half points in the second.

Both Walker and Blomstedt finished the night with double-doubles. Walker led the team in scoring with 16 points, including 7-of-10 from the free throw line. The sophomore point guard also had a career high 18 rebounds, including 10 that were offensive boards. Walker was one assist shy of recording a triple-double.

“They were in a long time, but Kate never showed any fatigue,” Martinez said.

Blomstedt finished with 12 points, including 10 in the second half, on 6-for-17 shooting with 11 rebounds and three steals.

The Tigers had their fair share of steals in the game, finishing with 13. Sabrina Guerra led the way with six of those steals and had four points.

Red Oak had strong games from both Bailey Hankins and Maranda Gowdy, who each had five points. Hankins also had nine rebounds in the win.

The Tigers will have a busy stretch of games this week starting Tuesday night when they head up to Griswold to play the Griswold Tigers as part of a varsity doubleheader.

They’ll be home Thursday night when they host St. Albert. Finally on Friday night, they hit the road to play Denison-Schleswig.