Double-doubles power Central women’s basketball team
PELLA—Kassidi Steel (sophomore, New Sharon, North Mahaska HS) and Allison Van Gorp (freshman, Pella, Pella Christian HS) posted double-doubles as the Central College women’s basketball team avenged an earlier loss with a 68-55 victory over Buena Vista University Wednesday night.
Steel had 21 points and 11 rebounds to go with four assists while Van Gorp had 12 points and 11 boards. Central (6-13 overall, 4-9 American Rivers) also got 17 points, six rebounds and eight assists from guard Kelsea Hurley (junior, Scottsdale, Arizona, Desert Mountain HS).
Buena Vista had outscored the Dutch at Storm Lake 73-52 Jan. 31. But Wednesday, Van Gorp dominated inside in the first half with 10 points as Central took a 32-18 lead.
“The first few minutes of the game they just had one player on her and she showed a lot of different post moves and quick finishes,” coach Joe Steinkamp said. “She got off to a hot start and then they started to double team her from a lot of different angles and that really opened up our 3-point game. We didn’t shoot it great from three but we shot just well enough.”
Central stretched the advantage to as much as 48-27 in the third quarter. Buena Vista (7-15 overall, 5-11 conference) briefly got the lead to single-digits at 58-49 with 3:14 remaining before the Dutch reasserted command.
“It was a good all-around team win with three people in double figures,” Steinkamp said. “Kassidi had another really good game. It was probably her best all-around game of the year. And Kelsea had another good game with eight assists. She had some really nice passes off some of her drives.”
Central committed 24 turnovers but forced 25.
“We were really active with our hands and our pressure,” Steinkamp said. “We helped off on the right people. I thought our players did a great job of executing the game plan.”
Central is in the midst of a three-game, four-day flurry to complete the regular season and plays host to Luther College Thursday night at 7 p.m. The teams just met in Decorah last Saturday, with Luther scoring a 79-65 win. The Norse are 8-15 overall and 5-9 in the conference and were off Wednesday evening. Live stats and a video webcast of Thursday’s game can be accessed at athletics.central.edu with Thomas Spoehr (senior, Bennington, Nebraska) calling the action.
“It’s been kind of a grind down the stretch but I’m really proud of our players, how they keep getting better, getting stronger and finding different ways to get it done,” Steinkamp said.
