Oskaloosa Girls Fall Short In Closest Contest This Season

Marleigh Denburger brings the ball up the floor against Newton.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – If you measure success only by wins and losses, you might be overlooking the growth happening with a young Oskaloosa girls basketball team.

The girls are 0-18 on the season with their loss to Newton on Tuesday night, but head coach Jacie White says that her team plays well at times. They let the game get away from them at the beginning of the evening, but fought hard at the end.

“We haven’t been in a close game situation, and the girls did a great job of executing for the most part, in situations they haven’t been in,” said White. “I think that’s good for us to grow as a team, to be in those situations.”

White says finding that consistent effort on the offensive end is something the team needs to find. “That’s kind of where we fell apart a little bit. We’re giving up the offensive end, and not digging in on the defensive end. That’s going to come with time, and our girls are getting more experience.”

“They played hard. They finished the game hard and did some pretty good things,” said White. “We’ve got to get everyone engaged in our offense.”

The Indians lost in their closest contest this year, 24-28 to Newton.

Three Indians had 6 points each. Juniors Lindsey Holmberg and Marleigh Denburger, along with sophomore Mary Nelson.

Defensively, Nelson lead the Indians off the boards with eight total rebounds, while junior Emma Kelderman pulled down six. Denburger had five total rebounds on the night.

Newton was lead by a pair of seniors in Taylor Ryan with 8 points, and Anna Forsyth with 6 points.

Senior Ali Bestell lead the Cardinals on the glass pulling in 11 rebounds on the night, with Forsyth adding seven more.

The Indians travel to Norwalk on Friday night and will return on Tuesday for their final home game against Pella. The Indians end their season at Indianola on February 9th.