Van Gorp powers breakthrough Central women’s basketball win
CEDAR RAPIDS—Propelled by a career-best 25 points and 12 rebounds from freshman center Allison Van Gorp (Pella, Pella Christian HS), Central College scored a breakthrough women’s basketball win, dropping Coe College 67-53 Saturday
It was Central’s first American Rivers victory and avenged a 56-46 home-court loss to the Kohawks Dec. 11. The young Dutch (3-9 overall, 1-5 conference) bolted to a 22-12 first quarter lead and were up 38-28 at intermission, pulling away to as much as a 21-point advantage in the fourth quarter. It was an unfamiliar but welcome situation for the inexperienced squad.
Central outshot Coe 46.3% to 32.1% and outrebounded the Kohawks 37-29.
“Our defense was really good,” coach Joe Steinkamp said. “The way we defended their ball-screen actions was good. I give (assistant coach Kayla Engelhard) a lot of credit with our scouting report. She just had a great plan to attack some of their stuff.”
The Dutch held a 38-14 advantage on points in the paint over Coe (6-14 overall, 3-8 conference).
Van Gorp notched the fourth double-double of her rookie season, knocking down 11 of 16 shots. She also blocked three shots.
“Allison had a great game,” Steinkamp said. “They tried everything on her. They tried playing man-to-man, they played zone in the second half. They started double-teaming her and then other people were able to get kick-out threes and score in other ways. And I thought our players did a good job of finding her.”
Guard Kassidi Steel (sophomore, New Sharon, North Mahaska HS) had 14 points and dished out a game-high eight assists. Guard Kelsea Hurley (junior, Scottsdale, Ariz., Desert Mountain HS) added 10 points.
“Kassidi Steel had a ton of great passes,” Steinkamp said. “She had an unbelievable all-around game with her scoring and rebounding. She got deflections on defense and really filled the stat sheet.”
The season has had several disruptions with postponements and Steinkamp said his squad just needed time to develop.
“We’ve just been able to play and practice more, I think that’s a big part of it,” he said. “The season’s been so choppy but we finally got a few weeks in a row to be able to do stuff and we’re really figuring out the best way to play with Allison (Van Gorp) and how to use her.”
After playing just once in the previous three weeks, Central is embarking on a stretch of seven games in 15 days, continuing Monday with a trip to Storm Lake for a 7 p.m. game with Buena Vista University. The Beavers are 6-10 overall and 4-6 in league play after defeating Luther College 60-55 Saturday at Storm Lake.
“The next few weeks are going to be crazy but we’re hoping we can turn things around a little bit here,” Steinkamp said.
