By JIM GRIES
OSKALOOSA — Shooting was not at a premium when Oskaloosa opened the 2009-10 season Tuesday night against Centerville.
Neither team had its rangefinder on full blast as the two squads combined to shoot just 34.5 percent from the field, but the Redettes converted 17 more free throws en route to the 59-45 victory.
While Oskaloosa (0-1) didn’t hold a lead in the non-conference contest, it did make things exciting.
A 3-pointer by Centerville’s Kaylee Mehrhoff, who led all scorers with 26 points, gave the Redettes a 13-8 lead midway in the first quarter.
A basket and a 3-pointer by Sam Lowry tied the game at 13 with 1:40 to go in the period.
But a field goal by Avery Schmidt on Centerville’s next possession sparked an 8-0 run to close out the quarter for the 21-13 advantage at the break.
Mehrhoff’s hit a shot in the lane midway in the second quarter for a 25-18 edge and it seemed like Centerville (1-2) had things at hand.
However, it went scoreless for almost 3 minutes as it turned the ball over five times and missed seven shots to allow Oskaloosa to even the game at 25 with 1:12 left in the opening half. Mehrhoff hit 1 of 2 free throws with 25 seconds to go gave the Redettes a 26-25 lead at intermission.
It was the Indians’ turn to have some scoring problems by going nearly 4 minutes without scoring a single point. Yet MaKena Veldhuizen’s 3-pointer at the 2:55 mark cut the Centerville lead to 34-30.
Oskaloosa pulled even with Centerville in the closing seconds of the third quarter as Lowry converted a steal into a basket and Heather Sereg hit a 3 from the left wing.
The Redettes put the game out of reach by going on a 13-2 spurt to start the final quarter. Mehrhoff ignited the spurt by getting eight of those points on a pair of 3-point plays — one after getting fouled on an offensive rebound bucket and another on a 3-pointer.
The Indians were unable respond to the Redettes gaining control of the contest although they never gave up hope of getting back in the game.
“We thought if we could keep the pressure up because they were only playing six players and were try running eight or nine,” Oskaloosa coach Burdette Brown said. “We held with them, but in the fourth quarter, they turned up the defense a little bit and our kids kind of froze. Our legs got rubbery and weren’t making good cuts on the ball, making lazy passes. We just got plain tired.
“The effort was absolutely fantastic. They played their tails off and everybody left everything on the floor.”
Oskaloosa plays in the Waterloo West Tournament this weekend. The Indians take on Don Bosco at 5 p.m. Friday then play in either the third-place or championship games on Saturday.
Centerville 59, Oskaloosa 45
Cent 21 5 9 24 — 59
Osky 13 12 10 10 — 45
CENTERVILLE (59) — Kaylee Mehrhoff 6-16 2-4 26, Olivia Starcevich 5-13 2-4 12, Avery Schmidt 4-10 1-3 9, Danyielle Barger 3-4 3-4 9, Mallory Oden 1-2 0-0 2, Katie Appler 0-1 1-2 1, Kelsey Shanahan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-46 19-28 59.
3-point goals — 2-10 (Mehrhoff 2-4, Starcevich 0-3, Schmidt 0-3. Rebounds — 36 (Mehrhoff 18, Schmidt 4, Appler 4). Assists — 7 (Starcevich 3, Schmidt 3). Steals — 15 (Starcevich 7). Blocks — 3 (Mehrhoff 2, Schmidt 1). Fouls — 12. Turnovers — 22.
OSKALOOSA (45) — Sam Lowry 4-14 0-0 9, Sam Allgood 4-12 1-1 9, Cortney Major 1-12 0-0 2, Heather Sereg 3-10 1-4 8, MacKenzie Gott 4-6 0-6 8, MaKena Veldhuizen 3-6 0-0 7, Brooke Van Houweling 0-0 0-0 0, Kesley Kollasch 0-4 0-0 0, Dana Van Renterghem 1-3 0-0 0, McKenzie Seaton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-67 2-11 45.
3-point goals — 3-15 (Lowry 1-2, Veldhuizen 1-1, Sereg 1-2, Allgood 0-4, Major 0-5, Kollasch 0-1). Rebounds — 44 (Gott 12, Veldhuizen 6, Major 5, Lowry 4, Sereg 3, Van Renterghem 4, Seaton 4, Allgood 3, Kollasch 2, Van Houweling 1). Assists — 8 (Lowry 3, Major 3, Allgood 1, Van Renterghem 1). Steals — 13 (Lowry 7, Gott 2, Allgood 2, Major 2). Fouls — 18. Turnovers — 19.
