Oakesdale takes both games against Odessa

OAKESDALE – Odessa’s boys and girls basketball teams traveled to Oakesdale on Dec. 13 to take on the Nighthawks in non-league, 1B games that were both won by Oakesdale.

The girls team was up first – and scoring came few and far between in the first eight minutes, with the Nighthawks leading 4-0 with 3:36 to go in the first quarter. Oakesdale went on a 6-4 run the rest of the quarter to take a 10-4 lead over Odessa heading into the second quarter.

After trailing 18-8 in the second quarter, Tigers’ guard Ashlyn Neilsen scored four straight points to cut the lead to 18-12 with 1:37 to go in the first half. The Nighthawks added two more points to Odessa’s one to go up 20-13 heading into halftime.

The seven-point advantage maintained through the third quarter and Oakesdale went into the final frame up 32-25.

Odessa added two points to its total in the opening minute-and-a-half of the final quarter while the Tigers added three. Neither team was able to score in the following four minutes of regulation. The streak was broken with just under two minutes in the game by the Nighthawks, who ended up extending their point total to 43 while allowing just two points in the same amount of time to Odessa.

Oakesdale won the game with a 43-30 final score.

“We set a defensive goal before the game,” Oakesdale head coach Heidi Perry said. “We wanted to hold (Odessa) to 30 or under, and we met that. So we were pretty happy about that part of it. But 14 of their points came from the free-throw line. We really talked about eliminating those silly fouls, because we held them to eight field goals in the game, and that’s two per quarter. That’s pretty outstanding defense. Really proud of that. Their zone defense really threw us. With eight people at practice it’s really hard for us to simulate that.”

Oakesdale and the Odessa boys were up next in a back-and-forth affair that looked like it could’ve gone either way throughout most of the game.

Oakesdale began the contest with a narrow 12-8 advantage through the first quarter. Odessa proceeded to score six straight points to take a 14-12 lead with 7:00 left in the first half. Senior guard Gage Starkel stole the ball and layed it in to give the Tigers the lead.

After Odessa took the two-point lead, Oakesdale went on a 15-4 run in the next 4:14 of regulation to take a 27-16 lead with 2:46 to go in the second quarter.

Odessa responded with a 6-2 run of its own to shorten the gap to 29-22 at halftime.

The Tigers kept their claws dug in and held pace with the Nighthawks throughout the third quarter, going into the final eight minutes of regulation down 41-35.

Odessa kept the game within single-digits throughout the first half of the fourth quarter, before a technical foul that resulted in Oakesdale pulling off a four-point swing that put the Nighthawks up 50-37 with 4:36 to go in the fourth quarter.

That 13-point advantage ultimately held, and Oakesdale improved to 4-1 on the year with a 56-43 final.

“We were a little fatigued,” Odessa boys head coach HP Carstensen said. “We’re a little short-handed right now. I got two guys sick and one guy hurt, so we were going with what we had and our legs were getting to us a bit and our shots were a little bit short.

“I was very proud of (the players.) That’s what I told them in the locker room. I said ‘I’m proud of your effort.’ I don’t think they quit, they kept going and we’ll keep getting better. We only had two games before this, so we’re just kind of getting rolling. But I’m proud of their effort tonight.”

Odessa played at home against Valley Christian (Spokane), with the girls playing at 4:30 p.m. and the boys playing at 6:00 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15.

The Lady Tigers won against Chesterton Academy in a blowout game 74-5 on Saturday, Dec. 10.

Odessa’s first quarter was its highest scoring with 34 points. The Tigers scored 16 in the second quarter and 12 in the third and fourth quarters.

Senior Ashlyn Neilsen scored the most with 18 points and eight rebounds. Senior Laela Hardung scored 10 points and three rebounds. Junior Melloney Deife had 15 points and four rebounds.

“The entire team played a good offense,” Odessa head coach Travis Schuh said. “They only allowed Chesterton to score those two baskets.”

Schuh said upcoming games against Oakesdale and Wellpinit would pose more of a challenge.

“This next week, we will have more competition playing Oakesdale and Wellpinit,” Schuh said.

The Lady Tigers will face Wellpinit on the road Friday, Dec. 17.