Panthers hold off Indians, 62-54

OSKALOOSA — The Oskaloosa girls basketball team entered Thursday winners of four of their last five games as they hosted a good non-conference opponent in Knoxville. The Indians led after the first quarter but the Panthers gave them a tough game and would leave with a 62-54 win over the hosts.

Oskaloosa got into some foul trouble early as center Dasia Foster picked up two fouls and was sent to the bench halfway through the first while a Brittany Bacorn layup off an out-of-bounds play gave Knoxville a 9-8 lead.

With Foster on the bench, Presley Blommers would pick up the scoring and playmaking for the Indians as she had eight points in the quarter with a few assists to help put the Indians back in front at 15-12 after the first.

The foul trouble would continue for Osky in the second as Foster quickly grabbed her third foul one minute into the second and was out the rest of the half while the team was up to nine fouls with over four minutes left in the quarter.

Knoxville switched up their looks defensively early but settled into a zone in the second that would force Oskaloosa to hit outside shots while walling up any attempts in the paint. The Indians would struggle to find a groove offensively and Knoxville would attack the rim and glass either getting layups or getting to the free throw line.

Knoxville would outscore Oskaloosa 19-6 in the second quarter and would hold a 31-21 lead at the half.

The Indians would have to do some chasing in the second half to try to cut the deficit but Knoxville would answer every run. When Osky thought they garnered some momentum with a slick pass from Blommers to Foster inside, Knoxville would answer with an Anna Buttell three-pointer to push the lead back to 13.

Oskaloosa tried to make another run late in the quarter and were able to get down to single digits before the Panthers’ Larissa Wells would step into a wide open three to make it 45-35 going to the fourth.

Knoxville held that double-digit lead for most of the fourth as Oskaloosa would try to play the foul game over the last two minutes. The strategy looked like it was working with Knoxville missing six straight free throws and Osky getting an offensive put back from Foster and euro-step finish from Bloomers to make it a six-point game with 1:19 to go.

From there the Panthers would start to knock down their free throws, going 6-of-8 from the line the rest of the way to help close out the win.

Both teams shot about the same from the field and from three but Knoxville would go 17-of-31 from the charity stripe compared to Osky’s 6-of-13 and would win the turnover battle 20-10.

Blommers led Oskaloosa with 24 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals while Lydia Van Veldhuizen had a solid night with 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists. Foster added eight points and 10 rebounds.

Knoxville had four girls score in double figures led by Emma Dunkin’s 19 points, five rebounds, six assists and four steals. Bacorn had a double-double of 14 points, 12 rebounds and two assists while Buttell and Hannah Dunkin had 14 points and 11 points, respectively.

Oskaloosa (7-7, 3-4 LHC) is right back on their home floor on Friday at 6:15 p.m. to take on Pella Christian (2-12, 0-7 LHC) while Knoxville (10-4) returns home on Saturday at 6 p.m. for their pink-out “Coaches vs Cancer” game against Chariton (8-6).