As this week’s Gasconade County Republican is going to the press, John VanLeer’s Owensville Dutchgirl basketball team was taking on Strafford’s Lady Indians in one of eight Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 4 Sectional basketball games last night (Tuesday) at Owensville High School (OHS).

While Owensville’s Dutchmen may have had their season ended by Clayton’s Greyhounds Monday night, two former OHS basketball players will be continuing their respective seasons later this week.

Helping the Columbia College (CC) women’s basketball team to their fourth consecutive American Midwest Conference (AMC) tournament title, 2024 OHS graduate and current Columbia College freshman Emma Daniels will open the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Tournament in First Round action Friday night against Lewis-Clark State College in Sioux City, Iowa at 8 p.m.

Playing in 21 of CC’s 31 games thus far, Daniels’ best showing was on Dec. 19 against Blackburn in which she recorded her first collegiate double double finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Along with Daniels, 2021 OHS graduate Tyler Heidbrink will end his college basketball playing days during the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II Midwest Region Tournament as a member of the Missouri S&T Miners.

Earning the top seed and the distinction of being the host

school, Heidbrink and the Miners will have to travel across the Mississippi River to the University of Illinois-Springfield (UIS) later this week.

This is due to the Missouri S&T upper administration declining to host the eight-team tournament.

They will open the tournament on Saturday against Malone at 5 p.m., in Springfield.

Heidbrink was also recently selected as S&T’s 2025 recipient of the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award given to one player from each school in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC).

Also Monday night while Cullen VanLeer’s Dutchmen were looking to take one step closer to Mizzou Arena, former Owensville Dutchmen head basketball coach Kyle Johnson was looking to lead his Kickapoo Chiefs to a MSHSAA Class 6, District 5 title against Nixa.

Tied at 53-53 in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter, Johnson’s bid for a district title as an assistant coach with the Chiefs was dashed when Nixa hit a 3-pointer with .8 seconds left.

Moving back to the college ranks, 2016 OHS graduate Hailey Diestelkamp saw her first season as an assistant coach with the University of Southern Indiana (USI) Screaming Eagles possibly come to an end during the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Tournament.

Ending her basketball playing career as the all-time leading scorer and rebounder at OHS and Drury University (DU), Diestelkamp ended her first season as a USI assistant women’s basketball coach with a 22-12 record following an 88-78 loss to eventual OVC Tournament champion Tennessee Tech University (TTU) Friday afternoon.

USI will be anxiously awaiting selection Sunday to see if they earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament.