Slow first halves doom Dutchmen, Dutchgirls

By Will Johnson, Sports Editor
Posted 3/4/20

Going into Saturday’s Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 4, District 9 Tournament twin bill, Owensville’s Dutchmen and Dutchgirl basketball teams looked to …

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Slow first halves doom Dutchmen, Dutchgirls

Posted

Going into Saturday’s Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 4, District 9 Tournament twin bill, Owensville’s Dutchmen and Dutchgirl basketball teams looked to extend their respective seasons into the following week.

First up Saturday afternoon was Ryan Flanagan’s Dutchgirls taking on the host Union Lady Wildcats.

Seeded sixth, Owensville was looking to avenge a 54-39 loss to the third-seeded Lady Wildcats just over two weeks ago.

Taking an early 2-0 lead on an Anna Finley basket at the 7:26 mark of the opening quarter, the Dutchgirls got off to a good start.

Unfortunately, that quickly faded when Union outscored Owensville 25-7 the rest of the second half before ending their season at 11-14 following a 55-25 loss.

“We just didn’t have it today,” Flanagan said. “You have to tip your hat over to Union as they were the better team.”

Trailing 5-2 midway through the first quarter, Kiera Hendrix splashed home a 3-pointer tying the game at 5-5 before a long Dutchgirl scoring drought ensued.

Seeing Union score 15 unasnwered points over the first and second quarters, Owensville’s nearly eight-minute scoring drought stopped on a Finley bucket with 2:04 until halftime.

Anna Skornia scored OHS’ other second-quarter basket leaving them trailing 25-9 at halftime.

In spite of doubling their first-half point total in the third quarter, Owensville saw Union put 20 on the board leaving the Dutchgirls facing a 45-18 deficit going into the fourth quarter.

Ending the game on a 7-1 run, it was not enough for OHS who saw their season end in the first round of the C4D9 tournament.

Finley led the Dutchgirls with 11 points followed by six from Kiera Hendrix.

Kate Angell and Kyla Hendrix each added three points in addition to Skornia’s two points.

Skornia also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.

Reagan Rapert and Emily Gaebe led Union and all scorers with 17 points each.

Looking to avoid a similar fate, Todd Rehmert’s fifth-seeded Owensville Dutchmen took on the fourth-seeded Rolla Bulldogs in the third of four first-round games Saturday at Union High School.

Outscored 27-8 in the first quarter, Owensville won the second half but could not make up the difference falling 66-51 to the Bulldogs who upset their way into the district title game Friday night with a 50-43 victory last night (Tuedsay) over the top-seeded Sullivan Eagles.

“We just ran into a hot-shooting Rolla team today,” Rehmert said. “They hit seemingly every shot they threw up in the first quarter and we didn’t have enough to make up the deficit.”

In a similar start to the girl’s game, Dutchmen junior Tyler Heidbrink gave OHS an early 2-0 lead at the 7:18 mark of the first quarter.

Trailing 3-2 moments later, Brendan Decker gave the Dutchmen a 4-3 lead on a bucket with 6:22 for the opening period.

From that point, Rolla outscored Owensville 24-4 to take a big lead after eight minutes of basketball.

Only able to get as close as 14 the rest of the game, Rehmert’s Dutchmen saw their season end at 9-17 after their first-round district loss.

Heidbrink led the Dutchmen scoring eight of his team-high 12 points in the second half. Cason Gray scored 11 points in his final OHS basketball game to reach double figures. Decker just missed double digits with eight points.

Seniors Trevor Abernathy (6), Justin Garner (3) and Boyde Nicks (3) also found the scoring column for Owensville.