Sheldon Iowa — The Okoboji Pioneers came to Sheldon Friday night and left town with a pair of Siouxland Conference basketball wins. In the girls game it was Okoboji 71-52 with the boys final 65-58 in favor of the Pioneers.
Okoboji led at all the breaks in the girls game as they jumped in front 21-14 at the end of the first quarter. A Cassidy Bart three as time expired got he Orabs within 31-27 at halftime. The Pioneers found their offense again in the third quarter and led 52-38 going into the final 8:00 minutes of play.
Brooklyn Grady led Sheldon with a game high 19 points. Mc Kenzie Wagner was next with a 9 point night. Okoboji got balanced scoring with four players in double figures. Magan Christopherson hit for 18. Camry Jones was next with 14. They were joined by Kallyn Stumbo with 15 and Maria Meyer with a 13 point night.
With the win Okoboji, ranked number 9 in the latest 3A girls poll improves to 4-0 on the year and 3-0 in the conference. Sheldon is now 0-3 both on the year and in the conference.
In the boys game that followed Okoboji stormed out to a 23-7 first quarter lead and was up 38-16 at the half. At the end of three the lead was 50-34. Offense created by turnovers off the press and some timely three point buckets by the Orabs in the fourth quarter got Sheldon to within 4 points late in the game. Okoboji dropped some key baskets late and went 8-of-10 at the line in the fourth quarter to preserve a 65-58 win.
Okoboji got a game high 25 points from Jamison Helmers. His night included 6 three point baskets and a 5-of-6 free throw performance. All of his free throw chances came in the fourth quarter. He was joined by Christopher Halbur with 12 points and Kyle Martin with an 11 point effort.
Sheldon had three players in double figures as well. Mitchel Wolf had 15 points all in the second half. Luke Van Beek hit for 14 with 12 in the second half and a trio of three pointers as the Orabs launched the fourth quarter come back. They were joined by Tyler Lode with 11 points on the night.
With the win Okoboji is 1-2 on the season and 1-1 in the conference. It was the season opener for Sheldon.
Weather permitting Sheldon will host South O’Brien in a non conference girls-boys double header Saturday afternoon. The next action for Okoboji will be on Tuesday when they host Rock Valley.
