Rock Valley, Iowa — The Sheldon Orabs split a conference double header Monday night with Rock Valley. The girls game went to the Orabs 65-57, while the boys game went to Rock Valley 58-56 in dramatic fashion.
The girls game was a tight contest all the way through. After one, Rock Valley had a 17-14 lead and at the half the Rockets lead was six, 33-27. After three Rock Valley had a slim 45-41 lead. Sheldon finally got a lead at 52-51 midway through the fourth quarter, and went on to win 65-57.
Sheldon had four players in double figures. Maliah Kleinhesselink had a team high 15, while Sydney Olson and Brooklyn Grady each added 12, and Makenna Kleinhesselink put in eleven. Rock Valley got a game high 18 from Abby Heemstra, twelve from Madi Strubbe, 11 from Lexie Van Kekerix and Keilee Koedam put in ten points.
With the win Sheldon improves to 4-10 on the year, and 3-8 in the Siouxland. Rock Valley falls to 5-8 on the season and 5-6 in the conference.
The boys game went down to the final seconds.
after one quarter of play Rock Valley had a 16-14 lead, and the teams continued to battle in the second, where Sheldon had a 30-29 advantage at intermission. The battle back and forth continued in the 3rd quarter where Sheldon started on an 8-0 run, then Rock Valley went on an 8-0 run. after three quarters of play Rock Valley had a 41-39 lead. With neither team wavering in the fourth quarter, Rock Valley was able to get a 5 point lead with 14.7 seconds after Cole Huyser hit 2 free throws for the Rockets. Sheldon’s Kaleb Ackerman was able to drive to the hole, and convert the and-1 opportunity to get the Orabs to within 2. An errant Rocket pass was intercepted by Shane Brouwer who found Jordan Jeffries down low for the easy bucket to tie the game at 56-56 wiht 5.7 seconds left. Bryson Van Grootheest got the inbound pass, took it the length of the court and hit the layup through traffic as time expired to give the Rockets the 58-56 win.
Rock Valley got a game high 21 points from Van Grootheest. Sam Remmerde and Alex Godfredsen each added fourteen. Sheldon’s Tye Sudbeck and Mitchel Wolf each had 18 points, and Jordan Jeffries added thirteen.
With the win Rock Valley improves to 8-4 on the year, and 7-3 in the Siouxland. Sheldon falls to 4-9 on the season and 3-7 in the conference.
Up next for Sheldon is a road game at Okoboji Tuesday night. Next for Rock Valley is a trip to Central Lyon.
