Hull Iowa — Western Christian earned a split with Harrisburg South Dakota at the Western Gym Tuesday night. The visitors took the girls game 56-48 while the Wolfpack boys won the nightcap 51-38.
The Tigers came in unbeaten and ranked #5 in all classes of South Dakota girls basketball and led at all the breaks. At the end of the first quarter it was 15-10 Harrisburg with the Wolfpack within four at 25-21 at the half. Harrisburg got the offence going in the second half and were up 44-34 at the end of the third quarter before going on to win 56-48.
Abby Postma led all scorers with 18 points on the night. Olivia Granstra, Ally Postma and Madison Vis were all just out of double figures with 8 points each. Harrisburg put two players in double figures led by Aby Phipps with 16 and Emily Boyer with 15.
With the win Harrisburg is off to a 7-0 start while Western, ranked #10 in the latest 2A Iowa poll, saw a five game winning streak come to an end. The Wolfpack are now 6-3 on the season.
In the boys game Western jumped out to a 13-5 first quarter lead. The Tigers took a 23-22 halftime lead when Gavin Aasheim hit a three at the buzzer on the left side from well beyond the arc. At the end of the third quarter Western was back in front 36-31. The Wolfpack’s shutdown defense allowed just 7 fourth quarter points and they get the win 51-38.
Dawson Feenstra spread a 31 point night equally over four quarters of play. In the process he converted five and-one opportunities. Tyson Boer was next with 8 points on the night. Harrisburg had two players in double figures with Conner Geddes hitting for 15 and Nick Tschudy adding 10.
With the win Western runs their winning streak to 6 and their record to 6-2. Harrisburg is now even on the year at 3-3.
Comments from Head Coach Derek Keizer:
Shots were hard to come by tonight. There wasn’t much of a flow to the game so every possession was magnified to a certain extent. We had a season-low of 7 turnovers tonight.
Harrisburg got us out of rhythm in the second quarter and managed to take the lead going into halftime. I was pleased to see how we responded out of the gate in the third quarter.
Dawson Feenstra was the aggressor all night and really put the team on his back. He attacked the paint very well and either scored or got to the free throw line. That’s what you like and expect your seniors to do in games like these.
We did a nice job of converting free throws and rebounding in the second half. We ended up winning the rebounding battle 27-18 after being down 4 boards at the half. That is an area of emphasis for us so it was good to see us take some ownership in the second half. Shots were hard to come by tonight. There wasn’t much of a flow to the game so every possession was magnified to a certain extent. We had a season-low of 7 turnovers tonight.
Up next for Western Christian will be a home double header against Storm Lake Friday night as they get back into the Lakes Conference schedule. We’ll bring you the broadcast as we continue season long coverage on KIWA FM 105.3.
