Lady Tigers split games with Bloomfield, Summerland
The Osmond Lady Tigers traveled to Bloomfield last Tuesday to take on the Bees before hosting Summerland on Friday.
Osmong 60, Bloomfield 55
BLOOMFIELD — The Lady Tigers took to the road on Tuesday, Jan. 19, to face their neighbors to the north, the Bloomfield Bees. Bloomfield had quietly been putting together an improved season coming off of their district final appearance last year.
“We knew that they had a talented athlete, Alexandra Eisenhauer, complimented by a quick and talented freshman guard, Madison Abbernaus,” said Coach David Schmit.
The first half was pretty neck-and-neck, highlighted by Grace Gansebom’s 20 first-half points. The Lady Tigers led the Bees 26-24 at halftime.
“Though we led at halftime, it certainly felt like a different score given that our offense hadn’t quite clicked like it had in previous games,” Schmit said. “However, to our girls’ credit, they did what they needed to do in order to take the lead going into half.”
The third quarter brought a lot more pressure from Bloomfield as they turned to their full-court man defense and caused Osmond to turn over the basketball a bit more than they’d like. Though, yet again, the girls’ resiliency showed and slowed the momentum of the Bees to go into a pivotal fourth quarter only trailing 45-41.
It was Osmond’s turn in the fourth quarter to go on a run of their own — a 14-0 run, to be exact. Through some gritty defense and timely points, the Lady Tigers pulled out a tough one, defeating the Bees 60-55.
“There really wasn’t a time where we felt in control of this game but that really didn’t cause us to fall apart,” the coach said. “Grace was shooting well in the first half and after halftime, they did a good job defending her, which prompted Cali Gutz and Kiera Moes to find their shooting touch. As teams have found out, it’s not easy defending all of our guards, and if they are able to, it opens up a lot for Macy Aschoff in the post.
“This was a game we really felt we needed going into the conference tournament on Saturday (Jan. 30th) and the girls stepped up in a big way to get it done,” Coach Schmit concluded.
The Lady Tigers were led in points by Grace Gansebom with 21, followed by Kiera Moes (15) and Cali Gutz (12). Macy and Grace led in rebounds with each pulling down eight boards.
Score by Quarter
Osmond 11 15 15 19 = 60
Bloomfield 9 15 21 10 = 55
Summerland 64, Osmond 42
OSMOND — The Lady Tigers returned to the home court to face the Summerland Bobcats on Friday night, Jan. 22. As any scouting report would say, Brenna Wagner was the engine that made their team go, but that same scouting report also would say that her supporting cast is capable of filling in as needed.
The first half was very hard-fought and also had Osmond encounter some foul trouble which put the Lady Tigers in a tough position. Osmond went into halftime trailing by nine, but knew that it was going to take a much improved second half to battle back into the game and give themselves a chance.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t Osmond’s night and the Bobcats turned up the heat on both ends of the floor, racing to a 64-42 win over the Lady Tigers.
“Despite the score and the tough position we found ourselves in from a foul perspective, I’m proud of our girls for their competitiveness,” Schmit said. “That’s been one of our ‘buzz words’ this year that we’ve made part of our team culture. Regardless of if we’re on top or fighting from behind, we want to compete and give ourselves a chance and that’s exactly what our girls did.”
Kiera Moes and Macy Aschoff led the way in points, scoring 13 and 11, respectively. Macy also paced the Lady Tigers on the boards, pulling down six rebounds, followed by Elisa Herrera, Grace Gansebom, and Kiera Moes, all with four boards.
“Games like this can teach you a lot and offer opportunities to learn as well and we’ll take the lessons from this game and move forward into next week a better team because of it all,” Schmit concluded.
Score by Quarter
Osmond 7 12 8 15 = 42
Summerland 13 15 20 16 = 64
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