(Oakland, IA) — Its a non-conference battle of area basketball teams tonight as Griswold visits Riverside in a Girls/Boys Doubleheader, coverage on KSOM.
On the girls side, Riverside has got to be a surprise team in the Western Iowa Conference — the Bulldogs are undefeated at 4-0 and tied with Treynor for first place, 8-1 overall. This despite the offense has struggled somewhat — Riverside is only scoring 42 points a game in their last three games. However, Head Coach Mark Jeppesen says the defense is carrying them through
Riverside faces a Griswold team that is 3-5 — the Tigers beat Essex on Monday 39-23 but fell to Stanton 60-24 on Tuesday. They’re led by Sophomore Amanda Houser averaging 14.8 points a game which is more points than any player on the court. Riverside is led by Sophomore Kayden Schnack at 9.0 ppg and Sydney Somers at 8.8 ppg. Jeppesen sees a lot of similarities between the two teams
Houser did suffer an interview just before the winter break but Head Coach Aaron Houser said she is fine now and hoping she can involve others in the offense
Houser says there are two keys, defending the Bulldogs balance in the halfcourt and limiting their turnovers
On the boys side, the Bulldogs are 4-4 and coming off a tough 71-44 loss to Underwood. Riverside could not stop inside player Garrett Luett who poured in 34 points on 15 of 17 shooting, all in the paint. Riverside does not have much height — pretty much everyone is 5-11 except leading scorer Peyton Amdor who was limited to 9 against the Eagles. Yet, Riverside finds a way to get rebounds, Dawson Henderson leads in that category averaging 6.4 a game. Head Coach Nick Kroon says he has a knack for the ball
Griswold has some size — 6-4 Senior Hayden Hook and 6-3 Senior Connor Bowers — so rebounding will be big again for the Bulldogs. Kroon says his defense must create opportunities
Griswold is 3-4 and coming off a 54-25 loss to Stanton where they only shot 20 percent for the game, including 3-21 from three point land. Before that, the Tigers beat Essex 60-52 led by Senior Bode Wyman who erupted for 25 points and Head Coach Ryan Lockwood says he also created opportunities for his teammates
Lockwood says that Riverside is a dangerous shooting team especially on their threes so defensive communication will be huge tonight
Its a Girls/Boys DH in Oakland tonight, game time for the girls is at 6 pm, coverage on KSOM.
