By Mike Drooger –

What a difference a year makes. Ten games into the 2021 girls’ basketball schedule the Edgerton Flying Dutchmen are .500 with a 5-5 mark. That won’t sound like such a big deal if you are unaware that they didn’t win a game last season. The Dutchmen are playing hard; they are playing with confidence, and they are having fun in ‘21.

Their conquest in game 10 was the Coyotes of Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda. The Dutchmen took a 20-point lead into halftime, and then proceeded to hold the Coyotes to just six points in the second half. Much of the second half was played with a running clock as Edgerton cruised to a 56-20 win.

Addison Fleischman, the head coach’s daughter, was named KDWC radio’s Player of the Game thanks to her all-around effort vs. the ‘Yotes. She did a little bit of everything including nailing a trey 31 seconds into the game to get the scoring started. At game’s end she had nine points, was second on the team with eight rebounds, led the Dutchmen in assists (4) and steals (2), and contributed a pair of blocked shots for good measure.

“We try to control the first five minutes of the game and the first five minutes of the second half. We want to be the aggressor. We work on that in practice everyday,” Addison said in her postgame radio interview.

The Dutchmen did a great job of controlling those two five-minute segments. With 13:05 on the first half clock, Miriam Ockenga scored after rebounding her own missed shot. Ockenga’s bucket put Edgerton in control at 11-2. The Coyotes did outscore Edgerton 6-2 after that, but Ockenga scored again, this time with a power dribble from the free throw line to her left to create space. She stopped and popped a field goal. Fleischman then registered an assist to Alyda Vande Griend. Next, Reese Wassink got a steal and went nearly the length of the court for a layup. Wassink scored again with a hard drive from the free throw line and it was 19-10 in favor of EHS.