South O’Brien at West Bend-Mallard; LeMars Gehlen at MMCRU
WEST BEND — The South O’Brien girls basketball team has struggled putting the ball through the hoop all season. Over the first half of the season they had shot 28.4 percent overall from the field, 26.5 beyond the 3-point arch, and 57.4 percent at the foul line.
South O’Brien opened the second half on Friday with a tough non-conference matchup at unbeaten West Bend-Mallard, the No. 15-ranked team in Class 1A by Iowa Prep Illustrated.
It was a 54-23 loss for South O’Brien, their fourth consecutive loss this season, and winless in five road games.
“They’re a pretty good team. It is sometimes tough to tell you how you will match up when its a unfamiliar team and their aggressiveness really stood out. Not to take anything away from them, but we simply weren’t ourselves. We came out pretty flat and lacked intensity.”
D.J. Hansen, South O’Brien head girls basketball coach
West Bend-Mallard leaned on three seniors Hannah Stalzer, Hailey Stalzer, Tiffany Fehr) for the bulk of their scoring throughout the game. They led 19-4 following one quarter, and pushed the lead to 40-9 at halftime. Each team scored 14 second half points. They both scored nine third quarter, and five fourth quarter points.
Hannah Stalzer finished with a game-high 16 points, HaileyStalzer added 14, and Fehr finished with 13 points. The host Wolverines shot 44 percent from the field overall, and 53 percent behind the 3-point arch.
“The first half seemed like they couldn’t miss while we couldn’t buy a basket. The second half, we did a little better job of taking care of the ball and finding some better shot. We started to look more like ourselves, but it was too little too late. It was a rough night, so we have to have a short term memory and get back to our game.”
D.J. Hansen, South O’Brien head girls basketball coach
Linsey Einck and Abbey Woodall led South O’Bien with seven points each. Chloe Hustedt led the 2-7 Wolverines with six rebounds. Woodall had three steals and Abby Nelson four assists.
South O’Brien 4 – 5 (9) – 9 (18) – 5 = 23
West Bend-Mallard 19 – 21 (40) – 9 – (49) – 5 = (54)
South O’Brien Record: 2-7; West Bend-Mallard Record: 8-0.
SOUTH O’BRIEN
Abby Nelson 0-2 0-2 0, Addison Hedberg 1-2 0-0 3, Lindsey Einck 3-5 1-3 7, Reese Farquhar 1-8 0-0 3, Chloe Hustedt 1-7 1-2 3, Abby Woodall 3-3 0-2 7, Cassidy Horstmann 0-3 0-0 0, Brelee Rasmussen 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 9-32 2-9 23.
3-Point Field Goals (3-10) — Woodall 1-1, Hedberg 1-1, Farquhar 1-5, Einck 0-1, Horstmann 0-2. Rebounds (22) — Hustedt 6, Farquhar 4, Einck 3, Nelson 3, Woodall 2, Horstmann (2), Rasmussen (2). Assists (6) — Nelson 4, Hedberg 1, Rasmussen 1. Steals (7) — Woodall 3, Farquhar 1, Hustedt 1, Horstmann 1, Rasmussen 1. Blocks (3) — Farquhar 2, Woodall 1. Total Fouls (9). Fouled Out — none.
MARCUS — It was LeMars Gehlen with the 60-58 War Eagle Conference girls basketball win on Friday over host MMCRU. The Royals loss snapped a two game win streak against the Jays, and evens the all-time series at 8-8 since the start of the MMCRU Era.
The guest Jays scored a season-high point total in the win, but it was an evenly played game throughout. MMCRU led 15-12 after one quarter, and went to the locker room at the intermission (half) tied at 32-32. MMCRU took the two-point 46-44 lead into the final eight minutes of play, having scored the final 11 points of the third quarter.
The 58 points scored by the Royals was also a season best, eclipsing the 49 points in a 52-49 loss at LKawton-Bronson before the Christmas break (Dec. 16).
“Offensively, we attacked the rim and we did really well. We didn’t have to slow it down too much and I think they liked that. They like to just push up the floor and play.”
Gillian Letsche, MMCRU head girls basketball coach
The two teams managed to committ numerous turnovers and an over abundance of fouls. LeMars gehlen committed 27 turnovers and had 24 fouls. MMCRU turned it over 26 times, and finished with the team having 22 turnovers and a foul out by Riley Groves.
Sophomore Chloe Alesch had a career-best scoring night with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor and 6-of-7 effort at the charity stripe.
“I’ve always known she can do it, Chloe’s just got to keep pushing like that,” Letsche said. “One thing that really helped us out was when we did our press break, we put Chloe in the middle and posted her up. Once we were able to get it to the middle, we were able to get it up the floor a lot faster. I think that helped us out a lot. Her being aggressive like we needed her to be and getting it to the hole helped us a lot.”
Gillian Letsche, MMCRU head girls basketball coach
Alesch’s teammate Tia Tentinger finished with 17 points, tying her season-best effort. Kylie Harpenau chipped in seven points. Harpenau, Tentinger, and Lana Florine each came away with four steals.
Four Gehlen players scored double figures. Senior Rysaiah Sitzmann finished with 13 points. Addi Castle, Alya Schmidt, and Payton Kerns, all freshmen finished with 12, 11 and 10 points. Castle completed the double-double with a game-best 16 rebounds.
It became quite a finish to the game. MMCRU’s 54-50 lead with 3:34 remaining disappeared as LeMars Gehlen scored seven straight points in just over a minute. Tentinger made it 57-56, convering free throws. Alesch got the Royals back within one possession at 59-58. The Jays finished 5-of-19 on free throws, going 1-of-4 as the game wound down.
MMCRU had multiple opportunities as the game drew near a close. They commiutted a turnover — traveling violation. With 4.3 seconds left to play, MMCRU forced a LeMars Gehlen turnover. Tentinger came up with the turnover and her final shot at the buzzer was off.
LeMars Gehlen snapped a four game losing streak to improve to 4-7 on the season. MMCRU’s loss leaves the Royals with an 0-7 record, the worst beginning to a season in the MMCRU Era. Three of the Royals seven losses have come by 10 or fewer points.
LeMars Gehlen 12 – 20 (32) – 12 – (44) – 16 = 60
MMCRU 15 – 17 (32) – 14 (46) – 12 = 58
LeMars Gehlen Record: 4-7; MMCRU Record: 0-7.
MMCRU
Kylie Harpenau 2-8 1-2 7, Tia Tentinger 5-20 4-6 17, Chloe Alesch 6-12 6-7 18, Gracie Schroeder 0-1 1-2 1, Aleah Lux 2-6 0-0 4, Riley Groves 1-1 1-3 3, Lana Florine 1-3 0-0 2, Kaleigha Dreckman 1-3 1-2 4, Brielle Lux 0-0 2-2 2, Sadie Youde 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-54 16-24 58.
3-Point Field Goals (6-23) — Tentinger 3-14, Harpenau 2-4, Dreckman 1-3, A. Lux 0-1, Alesch 0-1. Rebounds (37) — Alesch 8, A. Lux 6, Tentinger 5, Groves 5, Schroeder 4, Harpenau 4, Florine 3, Dreckman 1, B. Lux 1. Assists (12) — Schroeder 3, Tentinger 3, A. Lux 2, Groves 1, Florine 1, Alesch 1, Harpenau 1. Steals (21) — Tentinger 4, Harpenau 4, Florine 4, Schroeder 3, A. Lux 3, Groves 2, Dreckman 1. Blocks (1) — A. Lux 1. Total Fouls (22). Fouled Out — Groves.
