Bowler girls basketball team overcomes foul trouble, tops Marion

Strong start proves big for Panthers
By: 
Morgan Rode
Sports Editor

The Bowler High School girls basketball team overcame plenty of foul trouble while earning a 46-27 win over Marion in a Central Wisconsin Conference-North Division contest on Jan. 24 in Bowler.

Bowler was whistled for 28 fouls and a technical foul in the contest and had two players foul out, but did enough early in the game to still coast to victory.

“We just kept up our persistence. It was a pretty steady game the entire way through,” said Bowler’s Natalie Rickert. “I mean, we had our low points, but we got back up there and just didn’t get in our head.”

Bowler opened the game on a 13-0 run, with several players getting into the mix during that stretch.

Steals led to baskets from Paige Treptow and Isabella Stevens. Rickert later scored off an inbound play before another steal led to a bucket from Ava Paiser. A free throw from Stevens was followed by another Rickert bucket to make it 11-0, and Treptow scored on a fastbreak chance with about 7 minutes, 40 seconds to play in the first half to end the 13-point run.

Marion broke its scoreless drought on a Grace Bradley basket about 25 seconds later, but a banked-in 3-pointer from Jasmine Welch started another Bowler run soon after.

A couple of Treptow baskets were sandwiched around a Brandi Spencer free throw for the hosts. Rickert then scored her third basket to make it 23-2.

Dacotah Yonker hit a shot for Marion with about five minutes to play in the half, and Rickert followed with a free throw before being tagged with her second and third fouls.

Marion’s Kelsey Zillmer converted a shot for Marion with 2:35 to play in the half, but Bowler scored the final four points to take a 28-6 lead into halftime. Spencer and Paiser scored the final two baskets for the Panthers in the half.

The visiting Mustangs briefly looked like they might make a comeback in the second half after scoring the first five points and getting Bowler into even deeper foul trouble, but the teams played pretty much even after that and Bowler coasted to victory.

Morgan Krueger hit a a free throw and field goal in the opening minute of the half for Marion before Alexis Roe connected on a shot, making it 28-11.

“I think we took awhile to get going in general, but once we were able to find the holes in their defense that we were able to break down, we were able to get some really good looks,” said Roe.

A basket from Autumn Thiex got Bowler back on track before fouls quickly piled up.

Stevens fouled out with 11:12 to play in the game, at which point Bowler had already been whistled for nine team fouls in the second half.

After Thiex’s basket with about 14:30 to play in the game, Rickert was the only player on either team to hit a field goal until less than nine minutes remained. A total of 13 free throws were shot in that span.

“I’m pretty sure we did not use our hands, we had to put them down the entire time for the rest of the second half,” said Rickert with a laugh. “But we pulled through. It was kind of crazy — it was definitely in our heads that we cannot foul…”

Roe and Caitlin Keller converted back-to-back shots for Marion to get within 13, 33-20, but Bowler pulled away behind a 10-2 run.

Treptow led Bowler with 12 points, while Paiser had 10 and Rickert nine.

Yonker scored seven points to lead Marion. Roe and Krueger added six points each.

Marion finished made just 11 of its 31 free throw attempts on the night.

Marion 6 21 — 27

Bowler 28 18 — 46

Bowler (46): Paige Treptow 2-4 12, Autumn Thiex 0-0 4, Brandi Spencer 1-3 5, Jasmine Welch 0-0 3, Isabella Stevens 1-4 3, Natalie Rickert 1-3 9, Ava Paiser 0-4 10.

Marion (27): Josie Gueths 0-3 0, Alexis Roe 0-0 6, Dacotah Yonker 5-7 7, Colleen Malueg 1-2 1, Morgan Krueger 4-11 6, Caitlin Keller 1-3 3, Kelsey Zillmer 0-3 2, Grace Bradley 0-2 2.

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