Girls Basketball: Gresham outlasts Bowler in CWC-North clash

GRESHAM — For the third time in a little over two weeks, the Bowler and Gresham girls basketball teams squared off Saturday.

The Central Wisconsin Conference-North Division battle featured 73 free-throw attempts and five players fouling out. In the end, it was Gresham’s better shooting from outside and from the free-throw line that paved the way to their 72-55 victory.

The win helped Gresham take the season series two games to one. The Wildcats won the first conference matchup Dec. 19 before Bowler won the Gresham Tournament clash Dec. 27.

“We’ve been talking about shooting free throws for the last two, three, four games because we knew this could happen,” said Gresham coach Newell Haffner, who said Saturday’s win was similar to the team’s Dec. 19 win at Bowler.

“Hannah (Cerveny) made a bunch of free throws tonight to help us separate, and then Kaylee Bohm hit her free throws, and then it kind of just grew from there. The confidence started to grow. I’m still not happy about the way it ended, but we won ugly. After playing them three times in two weeks, one ugly one is OK.”

It was a back-and-forth battle in the first half. Gresham was able to create a bit of separation near the end of the half, going on a 10-4 run to grab a 32-24 halftime lead.

Gresham knocked down five 3-pointers in the opening half, with juniors Makayla Belongia and Destiny Reindl hitting triples during the late first-half run. Sophomore Valarie Cerveny and Belongia each hit two 3s in the half.

After going scoreless for about the first 10 minutes of the half, sophomore Hannah Cerveny scored seven points in less than two minutes. She knocked down a couple mid-range jumpers and finished the half with nine points.

Gresham continued to extend its lead at the start of the second half, with Reindl hitting another triple and Hannah Cerveny, junior Bohm and Valarie Cerveny also chipping in. The Wildcats’ seventh and final 3-pointer was also hit by Reindl, which pushed the hosts’ lead to 45-29 with 11:20 to play.

The Wildcats built the lead up to 17 points at several occasions in the half before the visiting Panthers made one final push.

Senior Kayla Pecore led the comeback attempt for Bowler, scoring eight points in just over three minutes to help trim the deficit to 11 points, at 59-48, with 3:50 to play.

There were only two field goals made the rest of the game — a bucket by Pecore and one for Bowler senior Brooke Thiex.

The teams combined for 31 free-throws attempts over that stretch. Gresham was able to seal its win from the line, making 13-of-18 attempts, while Bowler only hit three of its 13 attempts.

For the game, Gresham attempted one less free throw (36) than Bowler (37), but the Wildcats hit 25 of them to the Panthers’ 14.

“It’s always fun to play Gresham because we know each other so well. But it just so happened that the shots weren’t falling for us, and they were falling for Gresham,” said Bowler coach Tonia Pagryzinski, who was proud of her team’s fight until the final buzzer sounded. “We didn’t do very great on our free throws tonight; that kind of killed us, too. It was just a tough game.”

Hannah Cerveny finished off a 22-point evening by hitting seven free throws down the stretch for the hosts.

Valarie Cerveny tallied seven second-half points to finish with 17 for the contest. Reindl converted seven free throws in a 16-point performance, while Belongia had 10 points.

Valarie Cerveny was also credited with 11 rebounds, seven assists and five steals, while Bohm and freshman Chloe Bohl pulled down seven boards each. Belongia dished out six assists, Hannah Cerveny totaled five rebounds and three assists and Reindl had four steals.

“This one really boosts our confidence, and I think we’ll be able to have a great end to the season,” said Hannah Cerveny.

Pecore finished with a team-leading 24 points for Bowler, hitting the team’s only 3-pointer and making eight of the team’s 20 field goals on the night.

Thiex and senior Alyssa Strassburg each added eight points, while junior Tynea Johnson chipped in seven points.

“Even though we got down, we kept pushing and pushing and not wanting to give up, and it just shows our love for the game,” said Pecore on the team’s ability to keep playing hard despite facing long odds to come back.

Bowler 24 31 — 55

Gresham 32 40 — 72

Gresham (72): Makayla Belongia 2-3 10, Kaylee Bohm 5-8 5, Hannah Cerveny 8-10 22, Destiny Reindl 7-9 16, Alexandria Vele 0-0 2, Valarie Cerveny 3-6 17.

Bowler (55): Tynea Johnson 1-6 7, Liani Coon 2-2 4, Brooke Thiex 0-4 8, Ireland DeRoos 2-6 4, Alyssa Strassburg 4-4 8, Kayla Pecore 5-15 24.

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