Oconto Falls’ Euclide makes NEC girls basketball 2nd team

The Oconto Falls High School girls basketball team had three individual players honored by the North Eastern Conference for their play on the court this winter.

Junior Alexis Euclide landed on the second team after a strong season. Senior McKayla Goebel and junior Hailey Peitersen both made the honorable mention list.

Euclide led the Panthers during conference play by scoring 12.3 points per game. She finished sixth in the NEC in that category.

“It means that I know that the work that I put in paid off,” said Euclide of the honor. “Thanks to all of my coaches advice throughout the season (who) helped me get the recognition from all the teams we played against.”

“Alexis made big plays for us on defense and offense all season,” said first-year Oconto Falls coach Tim Solarek. “We relied on her to score as well as defend the other teams best players.”

In addition to leading the team in scoring, Euclide averaged 3.4 rebounds per game. She also tallied 33 steals and 23 assists across 15 conference games.

“Making second team motivates me to work harder to make first team next year,” said Euclide. “It gives me the confidence to put in the extra work in during the seasons leading up to basketball. Knowing next year is my last chance to prove myself means a lot of extra work with the coaches and work in my downtime to get myself where I want to be.”

Peitersen was second on the team with 9.8 points per conference clash. Despite being a post player, Peitersen led Oconto Falls in 3-pointers made.

“As a junior this year, my goal was to make the honorable mention team, and now that I have achieved that, I am extremely motivated and driven to make a higher level team as a senior,” said Peitersen. “I am very honored to receive this recognition, and I could not have done it without my team. It is extremely rewarding to see all my years of dedication to basketball finally pay off.”

“Hailey did a tremendous job on defense. She always had the matchup of guarding the other team’s best post player, and she made it very difficult for them,” said Solarek.

Peitersen was the team’s top rebounder, pulling down eight boards per NEC game. She also had 25 steals, 18 assists and 12 blocks across 15 games.

She ranked fourth in the conference in rebounds, 10th in blocks and 18th in steals.

“Making the all-conference honorable mention team is a great confidence booster and motivator for me going into the offseason,” said Peitersen. “Looking at what I have accomplished this year, I am driven to build on these skills to better myself and my teammates for my upcoming senior season. I will really focus on getting my teammates and myself into the weight room and to open gyms this summer to build as a team heading into next year.”

Goebel averaged 9.6 points per NEC game in her final high school season. She got to the free-throw line a conference-leading 78 times in 15 games.

“Making all-conference honorable mention team as a senior means a lot to me considering that it’s my last year,” said Goebel. “It shows that all the hard work and effort I put in all season had paid off. Also the help of my coaches helped me get the recognition from the teams we’ve played this year.”

“McKayla did a little bit of everything for our team,” said Solarek. “We relied on her to handle the ball most of the game as our point guard. Not only did she score for us, but she was also one of our best defenders.”

Goebel averaged 4.5 rebounds per game from her guard position. She led the team in steals (44) and assists (35) in conference play.

She finished fourth in the conference in steals and 10th in assists.

“Some things I’m going to remember from playing basketball over my high school career are definitely going to be my teammates and coaches,” said Goebel. “I’ll never forget the bonds I’ve made and all the extra hours we put in.”

Oconto Falls finished with a conference record of 8-8, good enough for fifth place in the standings. Freedom (17-0) won the conference title.

Freedom’s Callie Genke was the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year, and Freedom’s Gabby Johnson was the Defensive Player of the Year.

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