Shawano girls basketball team grinds out win over Oconto Falls

The Shawano Community High School girls basketball team overwhelmed Oconto Falls during a Sun Drop Shootout matchup on Dec. 27 at the Kress Center in Green Bay.

Shawano’s zone defense made life tough on the Oconto Falls offense all game. The Hawks surrendered just one field goal in the opening half and cruised to a 34-11 win.

Oconto Falls’ Kati Raddatz hit a 3-pointer for the game’s first points, but the Panthers next field goal came about halfway through the second half.

With 6-footers Leah Nordin and Abby Bystol and 5-10 Anna Dreier near the top of the Shawano zone defense, Oconto Falls — which started a lineup all under 5-9 — had a difficult time passing the ball around and getting many great looks at the hoop.

“I think we’ve found ourself as a 1-3-1 team because we’ve got the long and lengthy, the height on the top and on the wings,” said Nordin. “Then we’ve got Anna Dreier in the middle, she’s really good at keeping the ball out of the post. If we get a hand in their face, they’re not going to shoot over us.”

“We’ve got Leah up top with that big wingspan and then our two wings, it’s hard to get it in there,” said Bystol. “Defense is our main thing — we’re struggling a little bit on offense, but we’ll get there — defense is our main thing right now though.”

After Raddatz hit the 3-pointer, Shawano scored six straight points, with Nordin, Trinity Popelka and Ella Stuber all converting a shot.

Madeline Maloney then knocked down two free throws for Oconto Falls, but those points turned out to be the team’s final ones of the opening half. In the final 11 minutes of the half, Shawano went on a 12-0 run for an 18-5 halftime lead.

Nordin led the Hawks in the opening half with eight points, and was the team’s leading scorer overall with 16 points. Stuber had four points at the halftime break.

While Shawano wasn’t lighting up the scoreboard on offense, it was able to run away with the lead after stifling Oconto Falls’ offense.

When the Panthers were able to work the ball around the zone and get some looks at the hoop, they weren’t able to connect.

“I think that offensively we got a few like almost sloppy shots up because we had to get something up, and then we couldn’t get no second shots today,” said Oconto Falls’ Kate Pytleski. “There was zero second shots. It was one shot, and with their height, they got every rebound, every loose ball.

“It was a tough day, we didn’t play as confidently as we wanted to. The 1-3-1, we struggle with zone because of our height, every zone we see… I think it’s vision, communication, it’s just hard to see.”

After the halftime break, Shawano continued to widen its lead.

Bystol got the Hawks going with a basket before Nordin scored the next three field goals. After Nordin knocked down two free throws, Stuber hit a 3-pointer to make it a 31-5 advantage.

“Our initial gameplan was to get the ball in the post because obviously we got two 6-footers, me and Abby, and we also have other height advantages, so that was just our overall gameplan,” said Nordin. “It really helped coming off that flex offense because that’s when you can look into the post almost every single time. We just used that to pound the ball into the post.”

Bailee Gorman, part of the group of girls Oconto Falls finished up the game with, broke the team’s long scoreless streak with a basket. She scored again about a minute later before Maloney and Brynn Hodkiewicz each hit a free throw to cap the team’s scoring.

While Oconto Falls struggled offensively, Pytleski said the team was pleased with its defensive effort.

“I think they made one open 3, and that was because we were helping on defense, so we were still playing our good defense,” said Pytleski. “We held them to one 3 today, so that’s all you can really ask for.”

Shawano was just 7 of 20 from the free throw line, which kept the Hawks from blowing the game wide open.

Oconto Falls 5 6 — 11

Shawano 18 16 — 34

Shawano (34): Darcie Erdmann 1-2 1, Marissa Tomashek 0-0 2, Ella Stuber 0-1 7, Trinity Popelka 0-0 2, Braylyn Babino 1-5 1, Abby Bystol 1-6 5, Natalie Bystol 0-1 0, Leah Nordin 4-5 16.

Oconto Falls (11): Brynn Hodkiewicz 1-2 1, Kati Raddatz 0-0 3, Bailee Gorman 0-0 4, Madeline Maloney 3-4 3.

sports@newmedia-wi.com