The Gillett Secondary School girls basketball team’s season opener may be its toughest game of the season, losing at Bonduel 67-17 Nov. 18.
Bonduel’s defense jumped on the Tigers early and held them to seven first period points. Gillett wouldn’t score again until the second half as the Bears built a 35-7 lead.
By the end, the Bears defense forced 34 turnovers, including five steals by sophomore guard Danee Collier.
“We knew what we were coming into in this game,” Gillett coach Justin Daul said. “Bonduel is probably one of the better teams in the state. We knew we were overmatched, but I saw good things out of my girls.”
Bonduel coach Missy Dowden said her team’s success was pretty simple.
“Ball pressure on defense, and then pushing the ball up the court, that was nice,” Dowden said, “Getting the girls to move.”
Tigers sophomore Erin Balthazor led the Tigers with five points, including a 3-point play in the first period.
“Erin Balthazor was aggressive,” Daul said. “For a sophomore to come up against a team like Bonduel, she didn’t have the success she wanted, but she did exactly what we ask of her out of our offense. Create and get to the hoop. She did that on a couple occasions.”
After a scoreless second period, Gillett produced 10 second half points.
“We got a little down on ourselves in the second quarter, but the second half we improved,” Daul said. “We did good things. We started going to the hoop.”
Bears senior guard Deanna Zernicke, making a return from shoulder surgery after an injury in last year’s WIAA Division 4 sectional semifinal, took over the game in the fourth period. She scored 12 of her team-high 16 points in the period.
“She was holding her head down like, ‘I’m never going to shoot again,’” Dowden said. “She hit a couple of rebound shots, maybe 10-footers, and I was like, ‘OK, let’s call a play.’ She knew it had to be to her.”
Gillett (17)
Balthazor 2 1-1 5, Kohls 2 0-0 4, Wolfe 1 2-2 4, Wilbur 1 0-0 2, Loberger 1 0-0 2
Bonduel (67)
H. Sorenson 6 2-2 14, Dowden 4 2-2 10, Reinke 3 0-1 7, Schmidt 1 0-2 2, Zernicke 7 0-0 16, E. Sorenson 3 1-2 7, Collier 2 0-3 4, Pedersen 1 0-0 3, Pues 2 0-0 4
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