Scoring is at a premium this season for the Oconto Falls girls basketball team.
So when the Panthers pulled within four points of Fox Valley Lutheran midway through the second half, it was the moment to make a push. However, that never happened. The Foxes ran off eight-straight points and never relinquished a double-digit lead as Oconto Falls lost 43-28 at home on Thursday Dec. 17.
“Kids played hard again, they play hard every night,” Oconto Falls coach Mike Kaczmarek said. “But I just got done talking to them, and we can’t accept just playing hard anymore. We missed too many shots in the paint, plain and simple. If we make those shots in the paint, it’s a totally different game. We’ve been doing that consistently all year so far. We’re just getting to the hole and throwing the ball, we’re not concentrating.”
Oconto Falls hit just 10 field goals on the night, and four came from 3-point range.
The Panthers’ defense gave Fox Valley Lutheran fits with its 1-3-1 zone and 1-2-2 trap. The Foxes hadn’t faced a similar approach early in the season.
“We just struggled and just didn’t hit shots,” Fox Valley Lutheran coach David Wenzel said. “I thought the second half we slowed down a little bit, showed a little more patience, got a few points off of defense and that always seems to multiply and roll into your offense.”
Kaczmarek isn’t using much man-to-man defense this season. He’s content on using whatever method to slow down opposing offenses.
“We’re trying to keep them off-balanced right now is what we’re trying to do,” Kaczmarek said.
Oconto Falls did a great job on Fox Valley Lutheran’s leading scorer Jenna Bruss. The sophomore guard entered the game averaging 17 points per night. Against the Panthers, she scored five points and was 1-for-12 from the field. In Bruss’ offensive absence, her teammates stepped up. The Foxes got 21 points from their bench players, including 11 from Alyssa Charron.
Oconto Falls (2-6, 1-4 North Eastern Conference) jumped out to a 5-2 lead after Kennedy Kratz hit a 3-pointer. But that’s when the Panthers’ offense went on hiatus. Fox Valley Lutheran (3-3, 2-3 conference) went on a 10-0 run as Oconto Falls didn’t score for 8 minutes, 40 seconds.
“Anybody who knows us knows that points come very difficult for us this year right now,” Kaczmarek said. “With three players with varsity experience back from last year, the kids don’t catch the ball and are ready to shoot. They just don’t have that scorer’s mentality yet. Until we get there we’re going to really struggle to score points.”
Bailey Wolf, who led Oconto Falls with nine points, got a steal and was fouled with 2 seconds remaining in the opening half. She hit both free throws to send her team into halftime down 20-11.
Oconto Falls hung around in the second half when Kaitlyn Donart drained a 3-pointer to make it 26-22 with 9:04 remaining. That’s when Fox Valley Lutheran went on an 8-0 spurt, capped by a three-point play from Charron.
“I think we went down and had two possessions that we turned it over. We can’t do that,” Kaczmarek said. “I think they busted a 3 on us and then I think we turned it over on the press. We can’t afford to do that, kids know that.”
The swing in momentum was certainly what Fox Valley Lutheran needed.
“We stepped it up, didn’t panic and started taking care of the ball a little better,” Wenzel said. “Defensively, we were out of sync. We settled down defensively, too.”
After pulling within four points, Oconto Falls scored just six more points the rest of the game.
Oconto Falls has its final game before the holiday break on Tuesday, Dec. 22 when it hosts Shawano at 7:15 p.m.
Kaczmarek is looking for his girls to continue to work hard and stay positive, but not be satisfied with just effort alone.
“We have to get better slowly but surely,” Kaczmarek said. “We have to get a little more confidence in ourselves. We have to have some girls step up and have a scorer’s mentality for us.”
Fox Valley Lutheran (43)
Duciaume 0 0-1 0, Henn 2 2-3 6, Bruss 1 2-2 5, Henzi 4 3-3 11, Charron 5 1-1 11, Mellberg 2 0-0 4, Brukardt 1 1-2 3, Birling 1 0-0 3.
Oconto Falls (28)
Kratz 2 0-0 6, Wolf 3 2-2 9, Pankratz 1 0-1 2, Krueger 3 0-0 6, Donart 1 0-0 3, Ausloos 1 0-0 2.
Fox Valley Lutheran 20 23 – 43
Oconto Falls 11 17 – 28
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