It didn’t take long for the Bonduel High School girls basketball team to find out how it would react to adversity.
Days removed from a gutting one-point loss at Wittenberg-Birnamwood that snapped their 19-game winning streak, the Bears found themselves tangled in another clash with a quality opponent Monday night, this time a non-league showdown with Marinette & Oconto Conference power Peshtigo.
Bonduel was aware that the visiting Bulldogs didn’t happen upon their 17-2 record by accident, but when the spirited, agile visitors broke out to a 6-0 lead in a game where points were hard to come by, there hovered an uneasiness not usually felt inside the gym where they had run the table throughout the 2014-15 season.
Then, after the first half ended in a 12-all deadlock that looked like anybody’s game, there came a defining sequence in the third quarter that demonstrated why the Bears are the state’s No. 6-ranked team in Division 3, and in the end their length was too much for the Bulldogs’ speed as Bonduel prevailed, 40-23.
“I think we bounced back well tonight,” Bonduel coach Missy Dowden said. “We didn’t get going until after the first quarter, but then we found our rhythm in the second quarter and built on it from there.”
The school’s all-time girls scoring leader, center Jen Dowden, made her presence felt on Senior Night, spearheading an imposing frontcourt defense that controlled the boards and allowed Peshtigo few good inside looks at the hoop.
Dowden’s game-high 17 points included a lay-in with 6:12 left in the third quarter that gave the Bears their first lead of the game, 19-17.
Bonduel (20-1, 12-1 Central Wisconsin Conference-8) had upped its advantage to 22-17 on a free throw by Danee Collier and a bucket by Dowden when senior Lexi Reinke made what might have been the decisive play of the night.
With the rest of the Bears back on defense after a missed shot, Reinke applied some token pressure as Peshtigo brought it upcourt, then got a piece of an attempted pass, scooped up the loose ball and finished with a bucket that almost audibly took the air out of the Bulldogs’ comeback hopes.
Peshtigo (17-3, 14-0 M & O) would come no closer than five points from there as Bonduel pulled away and eventually broke it open.
“I kind of stayed back just trying to contest (the pass),” said Reinke, who earlier in the period buried a huge 3-pointer that tied the game at 17 moments after Ryleigh Klaver’s trey had given Peshtigo a 17-14 lead and the momentum. “We knew they’re a good team, and that this was going to be a tough game for us.
“After (losing to Wittenberg-Birnamwood) we knew we just had to keep working hard on the things that have worked for us all year. I think this game brought us back, got out that bad taste from our last game.”
Missy Dowden, who lauded the play of Danee Collier and Emily Sorenson off the bench, also got strong efforts from Taylor Weier, Kailee Pedersen, Hayley Sorenson and Deanna Zernicke, who were collectively enough to offset the quickness of Peshtigo guards Klaver and Amanda Majewski and the inside play of forward Saige Ruleau and center Teja Tonn.
Peshtigo 10 2 5 6 - 23
Bonduel 8 4 14 14 - 40
Peshtigo - Klaver 1 0-0 3, Majewski 2 0-0 4, Neumann 3 0-2 6, Ruleau 3 0-0 6, T. Tonn 2 0-0 4.
Bonduel - Collier 1 1-2 3, H. Sorenson 2 0-0 4, E. Sorenson 2 0-1 4, Dowden 7 2-3 17, Reinke 3 0-1 7, Weier 1 0-0 2, Pedersen 0 0-2 0, Zernicke 1 1-2 3.
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