An already low-scoring Shawano Community High School girls basketball team faded down the stretch to lose its opener 26-21 to visiting Antigo Friday.
The Hawks (0-1) led Antigo (2-0) throughout the first three quarters, but never by more than a few points. Shawano managed to extend a 14-12 halftime lead to 18-14 by the start of the fourth quarter, but was outscored 12-3 the rest of the way.
“The defensive effort was great,” Shawano coach Ryan Koenig said. “No problem there. Our goal is to hold people to under 40 a game. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have won. We have to score the ball.”
The Hawks offense went cold in the second half. The team’s only points came from 6-foot junior forward Erika Dunnam. She scored seven points in the second half on her way to a game-high nine points.
“We obviously had a size advantage,” Koenig said. “We’re trying to get her the ball. We have got to work on certain situations to take advantage of it.”
The coach says the fourth quarter production will improve.
“It proved it was our first game,” Koenig said. “It sure looked like our first time out on the court. … Our end-of-the-game execution, you don’t have it until you play the games. That’s why we have 22 of these. Hopefully we improve every game going forward.”
Shawano got in foul trouble early and often in the game. Antigo got 12 of its points at the free-throw line.
“It was the foul trouble,” Koenig said. “We dug ourselves a hole.”
Antigo went to the free-throw line 25 times. Shawano only 10.
“There’s a huge disparity,” Koenig said. “That’s one of the things we talked about going into the season. We need that to be flip-flopped to be successful. We didn’t do that tonight at the foul line.”
In junior varsity action, Shawano won 47-30.
Antigo 5 7 2 12 — 26
Shawano 7 7 4 3 — 21
Antigo (26)
Belott 1 0-2 2, Petts 1 3-5-5, Payant 1 4-6 6, Kondzela 1 0-2 2, Duff 1 1-2 3, Smits 1 4-8 6
Shawano (21)
Morgan Klitzke 2 0-0 4, Boda 2 0-0 4, Ainsworth 1 1-2 3, Hokenstad 0 1-2 1, Dunnam 3 3-4 9
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