There are various ways to pull off the huge upset on the road and hand a team its first loss of the season.
Spotting the home team a 12-0 lead is not one of them.
That was the fate that met Oconto Falls against Bonduel High School in Saturday’s nonconference girls basketball game.
Bonduel (18-0, 11-0 Central Wisconsin Conference-8) pounded the glass from the opening tip, snagging eight offensive rebounds in the first quarter alone en route to an easy 58-17 win.
“There weren’t many positive aspects we could take from this one,” Oconto Falls coach Mike Kaczmarek Jr. said. “For us to beat a team like Bonduel, we needed to play our best game and maybe force them into an off night. But that didn’t happen. They got out to that big early lead, and it’s tough to come back against a good team like that.”
Oconto Falls (8-11, 6-8 Bay Conference) was held scoreless until senior Elizabeth Manns drilled a 3-pointer with 3:11 left in the first quarter, making it a 12-3 game.
A steal and layup by Bonduel’s Danee Collier made it 14-3, and from there, the taller Bears tightened the screws defensively and pulled away.
“We didn’t know much about Oconto Falls, other than that they’re very quick,” Bonduel coach Missy Dowden said. “We had to stress to everyone to keep moving their feet.”
Oconto Falls’ 5-foot-7 junior Madison Helmle, whose five points tied Manns for team high, played effective defense despite falling into early foul trouble, and to her and the Panthers’ credit, they never stopped playing hard.
“Like our coach told us, this kind of game will help us out come tournament time,” Helmle said. “It showed us tonight that the harder of a team that we play, we’ve really got to step it up. We thought we had a chance tonight if everything went right for us, but their shots were falling, ours weren’t, and they’re a really good team.”
Even when things went right for Oconto Falls, they went wrong. Manns hit an apparent 3-pointer with 2:31 left in the first half that would have trimmed the deficit to 26-8, but it was ruled that one of her feet touched the 3-point circle.
Bonduel was led by Deanna Zernicke with 12 points on four 3-point field goals. Jen Dowden (11) and Taylor Weier (10) rode an ensuing 6-2 run to a 32-9 halftime lead.
“We have a long way to go yet,” Kaczmarek said. “But we could win a couple of games before the postseason. We have a week off before we play Denmark, but we won’t play another team like Bonduel — they have a very nice team and they’re well coached.”
Oconto Falls (17)
Helmle 1 2-2 5, Manns 2 0-0 5, Donart 1 0-0 2, Schroeder 0 0-2 0, Virtues 1 0-0 2, Krueger 1 1-2 3.
Bonduel (58)
Collier 2 3-4 7, H. Sorenson 2 0-0 4, E. Sorenson 1 0-0 2, Dowden 4 2-2 11, Reinke 1 2-2 5, Weier 4 2-2 10, Pues 1 0-0 2, Pedersen 2 0-2 5, Zernicke 4 0-0 12.
Oconto Falls 3 6 4 4 — 17
Bonduel 14 18 11 15 — 58
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