There probably weren’t enough fast-break baskets to call it a 32-minute layup drill.
With the Shawano Community High School girls team playing one of its best games of the year, however, Tuesday night’s WIAA Division 2 regional opener was a keeper for the highlight reel.
The Hawks shot well, defended and controlled the boards, passing their first-round test with flying colors, straight A’s and extra credit in a 69-26 shellacking of a young and overmatched Waupaca.
“It was very encouraging,” Shawano coach Ryan Koenig said. “We want to peak at the right time, and we had really good intensity on defense all night.”
In winning the fifth of their last seven games, the Hawks improved to 10-13 — the first time the Shawano girls have broken the double-digit win mark since 1999.
After the Hawks jumped in front 9-0 and then 17-2, there was such little drama that Koenig emptied his bench in the first quarter and got significant minutes for everyone wearing a white uniform.
Waupaca, which finished its rebuilding season at 1-22, had only one senior on the roster and had trouble all night with not only Shawano’s fullcourt pressure — which Koenig humanely called off after one quarter — but also the Hawks’ halfcourt defense.
Briana Boda set the defensive tone with one of her four steals in the first period, taking a beautiful theft the length of the court and converting the layup to give Shawano a 19-4 lead.
“This was a good game for us because we hadn’t been pulling it together in our last couple of practices,” said Boda, who finished with 10 points. “It was really good for our confidence.”
Courtney Vomastic came off the bench to put on a brilliant display of outside shooting, as her game-high 14 points included a second-quarter stretch where she hit an outside shot and then three straight long 3-pointers, two of which had to clear customs before dropping through.
“I was feeling it,” she sad. “It was probably my best shooting game of the year.”
“That’s typical for her in practice,” Koenig said. “It was nice to see her do that in the game. She’s the best shooter around, as far as consistency goes.”
Up 44-17 at half, it was evident that the hosts could practically name their score. Ten Hawks players scored at least three points, with Megan Klitzke and Sydney Schreiber getting nine apiece. As the saying goes, if it was a boxing match, they would have stopped it.
They did the next best thing, though, as the 40-point slaughter rule kicked in with 7:13 left in the fourth period and the clock ran continuously until the final, merciful buzzer.
Next up is a Friday tilt at Hortonville, the regional’s top seed, and an erstwhile Bay Conference nemesis that has had its way with Shawano in recent years.
“We know Hortonville is good,” Koenig said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’re not going to roll over.”
Waupaca 7 10 8 1 — 26
Shawano 23 21 20 5 — 69
Waupaca (26)
Vaughn 4 0-0 11, Patzke 1 0-2 2, Nowak 3 7-12 13.
Shawano (69)
Monfils 2 0-0 6, Mo. Klitzke 3 0-0 7, Me. Klitzke 3 3-4 9, Vomastic 5 1-2 14, Boda 5 0-0 10, Ainsworth 1 4-4 6, Hokenstad 1 0-0 3 , Schreiber 3 0-0 9, Ward 1 1-2 3, Dunnam 1 0-0 2.
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