Bad Marinette defense, or good Shawano offense? Probably a combination of the two contributed to Shawano Community High School’s surprisingly easy 53-35 girls basketball win Friday night.
The Hawks shot 58.5 percent (24-41) from the field.
“We did a good job of getting open shots and then driving to the basket,” Shawano coach Ryan Koenig said. “We put our teammates in a good position. We set solid screens. We got on a roll and everybody was involved.”
When Briana Boda wasn’t driving to the basket, Courtney Vomastic was hitting sweet jumpshots and 6-foot-0 junior Erika Dunnam was posting up down low for easy bunnies.
The Marines were often caught flat-footed.
“We could’ve played better on defense,” Marinette coach Luke Maulding understated. “They shot pretty well. That’s a big confidence booster for them.”
The Marines had the big P.F. Neverman Gym crowd rocking early. Alex Cording hit two baskets and Teya Lambie made one bucket, and the Marines led 6-0.
Koenig called time out and switched his team from a 3-2 zone into a 2-3. That cut out Marinette’s open corner shots, and seemed to throw the Marine offense into a funk.
“It kind of slowed us down,” Maulding said. “It takes you out of space. We just couldn’t make any shots, couldn’t get in our transition.”
Vomastic hit a pair of 3-pointers, Courtney Ainsworth hit one three and Boda scored four points. Just like that, the Hawks reeled off 13 straight points for a 13-6 lead.
The Shawano lead grew to 25-10 on Morgan Klitzke’s 3-pointer with 3:30 in the half. Cassie Hilbert’s four-point play, Ellie Wahl’s putback and Lambie’s free throw whittled the lead down to 11 and helped keep the Marines within reach.
Shawano hit six of 10 third-quarter shots and quickly pulled away. Boda opened the second half with two quick buckets, and she finished the quarter with a buzzer-beater for a 41-24 lead. The margin grew to 49-29 in the fourth quarter.
Shawano looked like a team much better than its 5-11 record.
“We’ve been playing real well,” said Koenig, a former UW-Marinette basketball player. “Our record doesn’t indicate what these girls are going through. Hopefully tonight was a step in the right direction.”
For Marinette (5-13), which was coming off consecutive wins, it’s back to the drawing board.
“A hiccup,” Maulding said. “It’s a little setback to reality. Just regroup. We’ve got Seymour coming in (Tuesday).”
Tatum DePerry’s buzzer-beater gave Shawano’s junior varsity a 31-30 win.
Shawano won the freshman game 28-17.
Shawano (53)
Monfils 0, Mo. Klitzke 7, Me. Klitzke 6, Vomastic 11, Boda 13, Ainsworth 4, Young 0, Ward 2, Dunnam 10.
Marinette (35)
Lexi Bohan 0, Cording 11, Mailand 0, Lynsee Bohan 0, Lambie 6, Thielen 0, Hilbert 16, Wahl 2, Metzner 0, Veriha 0, Kuffel 0.
Shawano 17 11 13 12 — 53
Marinette 8 9 7 11 — 35
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