Once Oconto Falls High School senior guard Bailey Wolf hit a 3 with 16:10 remaining in the second half to cut the lead to 1, the Clintonville girls basketball team used a 14-0 run to pull away.
The Panthers responded with 5 straight points, but it wasn’t enough, as the Truckers ran away with a 51-27 victory Monday night in Clintonville.
Clintonville was able to space out the Panthers and attack the paint off the dribble, leading to layups and a 15-8 advantage in free-throw attempts.
“Our defense was letting us down. We were getting beat off the dribble way too much,” Oconto Falls head coach Mike Kaczmarek Jr. said. “We weren’t stepping in to help. I don’t know if we were tired, but offensively, they were taking it to the basket.”
Oconto Falls, which trailed throughout the first half, was able to tie the game after Wolf hit her first 3-pointer of the night with about one minute remaining in the first half, but Etta Sorenson and Autumn Voigt rattled home the final points of the half to give Clintonville a 19-15 lead.
“We just needed to be more patient with our looks. We were missing some shots,” Clintonville head coach Nick Yaeger said. “We’ve got some good looks that just weren’t falling. If we keep getting those looks, we’d hope they’d begin to fall.”
To open the second half, Oconto Falls senior Madison Helmle hit a layup to cut the lead to 2 before Sorenson responded with a layup. After Wolf hit a 3, the Panthers were held scoreless for the following 7 minutes as the Truckers gained a 35-20 lead.
“On that big run, some of our seniors took over. Etta (Sorenson) and Caitie (Carpenter) did a good job of driving and finishing. Autumn Voigt had some good looks, so those guards really picked it up,” Yaeger said. “We knew who to key on. It was just a matter that Wolf is a good shooter and you can’t let her get a good look.”
Despite forcing 11 turnovers, Oconto Falls (3-10, 2-7 North Eastern Conference) was unable to create offense in transition.
“We struggle a lot on offense, so we have to create offense with our defense,” Kaczmarek said. “And tonight, we didn’t do that.”
Voigt, who averages over 12 points per game, was held to 6 points, but the combination of Carpenter (20) and Sorenson (13) went off for 33.
Catherine Morse and Voigt each grabbed nine rebounds, and Carpenter added three assists for Clintonville (5-7, 4-5 North Eastern Conference).
Wolf scored 13 points for Oconto Falls. Junior Jenny Krueger had eight rebounds; Wolf added four.
Clintonville earned the season sweep of Oconto Falls, having defeated the Panthers earlier this season, 44-18.
Oconto Falls (27)
Helmle 2 0-2 4, Misco 0 0-1 0, Donart 1 0-0 3, Wolf 4 3-4 13, Pankratz 1 0-1 2, Krueger 2 0-0 5.
Clintonville (51)
Sorenson 6 1-5 13, Carpenter 7 4-5 20, Morse 3 1-2 7, Voigt 2 2-2 6, Wagenson 2 0-0 5.
Oconto Falls 15 12 — 27
Clintonville 19 32 — 51
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