Girls Basketball: Shawano falls flat in home loss

SHAWANO — Fresh off a big Bay Conference win over Xavier on Friday, the Shawano Community High School girls basketball team suffered a letdown in its nonconference matchup with Waupaca on Tuesday, falling 62-48.

Shawano worked out to a seven-point lead in the first half, but was outscored 17-3 before heading to the locker room. The Hawks were unable to flip the momentum in the second half and Waupaca was able to leave the gym with its first win since its season opener on Nov. 19.

Shawano coach Ryan Koenig took the blame after the game.

“It was one of those games where you’re coming off that win (against Xavier) and you also got to also understand what it took to get there and we relaxed tonight,” said Koenig. “Our practice last night wasn’t good and that’s my fault. Tonight, we weren’t ready to play and that’s my fault again. We got to be more focused in practice to keep that energy going.

“We got relaxed as a team tonight and they (Waupaca) came and they’re hungry, they’re looking for another win. They played really well. Their big girl (Savannah Wehmeyer), we had no answers for her tonight. She manhandled us inside so hat’s off to them. You never know, maybe we’ll see them again down the road.”

It was a back-and-forth battle in the early stages of the contest, with the teams splitting the first 22 points. Shawano junior Rachel Reed hit her third 3-pointer of the half to put the Hawks up 14-11 before Waupaca answered with a field goal.

After a Shawano timeout, the Hawks looked to take control as sophomore Brianna Wright hit a triple and junior Avery Dreier followed with a field goal on the next possession. After a Waupaca basket, Shawano junior Taylor Johnson hit a 3-pointer to make it 22-15 with just under 7 minutes, 30 seconds to go in the half.

Shawano made just one field goal the rest of the half while Waupaca was able to convert on its end. The Comets hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to complete its 17-3 run.

“We didn’t have our best defensive game, and on our zone defense, we needed to rotate quicker on the back side,” said Reed. “Waupaca was able to seal us off and get easy baskets and many offensive rebounds.”

After a talk about urgency at halftime, Johnson had a couple strong drives to the basket that seemed to have the Hawks trending in the right direction, but Waupaca answered with a 11-0 run to take a 43-27 lead with 13:06 to play.

Reed hit a 3-pointer for the Hawks on the ensuing possession, but the Comets tallied seven of the next eight points to go up 19.

Shawano continued to battle, trimming the deficit to 13 after a three-point play and 3-pointer by Johnson with 10:55 to play. After Waupaca pushed the lead back up to 18, the Hawks cut it back to 13 after two field goals from Reed and a free throw from sophomore Brooke Theis with 3:51 to go, but eventually ran out of time.

“I think it was definitely a lack of focus from all of us,” said Johnson. “Yesterday at practice, we really didn’t have the focus and we really weren’t putting in the best effort that we could have at practice and during the game today which definitely did not help as it showed.”

Rachel Reed led the Hawks with 16 points, while Johnson had 13. Wright chipped in seven points.

Waupaca 32 30 — 62

Shawano 25 23 — 48

Waupaca (62): Emma O’Keefe 2-2 4, Finley Charapata 0-0 19, Madi Wennesberg 0-0 4, Seattle Lettau 0-0 15, Savannah Wehmeyer 2-4 20.

Shawano (48): Lydia Beyer 1-2 1, Brianna Wright 1-2 7, Rachel Reed 0-0 16, Taylor Johnson 1-3 13, Brooke Theis 2-4 6, Avery Dreier 1-4 5.

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