Girls Basketball: Slow start hurts Gillett in loss to Witt-Birn

WITTENBERG — The Gillett High School girls basketball team could not overcome a slow start in a season-opening 71-46 nonconference loss to Wittenberg-Birnamwood on Thursday.

It was the Tigers that grabbed the early lead after junior Karissa Schaal converted a layup, but Witt-Birn scored the next eight points. After a bucket from senior Camryn Long cut Gillett’s deficit in half, the Chargers tallied the next 18 points to go up 26-4.

Witt-Birn was able to break Gillett’s full-court pressure and forced the Tigers’ offense into a number of turnovers during the big run.

“I think we need to come together. I think we needed something like this to almost bring us closer together and be able to fire on all cylinders for our next game,” said Gillett senior Sydney Young on the slow start. “We need to go to practice (Friday) and realize that we do have stuff to work on, that we’re never going to be perfect and can always get better.”

The hosts eventually worked out to a 30-5 lead before Gillett started to get in a rhythm.

It was junior Aubrey DeBauch that sparked the Tigers, scoring all 10 of her first-half points during a 12-3 run before halftime.

Witt-Birn quenched the thought of a Gillett comeback by scoring the first 10 points of the second half to go up 43-17. The Tigers went on a couple more runs over the rest of the contest, but the Chargers always had an answer.

“We dug ourself into a hole and we tried getting out but we just didn’t come out close enough,” said DeBauch. “We still learned a lot. We had a lot of good things that were working, we just can’t let ourself in that hole at the start.”

DeBauch led Gillett with 19 points, hitting seven of the team’s 15 field goals on the night. Schaal finished with nine points.

Young, who dealt with foul trouble all night, scored all eight of her points in the second half.

“It was a loss on the scoreboard, but it wasn’t a loss based on effort and teamwork and playing together,” said DeBauch.

Even in the lopsided loss, Gillett coach Justin Daul said the team learned a lot about itself while playing a talented Witt-Birn squad. “It’s a bit of a wake-up call.”

He was pleased with how the team responded after trailing early, playing the hosts even the rest of the way.

“I think some of it was that this was their second game and this was our first game. That has a little to do with it but good teams are good teams. We need to execute all the time and we just didn’t execute, bottom line,” said Daul.

Gillett will have some time to correct some of its flaws exposed in the season opener, as the team’s next game isn’t scheduled until Dec. 3 against St. Thomas Aquinas Academy.

Gillett 17 29 — 46

Witt-Birn 33 38 — 71

Witt-Birn (71): Reese Rogowski 3-4 12, Olivia Curley 2-4 5, Megan Konkol 2-2 5, Abi Fraaza 1-2 19, Amara Schoepke 0-3 2, Kaylee Schram 0-0 4, Emma Herb 4-5 24.

Gillett (46): Sydney Young 0-0 8, Aubrey DeBauch 5-7 19, Karissa Schaal 0-0 9, Ryann Wagner 0-1 0, Brianna DeBauch 4-6 4, Camryn Long 3-4 5, Macy Franti 1-2 1.

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