Gresham girls, Bowler boys 2nd at basketball tournament

The Gresham girls and Bowler boys basketball teams each earned second-place finishes at the Gresham Holiday Tournament that took place Dec. 29-30 in Gresham.

The Gresham girls opened up tournament play with a 69-14 win over St. Thomas Aquinas Academy on Dec. 29 before falling 49-47 to Elkhart Lake in the title game on Dec. 30.

The Bowler boys team started the tournament with an 89-19 win over Gresham and then lost 53-52 to Oneida Nation in the title matchup on Dec. 30.

The Gresham boys ended up going 0-2 at the tournament after a 56-40 loss to STAA in the consolation game on Dec. 30.

Gresham girls

In Gresham’s rout of STAA on Dec. 29, the Wildcats eased to victory and had 14 players score.

The Wildcats started the game on a 25-2 run and lead 40-8 by halftime. Gresham emptied the bench in the second half and got to share plenty of smiles and laughs as just about every player scored.

Maddie Haffner led a very balanced Gresham offensive attack with 11 points, all of those coming in the first half.

Lexi Baddmoccosin-Barnes tallied nine points for Gresham, while Jessa Jensen recorded eight points. Janay Pecore-Kirkland and Rylie Kakwitch each chipped in seven points, while Josie Cerveny and Chloe Bohl had six points each.

Gresham held STAA to four field goals in the first half and only three in the final 18 minutes of play.

In the title game against Elkhart Lake on Dec. 30, it was a much more competitive game.

Gresham led 30-28 at halftime, but ended up coming up just short in the end.

The Wildcats got to the free-throw line 16 times in the contest, but only converted six of them.

Haffner again led Gresham in scoring with 15 points, which included three 3-point makes. Koda Hill added 11 points, while Cerveny had 10 and Pecore-Kirkland eight.

Bowler boys

In Bowler’s clash with Gresham on Dec. 29, the Panthers jumped out to a 20-0 lead and never looked back. All nine Bowler players who participated scored.

Bowler made 40 total field goals, doing almost all of its scoring at or near the rim. The Panthers crashed the offensive glass and got plenty of second-chance looks early on. The Bowler press also turned Gresham over several times.

Much like the Gresham girls in the game prior, the Bowler boys were able to empty its bench in the second half after going ahead 53-7 by halftime.

Emmitt Kietlinski led the Bowler scoring charge with 21 points on 10 field goals, one of which was a three-point play.

Marcus Malone added 19 points, while Beau Brunner had 14. Damian Terrio chipped in 12 points, while Tristan Thiex had 11 and Danian Schultz added six.

In its one-point loss to Oneida Nation, Kietlinski made nine more shots to lead the team with 18 points.

Brunner chipped in 11 points, while Schultz made three 3-pointers to finish with nine points.

Bowler had a couple good looks at the basket to win the game but wasn’t able to convert.

Gresham boys

In Gresham’s setback to Bowler on Dec. 29, the team made six field goals and four free throws.

Ruben Arce made a pair of 3-pointers to lead the Wildcats with six points. Wyatt Nietzer also converted two shots to tally five points, while Bryson Nelson had a bucket and three free throws to also reach five points.

In the consolation game against STAA, Gresham was led by Blade Hoffman’s 10 points.

Nelson finished with nine points, while Kevin Miller chipped in eight points.

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