Talk about a turnaround.
After the Oconto Falls girls basketball team dropped seven of eight games to North Eastern Conference opponents in the first half of the season, the Panthers have now won five of their last six NEC games, including a 49-40 victory over Waupaca on Feb. 12.
The win over a Waupaca team that handed the Panthers a 36-point loss in early December is a good sign for the team as the upcoming WIAA state tournament looms, according to coach Tim Solarek.
Any win at this point of the season could be the difference between hosting a regional playoff game or hitting the road.
“They (the Comets) kicked our butt at their place, but we want to play our best basketball at the end of the season, and I think we are,” Solarek said.
The first half of the season included conference losses to Waupaca, Wrightstown, Freedom and Clintonville, but the Panthers came out on top in each rematch.
Rylie Shallow, one of three seniors on the roster, helped her team’s cause by scoring the Panthers’ first seven points after Waupaca opened the game with a basket from Hailey Bechard. Shallow’s second basket gave Oconto Falls a 4-2 lead and the Panthers never trailed again.
Oconto Falls led by as many as 15 points in the first half and had a 27-15 advantage at the break after Waupaca’s Taylor Kling beat the buzzer with her third 3-pointer.
The Comets scored the first six points of the second half to cut the lead to 27-21 and trailed by eight points with just under 11/2 minutes remaining but also faced a 17-point deficit.
“That was too big of a heart-pumper there,” Solarek said of the Comets’ second-half comeback effort. “We got a little careless with the ball. We have to fix some things, but the goal is to win. I thought we did what we needed to do to win.”
Ella Jahnke led the Panthers with 21 points, while Shallow also finished in double figures with 16.
Shallow helped set the tone for the game after the Comets held her to eight points in the first matchup.
“She’s a game-changer, and I think she’s better defensively than offensively,” Solarek said. “She’s awesome. She has a knack for jumping those passes, and we get out and running. We go as she goes, so it’s always nice when she scores those first couple of points for us.”
Oconto Falls wrapped up the regular season with NEC games against Little Chute and Luxemburg-Casco, two teams that defeated the Panthers earlier.
If his team can knock off the Mustangs and Spartans, Solarek said that would give his squad plenty of momentum heading into the state tournament, which kicks off with regional quarterfinal games Feb. 24.
“I think that will really show who we are as a team,” he said. “How do we adjust as a team? How do we game plan? We’d like to win both.”
The Panthers will compete in Division 3 in the state tournament in a regional bracket that includes Winneconne, a team currently ranked 10th in Division 3.
“They’re incredible and they’re the team to beat,” Solarek said. “Denmark is the (No. 2) seed and they just whooped Little Chute by 40 (points). Little Chute will be the three (seed), and they’re having a really good year and beat us on a buzzer-beater. Seymour and Brillion are the four and five and after that the six, seven and eight are us, Wrightstown and Freedom. We all beat each other once and have similar records. Hopefully, this helps us with Waupaca being in Division 2, and we beat Marinette twice and they’re a Division 2 team.”
Rylie Shallow gets ready to shoot a free throw for Oconto Falls on Feb. 12 during the Panthers’ 49-40 win over Waupaca. The Comets had handed the Panthers a 59-23 loss in December in the North Eastern Conference opener for both teams. (Greg Seubert)
Kylie Thompson keeps the ball from going out of bounds in the second half of Oconto Falls’ 49-40 win over Waupaca on Feb. 12. (Greg Seubert)
Waupaca’s Taylor Kling gets a hand on the ball to keep Oconto Falls’ Izzy Otto from converting an easy layup. (Greg Seubert)
